Saturday evening, downtown St. Paul's one-block Rice Park is scheduled to flip from late-autumn gray to a full holiday switch-on. Music starts at 4:30 p.m., the tree-lighting ceremony follows at 5:30, and about 50,000 lights are set to come on together.
The Pioneer Press reports that Mayor Kaohly Her will lead the festivities for the first time. Former Minnesota Vikings player and NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter and singer-songwriter Kat Perkins, from NBC's The Voice, are on the program. A Salvation Army crew installed the Tree of Lights on Tuesday and Wednesday. The organization has lit a holiday tree in the park since 2022, and Saturday also kicks off the Red Kettle campaign.
A Fraser Fir, More or Less
The focal point is a 40-foot artificial holiday tree meant to resemble a Fraser fir, with a light program synchronized to holiday music. The park lights turn on at once during the ceremony. Sunset Saturday is 4:45 p.m., so the opening music still has some daylight. The switch itself comes after dark.
The forecast calls for highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s. Stay for the cocoa and you are dressing for the low end.
The 4:30 p.m. set belongs to the Bemidji Alumni Choir and the Salvation Army brass band. The wider cast includes the St. Paul Police Band drumline, Nordy from the Minnesota Wild, representatives from the Minnesota Vikings cheerleading team, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. Salvation Army disaster services canteens are scheduled to serve free cookies and hot chocolate.
The Kettle Behind the Lights
The sparkle is the advertisement. The kettle is the mechanism. Organizers hope to raise $10.96 million for the 2026 Christmas goal, after $10.55 million during last year's holiday season. Collections at store entrances and street corners support Salvation Army programs, including food and housing assistance.
"The money raised funds programs all year," Salvation Army spokesman Dan Furry told the Pioneer Press.
Set that goal next to the staffing sheet. The Salvation Army's bell-ringing page says thousands of volunteer ringers are needed to fill more than 100,000 open hours this Christmas season, and that a shift raises about $30 an hour on average. The Pioneer Press also reported thousands of shifts still unfilled. A $10.96 million target, and a very large stack of empty hours beside it.
Two Calendars for One Tree
After Saturday, the Pioneer Press says the holiday tree's light show can be viewed nightly from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Jan. 3.
An undated Salvation Army display page lists the Tree of Lights at 109 West 4th St., calls it a 40-foot digital tree, and says a new light show runs each week of the holiday season. That page puts the display on view Nov. 15 through Jan. 6, also from 5 to 10 p.m. The page is not dated, and the packet of public schedules does not establish whether those dates describe this season's installation. For this weekend's ceremony, the Pioneer Press timetable is the one tied to Saturday.
The Square Under the Show
KARE 11 has reported that Rice Park was created in 1849 as St. Paul's first public square. The same report described a revitalization effort led by the St. Paul Garden Club, the Rice Park Association and the St. Paul Parks Conservancy, trying to raise just over $1 million to match city funds. It also described a proposed $2.4 million update covering lighting, paths, more gardens and movable chairs. That report is undated in the available record, so it is context for the square, not a construction schedule for this weekend.
A separate KARE 11 description put a 70-foot holiday tree and 15,000 LED lights in Rice Park. No date is attached to that account, so it should not be read as a measurement of Saturday's 40-foot artificial tree.
The ceremony is free. Music at 4:30, lights at 5:30, cookies if the canteens hold out. The longer ask is a shift at a kettle after the mayor has finished the countdown.
