New Attractions at This Year's Holiday Parade, Street Festival in Huntington Village

Thousands of people will flock to the Sixth Annual Holiday Parade and Street Festival in Huntington Village to enjoy a day’s worth of entertainment and activities in November.

Among the many attractions, the Town announced two new additions to this year’s event: a gingerbread house competition and an interactive map to help fairgoers locate vendors.

The Holiday Parade and Street Festival starts with Small Business Saturday and features Santa’s arrival at the end of the parade on Saturday, Nov. 28.

Here’s what you can expect at the Sixth Annual Holiday Parade and Street Festival in Huntington Village:

The parade kicks off at 6 p.m. and is expected to draw between 5,000 and 10,000 people into the Village. It starts at the Big H Shopping Center off New York Avenue and goes north to Main Street and then west on Main Street to West Neck Road.

The parade will feature a float theme “Candy Land” and judges will vote for the best floats in several categories.

Fire departments will then go head-to-head in a friendly competition to decide who gets to play Santa Claus in the 2016 parade.

A performance by The North Shore Pops are set to rock out in front of the holiday tree, located at 10 Wall St., immediately after the parade. The Pops’ performance will be one of many forms of entertainment throughout the day. Carolers will be strolling through the Village and there will be music on and in front of the reviewing stand before the parade.

Following the tree lighting ceremony, the festival will continue on Wall Street where there will be a disk jockey playing music, local merchant booths, hot chocolate, face painting, an area to pay to visit Santa Claus, bouncy houses and more.

Bakeries throughout the town are invited to create their owns gingerbread houses that will be on display in a storefront on Wall Street. The public will then get to vote on which gingerbread house is their favorite. The winning house will be put on display at Town Hall through the first week of January.

The interactive map, which can be accessed on your smartphone, will offer information about participating merchants and if they’re offering any good deals. About 20 merchants have already signed up and more are expected to join by the time the map goes live around Nov.15. Check out more details on the Town’s website. Merchants wishing to sign up for the interactive map can download the application here. Deadline is Oct. 30.

“We hope that residents and visitors will use the interactive map to learn what Huntington Village merchants are doing to make the whole day special, and we look forward to local bakeries’ entries in the gingerbread house contest,” Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone said.

Free parking is available at the Huntington train station, with a free shuttle from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Want to be a part of the parade? Download an application here.