The town council has not yet published a 2026 date. Here is what is confirmed, what 2025 looked like, and the nearby festive dates already fixed.

There is no published date for the Haywards Heath Christmas Festival and light switch-on in 2026. We checked the town council’s festival page, its events calendar and the business association’s page on 5 September, and none of them carries one.

That is worth stating plainly, because two of the three sources people find first are out of date and will send you to the wrong day.

What the sources actually say

Haywards Heath Town Council’s Christmas Festival page is still last year’s. It opens with a thank you rather than an announcement: “Thank you to everyone who joined us on Saturday 22nd November to celebrate the start of the festive season with the annual Christmas Festival and Light Switch On.” That was 2025. (Haywards Heath Town Council)

Its events calendar stops before the festive season. The council’s Events and Activities listing runs only as far as mid-September 2026 and has no Christmas entry at all. (Haywards Heath Town Council)

The business association’s page names 23 November, with no year. Haywards Heath Business Association still hosts a sponsorship page for “our new forthcoming Christmas Festival event on 23rd November”. There is no year on it, and 23 November does not fall on a Saturday in 2026, so it is not this year’s date. (Haywards Heath Business Association)

The remembrance page has the same problem. It still gives “Sunday 9th November 2025” as the next event. Remembrance Sunday in 2026 is 8 November, and the council has not published its arrangements. (Haywards Heath Town Council)

When it is likely to land

The 2025 festival was on Saturday 22 November. The comparable Saturdays in 2026 are 21 and 28 November. The council has not indicated which, and we are not going to treat either as a date until it does.

Two neighbouring councils have already fixed theirs, which is a fair guide to when Haywards Heath will announce: East Grinstead published its 21 November switch-on in a printed events booklet back in May, and Burgess Hill’s four-day festival from 26 to 29 November has been up since the summer.

What the festival is, when it runs

The 2025 event ran on the Saturday afternoon and used three indoor venues rather than a single street market: Centenary Hall, the United Reformed Church and Haywards Heath Baptist Church, with stalls, food and gifts spread between them and entertainment through the afternoon. The light switch-on happened on the same day.

Two things ran alongside it and are likely to return:

  • The Christmas Window Trail, a free trail between the three festival venues, spotting hidden gifts in shop windows and recording them on a paper sheet returned to the Town Hall for a prize. In 2025 it stayed open until Christmas Day.
  • The Best Dressed Window competition, voted for by the public and sponsored by Mid Sussex District Council. The 2025 winners were Oathall Veterinary Group in the non-retail category and Paws on Track in retail.

Parking

District pay and display charges in Haywards Heath run 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sundays and bank holidays, so a Saturday afternoon festival falls inside charging hours from start to finish. (Mid Sussex District Council)

One local quirk worth knowing: the Dolphin Leisure Centre car park is not pay and display but a touchscreen site, where you enter the registration before using the centre, and it gives three hours with no return within two. Charges for the rest of the district’s car parks are on our parking page.

The festive dates near Haywards Heath that are confirmed

Date Event Where
Sat 7 Nov Cuckfield Charitable Bonfire and Fireworks Cuckfield Park
Sat 21 Nov Christmas lights switch-on and Big Reveal East Grinstead High Street
Thu 26 to Sun 29 Nov Christmas Festival and lights switch-on Church Walk, Burgess Hill
Sun 6 Dec, 11am to 3pm Christmas market East Court and Meridian Hall, East Grinstead

Details for each are on our Burgess Hill Christmas Festival, East Grinstead switch-on and Mid Sussex fireworks pages.

Telling the council about an event

Haywards Heath Town Council takes event submissions for its calendar from anyone running something in the town or in Cuckfield, Lindfield or Wivelsfield, through the register your event form on its website. Its events team is at eventsandcommunity@haywardsheath.gov.uk.

We will update this page the day a 2026 date is published.

Sources