On Friday morning, November 6, vendors open in the Downtown Commuter Parking Lot on S.E. Railroad Avenue in Ponchatoula for the fall run of Antique Trade Days. Tangi Tourism counts more than 200 local and national sellers of antiques, crafts, collectibles and original art. On Saturday, November 7, the gates open at 46468 River Road in Hammond for the first day of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival.
Those two openings land within a day of each other, and that overlap sets up the next six weeks. The festival's 2026 season has six themed weekends, from November 7 to December 13. The parish's other holiday dates fall on or next to those weekends: a shopping Saturday, a tree lighting, and two Christmas parades. Thanksgiving comes in the middle of that run. The holiday season here starts on November 6.
The opening weekend packs in the most
From Friday, November 6, through Sunday, November 8, the calendar is busier than on any other weekend of the season. Here it is in order:
- Friday, Nov. 6, morning. Ponchatoula Antique Trade Days opens. The Chamber's event page lists 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the Chamber's own calendar shows an 8 a.m. start on all three days. If you want first pick, plan for the earlier time.
- Friday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. Southeastern's Wine with Friends fundraiser is at Sims Memorial Library. Doors open at 6:30, reservations are $95, and no tickets are sold at the door.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 8 a.m. to noon. The Hammond Farmers & Artisans Market sets up at the Downtown Pavilion, 213 SW Railroad Ave., as it does every Saturday of the year.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m. The Renaissance Festival opens for its Fae & Fantasy weekend.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Thanksgiving Shred-Fest & Food Drive runs at Zemurray Park. Drop-off is free for paper to shred, old electronics, and non-perishable food for Our Daily Bread.
- Sunday, Nov. 8. Day two of the festival and the last day of Trade Days.
Saturday morning has the most going on. Downtown Hammond has the market and the shred drop-off a few hours apart. Ponchatoula's Railroad Avenue lot is in its busiest Trade Days stretch. River Road has its first festival crowd. You can do the shred and food drop at Zemurray Park and still make the market before it closes at noon, as long as you get going before 10.
Trade Days has a back story many people in town may not know. The Chamber says the first event was planned for November 2005 and was pushed back because of Hurricane Katrina, so the series started in 2006. It runs twice a year, on the first weekend of March and the first weekend of November. The spring 2027 dates are already listed as March 5 to 7.
The festival sets the pace for six weekends
The Renaissance Festival's own site says it has been a fall tradition for more than 25 years and was founded by veterans. The Hammond Star named Alvin Brumfield as founder and director and called the 2023 season its 24th edition. Each weekend has its own theme, and the festival lists the 2026 themes on its site. Here is each one next to what else is on the parish calendar that weekend:
| Weekend | Festival theme | Also on the calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 7–8 | Fae & Fantasy | Antique Trade Days from Nov. 6; Hammond market and Shred-Fest on Nov. 7 |
| Nov. 14–15 | Pirate | No other large parish events listed |
| Nov. 21–22 | Celtic | No other large parish events listed |
| Nov. 27–29 | Lore & Legends | Ponchatoula's Shop Small day, Saturday, Nov. 28 |
| Dec. 5–6 | Viking | Christmas Lighting on the Ponchatoula Chamber calendar the evening before, Friday, Dec. 4; Hammond Rotary Christmas Parade, Saturday, Dec. 5 |
| Dec. 12–13 | Yuletide & Fireworks | Ponchatoula Christmas Parade, Saturday, Dec. 12 |
On the Pirate and Celtic weekends in mid-November, the festival is the main event. Those two weekends are the easiest time for a River Road day without a parade or a downtown crowd somewhere else in the parish.
Thanksgiving weekend falls inside the run
The festival's Lore & Legends weekend covers the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 27 to 29, which makes it the only weekend of the season with a Friday. The Ponchatoula Chamber's calendar marks Saturday, November 28, as Shop Small, an all-day listing.
That gives families with guests in town a choice of two things to do on the same weekend. Shopping small in Ponchatoula is one option. A full day in a 14th-century setting on River Road is the other. Tangi Tourism describes the festival as part theme park, part shopping destination and part educational experience, with more than a dozen professional performers and over 50 shows. The festival's homepage puts the full group of artisans, performers and craftspeople at more than 600. Those are the numbers to know if you are planning around a houseful of guests.
The ticket details that shape the plan
Festival admission is listed on the ticket page at $31.18 plus tax for ages 13 and up and $15.74 plus tax for ages 6 to 12. Children 5 and under get in free. Tickets are sold online for a specific date, and parking is free.
Because tickets are tied to a date, you need to pick your weekend before you buy. With 13 festival days this season, that choice decides the rest of your plans. A family that buys for Saturday, December 5, has the Viking theme during the day and the Hammond parade downtown that evening. A family that buys for Saturday, November 14, has the Pirate theme and nothing else to plan around. Gates open at 9 a.m. Check the festival's site before you go for closing times and parking directions.
December brings three evening events
The last two weekends are busiest after dark, and there is less room for mistakes.
A Christmas Lighting comes first, listed on the Ponchatoula Chamber's calendar for Friday, December 4, from 5 to 10 p.m. The next evening, the Hammond Rotary Club holds its 68th annual Christmas Parade downtown. The Rotary's parade page lists the start as 6 p.m. The Ponchatoula Chamber's calendar shows the Hammond parade at 5 p.m., so go by the Rotary's time since the Rotary runs the parade. According to an17.com, the parade will have floats, marching clubs and high school bands, and registration is open to businesses, schools, civic groups and auto clubs at hammondrotary.com. Rotary member Michelle Gallo told the outlet:
"For 68 years, families have made this parade part of their Christmas traditions, and we are excited to continue that tradition and make this year's parade one to remember."
A week later, everything wraps up on the same day. Ponchatoula's Christmas Parade is on the Chamber calendar for Saturday, December 12, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. That is the opening day of the festival's final weekend, Yuletide & Fireworks, December 12 and 13. If your household wants both a parade and the festival's last weekend, Sunday the 13th is open for River Road, or you can spend Saturday at the festival and drive to Ponchatoula by late afternoon.
After December 13, the festival closes for the year. The next big date on the Tangi Tourism listing is Antique Trade Days on March 5 to 7, 2027, back in the same Railroad Avenue lot where this season starts on November 6.
The team at Stedman Ulmer Properties knows the Tangipahoa calendar as well as the land: which weekends are busy, which roads fill up, and how a parish this size works week to week. If this holiday season has you thinking about a place closer to Hammond, Ponchatoula or the open country north of them, start with Search Properties or call our team to talk it through.
