Surrey's Noel Holiday Light Festival & Market

The Noel Holiday Light Festival & Market brings Christmas cheer to Surrey’s Cloverdale Fairgrounds with light displays, rides, market vendors, food and more.

The festival is one of three major Christmas-themed markets that run for multiple days over the holidays in the Lower Mainland. The others are the world-famous Vancouver Christmas Market at Jack Poole Plaza and Shipyards Christmas Market on the North Shore (where the latter, like the Noel Holiday Light Festival & Market, is also new for 2024).

To learn about other markets and Christmas-y things to do this season, see our articles about December Events, Best Christmas Activities and Lower Mainland Holiday Artisan Markets. To learn more about the Noel Holiday Light Festival & Market, continue reading.

The Noel Holiday Light Festival in Surrey

New for 2024, the Noel Holiday Light Festival & Market is a massive Christmas celebration in Surrey. It’s held at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds which is at 17905 62 Ave in Cloverdale. The event operates on select dates from November 28th to December 23rd, 2024.

The Noel festival is new to the Lower Mainland, but the company behind it has held the event in other cities before. There was Noel Calgary in 2019 and 2020, and Noel Milwaukee in 2021. We’ll see whether there are future editions of Noel Surrey! We hope it’s really successful!

The festival is quite a big endeavor. The Christmas village covers 30,000 square feet and features over a million lights, a full Christmas market, a 50-foot tall Ferris Wheel and other rides and vendors to explore.

Hours and Admission

In 2024, Noel Surrey is open from November 28th to December 1st, December 5th to 8th, and then every day from December 12th to 23rd. The festival runs from 4:00 to 10:30 pm each day that it’s open.

Tickets are available both online and in-person, although tickets will only be sold at the box office on-site if they don’t sell out online. Admission entry is sold in specific timeslots, so make sure to not be late! If you arrive more than 20 minutes after your designated time, there’s a chance you could be denied entry (but only if the festival is very full). The last new entries each night are at 9:00 pm.

The cost to get in to Noel Surrey (before taxes and other fees) is as follows:

Adults (19-64): $20
Seniors (65+): $15
Youth (7-18): $15
Kids (under 7): Free

Parking at the venue is free. The Cloverdale Fairgrounds are near intersections of multiple highways which makes it a straightforward place to drive to. It takes about an hour to get there by car from downtown Vancouver.

What to Expect

There’s quite a lot to explore at Noel Surrey. The biggest part of the festival is the light displays. There are over a million lights at the site in all sorts of configurations, from LED forests to see-saws, to a 150-foot light tunnel.

At the event there’s live music, the opportunity to grab pictures with Santa, and dance performances to enjoy. There are also roving character actors, like maybe fairy princesses or the Grinch. There is also a Kidsville where you’ll find a candy cane slide, balloon twisting and face painting.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Ferris Wheel which is 50 feet tall. It runs from November 28th to December 19th. For the final few days of the festival it’s replaced by a merry-go-round and bumper cars.

In addition to the above, there’s a sizeable Christmas Market to shop at. Access to the market (as well as the food and drinks areas) is included with admission, but everything sold there costs extra (obviously).

As of late September, a full listing of what vendors will be at Noel Surrey is yet to be announced.

Noel Surrey is a licensed event, which means that there are alcoholic beverages for purchase for those who are ages 19+. There is an LED Igloo Bar at the site alongside the food trucks and other dining areas.