Light Up Mars Starts at Noon This Year, and the Afternoon Belongs to Grand Avenue

Two years ago, Light Up Mars was a nighttime event. The Butler Eagle's 2024 holiday parade roundup listed it from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30, with the tree lighting at 5:30 and the parade at 7:30.

This year it runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, the weekend after Thanksgiving, in downtown Mars at the spaceship, according to the official Light Up Mars schedule. The tree lighting is still at 5:30. The parade now starts at 6 p.m. and closes the event.

The event now opens four hours earlier, and most of those added hours go to the shops along Grand Avenue.

Most of the day now happens before the tree lighting

The 2026 schedule puts nearly all of the event in daylight:

1. Noon. The holiday market opens with local vendors, gifts, seasonal treats, and food and drink. The Mars Small Business Showcase scavenger hunt starts at the same time.
2. 2 p.m. Horse-drawn carriage rides from Misty Lanes Performance Horses begin. Rides start and end at Nosh & Curd.
3. 3 p.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus start taking photos by the Mars spaceship and the holiday tree.
4. 4:30 p.m. Scavenger hunt cards are due at the Mars Area Public Library booth.
5. 5:30 p.m. The market, carriage rides and Santa photos all wrap up, and the holiday tree is lit.
6. 6 p.m. The Light Up Mars Parade begins.

Look at where the 4:30 deadline sits. Scavenger hunt cards are due an hour before the tree lighting, so anyone who wants to finish the hunt has to visit the downtown businesses in the afternoon, well before the crowd gathers for the lights.

The prize for finishing ties back to the end of the night. A completed card enters you in a drawing to ride with Santa and Mrs. Claus in the parade. The hunt starts at noon and pays off at 6.

The scavenger hunt is the route through downtown

This is also Mars's Small Business Saturday. The Butler Eagle's coverage of the 2025 event said Light Up Mars "doubled as Mars' Small Business Saturday." Last year's scavenger hunt sent people into local businesses, and a finished card entered them in a raffle for baskets put together by those businesses.

The 2026 version calls itself the Mars Small Business Showcase and describes it as a way to "connect with, explore, and support the local Mars Small Businesses." These downtown businesses sit on and near Grand Avenue:

• Nosh & Curd, 113 Grand Ave. A cheese and charcuterie shop and café serving breakfast and lunch, plus boards, cheese, coffee and tea. Its posted Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is also where the carriage rides begin and end, so it is the one shop built into the official schedule.
• FYIE Boutiques, 134 Grand Ave. A women's fashion and lifestyle boutique selling clothing, home décor and jewelry, according to Experience Butler. The Butler Eagle reported that it held its grand opening during Light Up Mars 2025, so this is its first anniversary. Its recent posts in late October 2026 listed Saturday hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its downtown shop.
• The Grand Candy Shop, 130 Grand Ave. Experience Butler lists candy, build-your-own bubble tea, local honey, coffee and baked goods.
• Pfeifer Hardware. The Butler Eagle called it a Mars staple at last year's event. A May 2026 profile in 228 Times described a family business passed from father to son and built over 40 years on customer relationships.
• Mars Pizza. The other business the Butler Eagle named as a staple at the 2025 event.

Nosh & Curd at 113, The Grand Candy Shop at 130 and FYIE at 134 share one short run of Grand Avenue, so a family can work through the hunt, stop for coffee and still reach the library booth before 4:30.

Mars businesses and county vendors at last year's event

The 2025 Butler Eagle report shows how the event mixes downtown businesses with outside vendors. The holiday market had tents, vendors and food trucks, with businesses from other parts of Butler County such as Not Your Average Shop, a toy store in Evans City.

Downtown businesses set up their own stops. Dina Russo, owner of Masterpiece Creations Art Gallery, which had opened that April, offered visitors a low-cost craft and free temporary tattoos. She told the Butler Eagle she was glad to take part because she was happy to share her gallery's art with the public and saw a need for community.

The library played a bigger part than most visitors would guess. Library director Janae Callihan told the Butler Eagle that the Mars library's tent sold baked goods and gave free wrapped books to children. This year, the Mars Area Public Library booth is where completed scavenger hunt cards go. That puts the library at the center of the Small Business Showcase, the place where an afternoon of shopping becomes a chance to ride in the parade.

The Butler Eagle also described the setting: classic Christmas songs on speakers around the town square, and the borough's spaceship statue strung with lights beside the tree.

After 5:30, everything moves to the spaceship

By the time the tree is lit, the market, carriage rides and Santa photos have all ended. For the last half hour, the whole event gathers at the spaceship, with the tree lighting at 5:30 and the parade at 6. In 2024, two hours separated the tree lighting from the parade. This year there are 30 minutes.

That short gap is what makes the earlier hours matter. Families who want photos with Santa need to be in line before 5:30. Carriage riders need to be at Nosh & Curd by mid-afternoon. Scavenger hunt players need to reach the library booth by 4:30.

A few other places in town are good to know about for later in the weekend.

Stick City Brewing Company is at 109 Irvine Street, according to its own website. Experience Butler describes it as a family-friendly brewery serving modern craft beer, with indoor and outdoor seating.

Capone's House of Pasta is at 200 West Hook Street, just off Grand Avenue. 228 Times reported in May that it officially opened May 19, 2026, serving handmade pasta, sauces and cannoli. Its first Light Up Mars falls in its first year in business.

The next big Mars celebration follows the planet's calendar

The holiday tree marks the end of the year, but Mars's other signature festival is timed to a different calendar. The Butler Eagle reported that the 2025 Mars New Year festival was timed to the roughly two-year period it takes the planet Mars to orbit the sun. A February 2026 Butler Eagle story announced the next festival for the summer of 2027. The official festival guide says planning is underway for June 2027.

Until then, the spaceship's next big day is Saturday, Nov. 28. The market opens at noon, scavenger hunt cards are due at the library booth by 4:30, and the parade starts at 6 p.m.

Luz Campbell keeps up with Grand Avenue's shops and the Mars event calendar as part of serving buyers and sellers in Mars and Adams Township. If you are thinking about what your home in the Mars area is worth, you can request a home valuation and consultation, in English or Spanish, any time this holiday season.