Between Friday, December 18 and Tuesday, December 22, every Christmas Ship sailing leaves from Kirkland City Dock. That adds up to 14 departures over five straight days. Only one of the 14 turns its choir toward a Kirkland park. The rest sing to Madison Park, Magnuson Park, Matthews Beach, Yarrow Point, Madrona Beach Park, Log Boom Park, Luther Burbank Park and a string of private beach clubs.
If you watch from shore, Kirkland's season comes down to three dates. Kirkland Parks and Community Services runs a free bonfire at three waterfront parks on the nights the ship stops there. Those are O.O. Denny Park on November 28, Juanita Beach Park on December 12 and Marina Park on December 18. On every other night of the festival, the ship docked down the street is singing to somebody else's beach.
What leaves from Kirkland, and where it sings
The 2026 Argosy Christmas Ship Festival runs November 27 through December 23. Kirkland is one of its busiest home ports this year. Here is every Kirkland departure, along with where each sailing's shoreline performance happens.
| Date | Departs from | Shoreline stops |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Carillon Point | O.O. Denny Park, Covenant Shores, Beaux Arts private event |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Kirkland City Dock | Medina Beach Park, Juanita Beach Park, Meydenbauer Bay |
| Fri., Dec. 18 | Kirkland City Dock | Kirkland Marina Park, Log Boom Park |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Kirkland City Dock | Madison Park, Warren G. Magnuson Park, Sheridan Beach Club private event |
| Sun., Dec. 20 | Kirkland City Dock | Windermere Beach Club, Laurelhurst Beach Club, Lake Forest Park Civic Club, all private events |
| Mon., Dec. 21 | Kirkland City Dock | Matthews Beach, Yarrow Point, Luther Burbank Park |
| Tue., Dec. 22 | Kirkland City Dock | Parkshore and Seattle Tennis Club, both private events, then Madrona Beach Park |
Kirkland City Dock was a departure point last year too. In 2025 the ship left from there on November 29 and 30 and again on December 19, 21 and 22. What's new in 2026 is the unbroken five-day run at the end of the festival. That means more evenings with the ship lit up at the dock and boarding downtown, and still only one evening when the choir faces a Kirkland crowd on shore.
Argosy says shoreline events are organized by local communities, not by the cruise company, and it marks stops with a planned public bonfire or onshore event with an asterisk. In Kirkland, that local organizer is the City. Its bonfires are hosted by City staff and last about 20 minutes during each ship stop.
The three nights that belong to Kirkland's shoreline
Each of the three stops lands at a different time of day, in a different part of town, and alongside different events.
- Saturday, November 28, 2:35 p.m., O.O. Denny Park, 12302 Holmes Point Dr NE. This is the afternoon stop, made by the 2 p.m. sailing out of Carillon Point. The choir is Travelin' Lite, and kids on board get Cookies with Santa.
- Saturday, December 12, 5:35 p.m., Juanita Beach Park, 9703 NE Juanita Dr. This is the after-dark stop at the north end of town, made by the 5 p.m. sailing from Kirkland City Dock with MixCapella on board.
- Friday, December 18, 5:10 p.m., Marina Park, 25 Lakeshore Plaza. This is the downtown stop. The ship sings within minutes of leaving the dock, with the Holy Names Vocal Ensemble aboard.
All three bonfires are free. The City says any of them can be canceled for bad weather or a burn ban, and it runs a Bonfire Hotline at 425-587-3345 for day-of updates. The City's Community Bonfires at the Park page lists all three in one place.
The Marina Park night is the easiest to pair with the rest of a downtown evening. It falls the night after the Kirkland Downtown Association's Sips and Sweaters Wine Walk, which runs Thursday, December 17, from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 in advance or $45 at the door, and it's 21+ with ID. Both 18th sailings also offer a 21+ Follow Boat for anyone who wants to be on the water instead of on the beach.
O.O. Denny on November 28 takes some planning
The first Kirkland stop comes with the most practical details to sort out. The City reports that the pedestrian bridge connecting O.O. Denny's parking lot and restroom to the park is closed because of tree damage from late 2025. The park itself is open, and the City is planning a replacement bridge.
A few other details from the City's O.O. Denny Park page matter for a late-November visit:
- The park has two parking lots, one on each side of Holmes Point Drive, plus limited street parking.
- The restroom building is usually open March through October. From about November to March, a portable toilet is on site instead.
- Northshore Utility District has deep trench work planned on both sides of Holmes Point Drive near the park. While that work is underway, the park can be reached from only one direction off Juanita Drive NE, either from 76th Place NE or from Holmes Point Drive near NE 141st, and the City asks visitors to follow detour signs and allow extra travel time.
- The park is owned by the City of Seattle and managed and maintained by the City of Kirkland.
The park is worth visiting even outside the 20-minute ship window. On the northeast side of Holmes Point Drive, O.O. Denny has trails, Denny Creek, and some of the oldest and tallest trees in the area.
November 28 is Kirkland's fullest day of the season
The O.O. Denny stop is just the start of the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Three separate events, run by three different organizers, fill the afternoon and evening:
- 2:00 p.m. The Christmas Ship leaves Carillon Point.
- 2:35 to 2:55 p.m. The shoreline performance and City bonfire at O.O. Denny Park.
- 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. WinterFest at Kirkland Urban, 425 Urban Plaza, presented with the Kirkland Downtown Association. It's free and includes photos with Santa in his sleigh, live ice sculpting, Enchanted Farms' alpacas, balloon creations by Hoopla, carolers from Premier Vocal Entertainment, and line-dancing lessons with the Boot Boogie Babes.
- 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. The Winterfest Tree Lighting at Peter Kirk Park Plaza, 202 Third Street, a short walk from the Kirkland Urban plaza.
- 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. Two more sailings leave Carillon Point. Their shoreline stops are Covenant Shores and a private Beaux Arts event, not Kirkland parks.
Kirkland Urban's posted rule for WinterFest is that minors must be with an adult at all times while on the property.
What fills the weeks between the ship nights
The gaps between the three bonfires are filled with downtown events.
Starting Thursday, November 19, the Kirkland Downtown Association puts out two Santa mailboxes, one at the corner of Kirkland Avenue and Lake Street and one at Urban Plaza. They stay out through December 19, and the KDA asks kids to include a return address so Santa can write back.
On Friday, December 4, from 5 to 7 p.m., Google Lights fills Feriton Spur Park at 509 6th Street S with more than 10,000 lights. The night also has a petting area at the pickleball court and a visit from Mortimer, the moose the KDA bills as everyone's favorite, who will walk the event posing for photos.
Kirkland Performance Center has two holiday shows booked in the week before the Juanita Beach night. Geoffrey Castle's Celtic Christmas: 20th Anniversary Tour plays Saturday, December 5 at 2 and 7 p.m., and Christmas With The Carpenters plays Wednesday, December 9 at 7 p.m.
From there the calendar circles back to the water. Juanita Beach Park on December 12 and Marina Park on December 18 are the last two nights the choir sings to a Kirkland park. After that the ship keeps leaving from Kirkland City Dock through December 22 and sings to other shorelines, and the festival ends December 23 with sailings out of Lake Union Park.
If the Marina Park bonfire is on your calendar this year, it's a good excuse to walk the waterfront blocks around Lakeshore Plaza and the City Dock. And if you'd like to talk through what living near any of these parks is like, Abby Quinto is glad to share what she knows about Kirkland's shoreline. Schedule a Consultation whenever it suits you.
