Encinitas Holiday Street Fair 2026

“The Sunday before Thanksgiving, six blocks by the ocean close…”

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, six blocks of Historic Highway 101 in Encinitas close to traffic and fill with the unofficial kickoff to North County's holiday season. The Encinitas Holiday Street Fair has run for nearly forty years: hundreds of booths of handmade crafts, art, antiques, and ethnic imports, two stages of live music, street food and sweets, a beer-and-wine garden, and a family fun zone — all of it two blocks from the ocean with the coast breeze rolling through. It's a stroll-and-shop kind of day, the one where locals knock out holiday gifts from real makers instead of a mall, then grab a churro and catch a band. Admission and parking are free; come early for the good vendor finds and street parking. The Encinitas Holiday Street Fair runs Sunday, November 22, 2026, along South Coast Highway 101 in downtown Encinitas. Free admission. By dusk the string lights come on over Highway 101 and the whole town feels like it finally exhaled into the holidays.