Pacific Beach's December 12 Turns on a Four O'Clock Handoff
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
At 5 a.m. on Saturday, December 12, Garnet Avenue starts to close between Mission Boulevard and Ingraham Street. By 8 a.m. the first wave of Santa suits is running out from 912 Garnet. At 1 p.m. the 46th Annual Pacific Beach Holiday Parade comes down the same pavement. At 4 p.m. the barricades are scheduled to come down. That is also when the Catamaran Resort's North Lawn opens on Mission Bay for the Parade of Lights, which starts at 5:30.
The neighborhood's biggest holiday Saturday runs as one relay. It starts on Garnet in the morning and ends on the bay after dark, and the ninety minutes between 4 and 5:30 p.m. connect the two halves. The parking rules, the street closures and the best places to watch the boats all follow from that timing.
The San Diego Santa Run is in its 14th year. Its organizer, San Diego Running Co., says more than 45,000 Santas have taken part since it began, and USA Today has named it the country's best fun run four years running. The start and finish line is at 912 Garnet Avenue. The 5K costs $59.99 to enter, and the event fills the morning in layers: a 5K at 8 a.m., a second 5K at 10, the kids' mile at 11:30 and the dog mile at noon.
That schedule matters for anyone who isn't running. The Santa Run's road closure plan is what sets Garnet's closure from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. The street closes for the run first, then stays closed through the parade. A car parked on the affected blocks Friday night is in the way well before sunrise.
The parade takes over the street the run has just used. Discover PB, the neighborhood's business association, lists the 46th Annual Pacific Beach Holiday Parade for 1 p.m. along Garnet Avenue from Haines Street to Bayard Street, with this year's theme, "Holiday Magic." Last year's theme was "Candy Coated Holiday." The route has stayed the same: in 2025 the parade also ran from Haines to Bayard, as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The stacked schedule is a tradition. On Saturday, December 13, 2025, the Santa Run took the morning and the parade followed at 1 p.m., as Times of San Diego reported. That night the Mission Bay boat parade went out at 5:30. This year the same three events fall on December 12, in the same order.
These are the closures the Santa Run organizer has posted for December 12.
| Street | Segment | Closed |
|---|---|---|
| Garnet Avenue | Mission Boulevard to Ingraham Street | 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Bayard Street | Hornblend Street to the alley north of Garnet | 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Cass Street | Alley south of Garnet to Turquoise Street | 8 a.m. to noon |
| Felspar Street | Gresham Street to Ingraham Street | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Haines Street | Felspar Street to the alley south of Garnet | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
No-parking rules start at 5 a.m. on parts of all five streets. Cass's restriction ends at noon, and the rest run until 4 p.m. Cass is the only street on the list that reopens before the parade. Felspar and Haines close at 8 a.m., three hours after Garnet and Bayard, so the first morning hours on those two streets are still open to traffic.
Garnet, Bayard, Felspar and Haines are all scheduled to reopen at 4 p.m. Across the neighborhood, the Catamaran Resort Hotel & Spa opens its North Lawn Parade Viewing Party at 4 p.m. as well, and it runs until 9. According to Discover Mission Bay, the lawn will have an outdoor hot chocolate bar with hot cider, mulled wine, coffee and a choice of liqueurs, plus light snacks and sweets. Guests are asked to bring their own blankets and chairs.
That leaves ninety minutes between the street reopening and the first boats. For a household that watched the parade from Garnet, it is time to go home, get warmer layers and a folding chair, and head toward the bay before the boats go out. For anyone who skipped the afternoon, it is the first hour of the day when cars can move freely through the middle of Pacific Beach again.
Mission Bay Yacht Club has organized the holiday boat parade for decades. Discover Mission Bay says SeaWorld's fireworks open the evening. The club describes the event as a community parade of decorated boats, often more than 100, sailing around Mission Bay after sunset. San Diego Tourism Authority's event listing runs the evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Last year's course, as the Union-Tribune described it, started at SeaWorld, went west, then north, then east, and ended at the Mission Bay Beach Club. The paper listed Bahia Resort, Catamaran Resort, The Dana, the Hyatt Regency and Paradise Point among the resorts near the route, and it noted that watching was free.
Several bayfront hosts have planned evenings for December 12:
The other big boat parade of the season, the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, runs December 13 and 20 at 5:30 p.m. on the downtown bayfront, on a route that heads toward Coronado rather than Pacific Beach. Its 2026 theme is "Liberty Lights the Bay – Cheers to 250 Years." For Pacific Beach, the Mission Bay parade on the 12th is the one on the neighborhood's side of the water.
The season in Pacific Beach starts a week before the big Saturday, at the ocean end of Garnet. Discover PB's 2026 event lineup lists Christmas on Crystal Pier for Saturday, December 5. Photos with Santa run from 2 to 4:30 p.m., and the tree is lit at 4:45. The event page runs the afternoon from 2 p.m. to sunset. The same lineup includes Holiday Wreaths on Crystal Pier.
The pier afternoon has no road closures listed and no 5 a.m. start. It ends at sunset with one tree, so families can do Santa photos at a smaller scale before the twelfth, or skip the crowds on Garnet altogether.
If family is coming in for the twelfth and the visit turns into a conversation about a parent's home in Pacific Beach, or what comes next for a house that has held many holidays, I'm here to help. Kathleen Westwood offers a confidential consultation and home valuation, scheduled around your family's calendar, not the parade's.
If you're looking for a partner who combines local expertise with a passion for helping people, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm ready to assist you every step of the way.