Now in its 30th year — a daylong Christmas Market at the historic Orange Circle, capped by a candlelight choir procession, an orchestra, carols, and the ceremonial lighting of the grand Christmas tree at Plaza Square.
Each early December, the Old Towne Orange Plaza — known locally as The Orange Circle, where Chapman Avenue meets Glassell Street — hosts its 30-year-strong Tree Lighting Ceremony & Christmas Market. The event takes over the historic circular plaza from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, with the musical program beginning at 5:15 PM and the lighting itself capping the evening.
The musical program is genuinely distinctive: carols, an orchestra, and the Candlelight Choir Procession that’s been part of Orange’s December tradition for decades. The market runs through the day with local vendors, food, and seasonal goods around the circle. Admission is free; food and some activities have a cost.
For families in Orange, Villa Park, and across central OC, this is the season’s most architecturally beautiful holiday event — the plaza itself, ringed by intact Victorian-era storefronts, is the setting and the appeal. It’s one of the most genuinely place-rooted holiday traditions in OC.
At Old Towne Orange Plaza, also called The Orange Circle, at 1 Plaza Square (where Chapman Avenue meets Glassell Street).
The Christmas Market runs all day from 10:00 AM. The musical program begins at 5:15 PM with carols, an orchestra, and the Candlelight Choir Procession, with the tree lighting as the cap.
A long-standing Orange tradition where a choir processes through the Plaza by candlelight singing carols. It’s a defining part of the city’s holiday character and one of the more visually striking small-city traditions in OC.
Yes — the Metrolink Orange station is about a half-mile north of the Plaza along Lemon Street, served by the Orange County and Inland Empire–Orange County lines. The walk south to the Plaza takes about 10 minutes through downtown Orange’s historic streets. It’s a real option if you’d rather skip the parking crunch around the Circle.
Yes — the restaurants ringing the Plaza stay open through and after the event. A dinner reservation around the candlelight procession is the local move.
The Old Towne Orange Plaza — known locally as The Orange Circle — is a one-acre circular plaza at the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street. The Plaza is the centerpiece of the Old Towne Orange Historic District, a National Register district with the most intact concentration of pre-1940 commercial and residential architecture in Orange County. Antique shops, restaurants, and the original commercial buildings dating from the 1880s through the 1920s ring the circle. Chapman University is two blocks east; the Metrolink Orange station sits about a half-mile north along Lemon Street.
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