La Porte Saves Its Busiest Holiday Saturday for December 5

On Saturday, December 5, the doors at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum on Andrew Avenue open at 10 a.m. An hour later the La Porte Civic Auditorium on Ridge Street opens for its holiday market. At 4 p.m., five decorated historic homes, a mid-century church and a former fire station open for Preserve Historic La Porte's 23rd annual Christmas Candlelight Tour. The last of them closes at 8 p.m.

The parade is the opening act and the Cookie Walk is the encore, but most of La Porte's holiday season happens in that one 10-hour span. The museum, the city's Civic Auditorium and the town's preservation nonprofit all picked the same Saturday. Out at Hesston and over at the Little Theatre, the day fills up even more. If you live here, December 5 is the date to plan around, and some of that planning has to start this month.

December 5, hour by hour

Laid out in a grid, the day comes in two halves. From mid-morning to late afternoon it's markets and a train ride. From late afternoon on it's evening events that need tickets. You switch between them at about 4 p.m., when the Civic market and the Candy Cane Express close and the Candlelight Tour opens.

Morning on Andrew Avenue

The earliest start of the day is at the museum. The La Porte County Historical Society's event calendar lists its Holiday Artisan Fair for December 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with entry by donation. The Livin' the Lake Life listing for the same market says more than 20 local vendors will be there, and that museum admission is by donation all day.

It's worth getting to the museum first for one more reason. The LP County Museum is also one of the La Porte shops selling advance tickets for the Candlelight Tour that evening. Advance sales end December 4, though, so you'd need to buy there on an earlier visit. On the day itself, you'll be paying at the door.

Midday on Ridge Street

The Civic Auditorium's market overlaps the museum fair by four hours, so you can visit both in either order. Visit Indiana's listing for the 3rd Annual Christmas at the Civic describes a free event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1001 Ridge Street, with holiday shopping, seasonal food and drinks, and activities for all ages. It's presented by the auditorium itself. Vendor questions go to the city's events coordinator, which shows that this market is run by the City of La Porte rather than by an outside promoter.

If you have kids, the midday window has a pull in another direction. La Porte Lakeside lists Santa's Candy Cane Express at the Hesston Steam Museum from noon to 4 p.m. Train tickets run $5 to $9, and there's no general admission charge. Hesston is out at 1201 East 1000 North, well north of downtown. So a family that wants the train and both markets is really planning a loop. The museum opens first and closes at 3, the Civic and Hesston both run until 4, and Hesston fits wherever the drive works best.

Kingsbury Avenue at 4 p.m.

Everything earlier in the day is free or by donation. The evening is the ticketed part, and it has a schedule of its own.

Preserve Historic La Porte is the town's nonprofit historic preservation group. Its 2026 Christmas Candlelight Tour of Historic Homes runs Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 6, from 1 to 5 p.m. This year's tour has seven sites, all open for self-guided touring and decorated for the season:

• 1906 Michigan
• 1515 Michigan
• 1600 Indiana
• KOP Officer's Circle
• 2107 Monroe
• The mid-century Presbyterian Church of La Porte
• The former La Porte Firestation #1

The ticket price includes live music at every location and refreshments at the church.

The Presbyterian Church of La Porte at 307 Kingsbury is the base for the whole tour. It's where e-tickets are picked up at will-call on the day of the tour, and where at-the-door tickets are sold. If you've gone in past years, note the change. PHLP's older event page still describes a tour based at St. John's Lutheran Church at 111 Kingsbury, but that was the 2025 setup. For 2026, head to the Presbyterian church at 307.

Ticket prices depend on when you buy:

The La Porte shops selling advance tickets are a short list of local names: A Whole World of Good, Coachman Antique Mall, CO-OP Shoppes, Freckle Farm Primitives, Hot Spot Cafe, the LP County Museum, Meridian Title, Thode Floral and Town and Country Florist. Michigan City buyers can pick up tickets at The Antique Market and Hoity Toity. New Carlisle buyers can use Historic New Carlisle. Meridian Title also sells them at its New Buffalo and Valparaiso offices.

Where the evening runs out of room

The Candlelight Tour and the Little Theatre's holiday show overlap by half an hour on Saturday. La Porte Lakeside lists "Away in the Basement: A Church Basement Ladies Christmas" at 218 A Street on December 5 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The tour's homes stay open until 8.

The Sunday tour takes care of the conflict. With the homes open again December 6 from 1 to 5 p.m., you can see the show Saturday night and tour on Sunday afternoon. Or skip the curtain and walk the houses after dark, when the candlelight is the reason to go. The show also plays on other nights. The same calendar lists a performance on Friday, November 27, at 7:30 p.m.

Michigan City has its own events that day, a short drive west. La Porte Lakeside lists a Christmas Tea Party at Barker Mansion, 631 Washington Street, from 1 to 4 p.m., with tea service and a guided tour of the mansion. The Festival of Lights Parade runs on North Franklin Street from 5 to 7 p.m. That parade lands in the same hours as the Candlelight Tour, which is one more reason the Sunday tour session is useful.

The deadlines that come before December 5

This post goes up on November 12. From here, three dates matter before the big Saturday arrives:

1. November 19: last day to enter a float or sign on as a sponsor for the La Porte Santa Parade.
2. December 1: mailed checks for Candlelight Tour tickets must be postmarked by this date.
3. December 4: last day for $25 advance tickets at the local outlets. After that, the door price is $30.

The Saturdays on either side

Downtown La Porte opens the season a week before the big Saturday. The La Porte Santa Parade steps off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 28, at State and Tipton. It heads west on State Street to Michigan Avenue, south on Michigan to Lincolnway, then east on Lincolnway to Plaza 618 for the City of La Porte's annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. Afterward, the Downtown La Porte Events committee has Santa photos at his chalet, coffee, hot chocolate and Christmas music planned. The parade runs at the same 4 p.m. hour the Candlelight Tour opens one week later, so the season starts and peaks at the same time of day on back-to-back Saturdays.

A week after December 5, the downtown calendar ends on a smaller scale. The 14th Annual Downtown Cookie Walk runs Saturday, December 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participating businesses are each asked to prepare 200 or more cookies. Cookies go only to people carrying the collectible 2026 cookie tin, which you buy for the event. Questions about the tin and the event go to the Downtown La Porte Events team at [email protected] or (219) 369-3039.

That makes three Saturdays in a row. The first and last are downtown events lasting a few hours each. The one in the middle runs all day across town, from Andrew Avenue in the morning to Kingsbury Avenue at night.

Walking through five decorated historic homes on one December evening shows you how much care La Porte owners put into these houses. If seeing 1906 Michigan or 2107 Monroe by candlelight has you curious about what an older La Porte home is worth today, including your own, Meghan Maddox is happy to talk it over after the holidays. Request a Free Home Valuation whenever the timing feels right.