The 3rd Annual Eastern Wharf Food Truck Festival was set for Saturday, October 3, from 1 to 6 p.m. Heavy rain fell that morning, and the forecast called for more through the afternoon. WSAV reported that standing water at the site made it hard for the food trucks to get in safely, so Eastern Wharf canceled the event and said it would post a new date on social media.
The new date is Saturday, December 12, from noon to 5 p.m. The 34th Annual Lighted Christmas Street Parade steps off at Plant Riverside District that same evening at 5:30. A fall festival is now part of the holiday season. With the move, December 12 becomes one of the two days this season when events at both ends of River Street fall on the same schedule.
A festival that never had a fixed date
This is the festival's third edition, and it has never repeated a date. The first one ran on Saturday, November 16, 2024, from 5 to 10 p.m., with more than 20 trucks announced. The second ran on Saturday, November 15, 2025, from 1 to 6 p.m., with more than 30 trucks announced, and the Savannah Morning News photo gallery from that afternoon shows it happened as planned.
For 2026, organizers moved it up to early October, and the rain moved it back past its usual mid-November slot into December. The format is the same as before. It's free, it's held on the Riverfront Lot at Eastern Wharf, 102 Port St., and there's live music all day on the Riverfront Stage. The festival page at The Park at Eastern Wharf lists 26 trucks for the December date. The October announcement had counted 28.
The current list includes Ardsley Station, Bowtie Barbecue Co., Chazito's Latin Cuisine, Keller Wood Fire Pizza, Krazian, La Taqueria Oaxacana, Lowcountry Lobster, Philly Boyz Cheesesteaks, The Red Taco Truck and The Cone Ranger, among others. Sponsors include Low Country Taps, Pilot & Park, Riverworks, Service Brewing and the Savannah Derby Devils.
December 12 from one end of the river to the other
The organizers are pitching the new date as a single long day. Savannah's Waterfront's own festival event page tells festival guests to "stick around for the Lighted Christmas Street Parade that evening." Here is the full Saturday schedule from the organizers' published times:
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Noon to 5 p.m. | 3rd Annual Eastern Wharf Food Truck Festival | Riverfront Lot at Eastern Wharf, 102 Port St. |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | Savannah's Waterfront Dance & Musical Performances, second of two days | Plant Riverside District |
| 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Savannah Christmas Market | Plant Riverside District |
| 5:30 to 7 p.m. | 34th Annual Lighted Christmas Street Parade | Starts at Plant Riverside, then East Broad Ramp, Bay, Lincoln, Broughton and Jefferson streets |
The parade starts at Plant Riverside, at the west end of River Street, and heads to the East Broad Ramp before turning into downtown along Bay, Lincoln, Broughton and Jefferson. A food truck festival ending at 5 p.m. on the east side and a parade starting at 5:30 at the west end puts all of River Street on one schedule for the afternoon and evening. Before the move, December 12 was a parade night. Now it's an afternoon on the east end that leads into a parade night.
The parade is free and open to everyone. The entry rules are simple: every float, car, trolley or walking group must be completely covered in Christmas lights. Savannah's Waterfront takes entries until Thursday, November 19, 2026, one week from today. Any downtown business, church group or club planning to march will want its lights strung and its paperwork in before then.
November 28 is the other day that links both ends
The only other date this season with that reach is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The 25th Annual Savannah Lighted Boat Parade runs November 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. According to the Savannah's Waterfront boat parade page, the Georgia Queen riverboat leads "Thirty+" boats from Eastern Wharf to the Talmadge Bridge and back, twice, past Plant Riverside District and the length of River Street. In this case the river itself connects the two ends.
The Holiday Kickoff at The Park at Eastern Wharf, 201 Port Street, starts at 5 p.m. with the lighting of the Eastern Wharf Christmas tree, Santa, food trucks and entertainment. This year it ends at 9 p.m. In 2025 it ran from 5 to 10 p.m., according to WJCL's season preview, so the 2026 kickoff now closes when the last boat finishes rather than an hour later.
The organizers' recommended viewing spots run along the whole waterfront:
- The Park and the Eastern Wharf docks, where the boats start and finish
- Plant Riverside District
- Rousakis Riverfront Plaza
- The riverwalk
If you'd rather watch from the water, Savannah Riverboat Cruises sells tickets for a parade-viewing cruise.
The weeks in between belong to one end at a time
Outside those two Saturdays, nearly every holiday event stays at one end of River Street, and the one exception sits in City Market between them. That's why the December 12 change matters.
The west end opens first. The Savannah Christmas Market at Plant Riverside District opens Thursday, November 19, one week after this post, and runs through January 3, 2027. It's open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and admission is free. The 2026 run starts one day earlier than last year's and ends three days later, since the 2025 market ran November 20 through December 31. The market lists more than 50 booths of local and regional vendors, live performances, children's activities and photos with Santa. Inside the Power Plant lobby, the Festival of Trees displays trees representing local businesses and organizations. The Gingerbread Display joins it in the Power Plant Building lobby from November 27 to December 31. Some vendors may close on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
On Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, Plant Riverside holds its free Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at MLK Park from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The program includes a reading by Roger Moss, the Southeast Coast Gospel Choir under Delandrian Aikens, and an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus. The Eastern Wharf tree is lit the next evening, so the two ends light their trees on back-to-back nights.
City Market, between the two ends, gets one weekend of its own. Celebrate the Season in City Market runs December 4 and 5. Friday's tree-lighting program goes from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday's activities from 1 to 3 p.m. include a pet parade and an adoption event. Both days are free.
Back on the west end, Plant Riverside hosts Savannah's Waterfront Dance & Musical Performances on Friday and Saturday, December 11 and 12. Christmas on the River, presented by Hyundai, ends with a New Year's Eve midnight fireworks show on Thursday, December 31.
If you live east of Abercorn, where much of the 2026 restaurant wave downtown has been clustering, Eastern Wharf hosts the season's two big east-end afternoons, November 28 and now December 12. Apart from the City Market weekend, the rest of the season happens at the west end.
Parking for the long Saturday
The festival's own parking guidance is the most detailed plan published for December 12:
- City of Savannah Eastern Wharf Garage, 301 Passage Way
- Five Star Valet Lot, at Eastern Wharf Avenue and Altamaha Street, which stays open through the Lighted Christmas Street Parade
- Designated on-street spaces around Eastern Wharf
The valet lot's extended hours are the one part of the plan built for people staying from the noon start through the 7 p.m. parade finish. At the other end, Plant Riverside offers paid public and valet parking near the Christmas Market. Eastern Wharf has also come up in our look at how downtown Savannah's median price hides two different markets. This season it draws a crowd on two Saturdays.
If your PCS orders bring you to Hunter Army Airfield this winter and you're arriving in the middle of the holiday season, Trophy Point Realty Group can walk you through the Historic District block by block, including which end of River Street you'd live closer to. Get a Free PCS & Relocation Consultation and we'll build your house-hunting trip around a December 12 or November 28 visit.
