Manassas Christmas Parade, Tree Lighting 2018: Schedules, Routes

MANASSAS, VA—This weekend unofficially begins a string of holiday events in and around Manassas, and two of the more prominent ones are on tap. There's "Santa Lights Manassas," also known as the tree lighting, 5:15 p.m. Friday at Manassas Museum, which will be followed 10 a.m. Saturday by the 73rd annual Greater Manassas Parade.

Santa will arrive around 6:15 p.m. Friday on the VRE train at the Manassas Depot, and light the tree around 6:45 p.m. Click here for tree lighting street closures.

That's just a prelude, mind you, to the venerable Christmas parade that's among the biggest in Northern Virginia, if not the state. We're talking marching bands, floats, giant balloons and more. This year's theme: "A Rockin' Christmas."

Click here for the p arade route.

Images and video via Manassas Christmas Parade