Two years ago, free streetcar rides during Downtown in December were a weekend perk. The 2024 holiday lineup listed "OKC Streetcar Free Weekend Rides" from November 15 to January 5, and on a Tuesday or Thursday you still paid a fare.
This season is the first since that ended. Fares on the OKC Streetcar are now free every day of the year. Look at the 2026 holiday calendar with that in mind and Thursday stands out. The season opens with the tree lighting on a Thursday, and in December, Thursday is the one weeknight when SPARKLE at Scissortail Park, the Devon Ice Rink and the Bricktown Canal caroling cruises all run on the same night. All of them sit along a line you no longer pay to ride.
A pilot that turned permanent in August
The Oklahoma Gazette reported that the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority adopted a resolution on Aug. 7, 2026, that ended streetcar fares and set up permanent zero-fare service. EMBARK had started a free-fare pilot in January. According to the ridership analysis the Gazette described, ridership from January through June 2026 ran an average of 71 percent higher month over month than the same months of 2025.
EMBARK Director Jesse Rush told the Gazette the streetcar can help "improve circulation, ease traffic congestion and support downtown businesses" as the city keeps investing downtown and gets ready for major events. The system runs seven days a week, with two loops, 22 stops and seven streetcars.
Free fares matter less on a weekend, when a lot of people were already downtown and the old weekend promotion covered the ride anyway. On a weeknight, the free fare is the change. The hours fit too. Per the Downtown in December streetcar page, service runs Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to midnight, Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Nothing on the holiday calendar runs later than the streetcar does.
The season's anchors, stop by stop
Here's where the main holiday events meet the line, using the stop names from EMBARK's system map and the event pages.
| Event | Where | Nearest stop | 2026 dates | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tree Lighting Festival | Mickey Mantle Plaza, 2 S. Mickey Mantle Drive | Mickey Mantle or Ballpark | Thursday, Nov. 12 | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., tree lit at 6 p.m. |
| Devon Ice Rink | Myriad Botanical Gardens | Myriad Gardens | Nov. 13 to Jan. 31 | Mon to Thu 3 to 9 p.m.; Fri 3 to 11 p.m.; Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sun 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| SPARKLE | Scissortail Park | Scissortail Park | Thu to Sun, Nov. 19 to Dec. 13; nightly Dec. 17 to 31 | 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. |
| SPARKLE Holiday Market | The Promenade, Upper Park, Scissortail Park | Scissortail Park | Saturdays, Nov. 28 and Dec. 12 | 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. |
| Holiday Pop-Up Shops | NW 10th & Hudson, Midtown | NW 10th | Fri to Sun, Nov. 27 to Dec. 20 | Weekends only |
The Tree Lighting Festival is free, and its event page points riders straight to the Mickey Mantle and Ballpark stops. The Midtown Holiday Pop-Up Shops do the same for the 10th and Hudson stop and promise rotating local shops, food and drinks, live music and Santa visits. The Devon Ice Rink is in its 15th season at Myriad Botanical Gardens. Myriad Gardens posts the current admission prices.
One thing the map does make clear is that the line doesn't reach the RIVERSPORT and Boathouse District area. On EMBARK's map, the network stays in the downtown and Bricktown core.
Why Thursday, and which Thursdays
The Tree Lighting Festival opens the season on Thursday, Nov. 12, and the Devon Ice Rink opens the next day. SPARKLE's first night is Thursday, Nov. 19, and through mid-December it runs Thursdays through Sundays. The rink is open every Thursday from 3 to 9 p.m. ArtAfloatOKC runs its 45-minute caroling cruises on the Bricktown Canal on Thursday and Friday evenings from Nov. 27 through Dec. 24.
Nov. 27 is a Friday, and Thanksgiving falls the day before, so the first Thursday when all three run is Dec. 3. The overlap repeats on these Thursdays:
- Dec. 3: SPARKLE, the Devon Ice Rink and ArtAfloat cruises
- Dec. 10: SPARKLE, the Devon Ice Rink and ArtAfloat cruises
- Dec. 17: SPARKLE's first nightly date, the Devon Ice Rink and ArtAfloat cruises
Fridays carry the same three plus the Midtown Pop-Ups. Monday through Wednesday, SPARKLE stays dark until its nightly stretch starts Dec. 17. That leaves those three Thursdays as the only weeknights when all three overlap, and in 2024 the free rides covered weekends only.
SPARKLE runs until 9:30 p.m. and the rink closes at 9 p.m. on Thursdays, while the streetcar keeps going until midnight. ArtAfloat lists fares of $25 regular, $22 for ages 6 to 12, $16 for ages 5 and under, and $23 for seniors 65 and older and active-duty military, tax included. Its page gives no departure times, so book the cruise first and plan the rest of the night around it.
SPARKLE's calendar moved earlier and got shorter
If you went to SPARKLE in its first year, last year's dates won't match. Scissortail Park introduced SPARKLE in 2025 as a new ticketed holiday walk. Visit OKC reported at the time that it was meant to raise money for the park while staying an affordable holiday outing. That first season ran Thursdays through Sundays from Nov. 21 to Dec. 14, then nightly from Dec. 18 through Jan. 4.
This year the season opens two days earlier, on Nov. 19 instead of Nov. 21, and ends Dec. 31 instead of running into January. The Thursday-to-Sunday stretch runs Nov. 19 to Dec. 13, and nightly dates run Dec. 17 to Dec. 31. Tickets are $9 online and $10 at the gate for ages 3 and up, ages 2 and under get in free, and members pay $4.50 online or $5 at the gate, according to Visit OKC's SPARKLE listing. The $1 difference makes buying ahead worth it. If you've been putting SPARKLE off until the week after New Year's, there are no January dates this time.
The Holiday Market changed more. In 2025 it ran on three Fridays, Dec. 5, 12 and 19. The 2026 SPARKLE Holiday Market is on two Saturdays, Nov. 28 and Dec. 12, from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the Promenade in the Upper Park. Nov. 28 is also Small Business Saturday on the Downtown in December calendar, and the Midtown Pop-Ups are open that weekend. That makes it the busiest Saturday of the season to shop.
Park once, at one of four garages
A free line works best if you only have to find parking once. EMBARK's Park Here, Ride Free page lists four garages:
- Arts Garage, 431 W. Main
- Sheridan Walker Garage, 501 W. Sheridan
- Century Center Garage, 100 W. Sheridan
- Convention Center Garage, 15 SW 4th
Downtown in December lists garage parking at $2 an hour or $15 for the day. EMBARK says a parking receipt also covers two riders on RAPID and the streetcar for 24 hours. The streetcar is free now anyway, so the receipt mostly matters for RAPID.
A Thursday plan built on this costs a few hours of parking and whatever tickets you buy. One car stays in one garage while you ride from the rink to Scissortail to the canal.
Weekends add Midtown and Automobile Alley
The weekend calendar spreads out from the line. The Downtown in December events page lists these:
- Merry Midtown's Santa Paws, Nov. 22 at Midtown Mutts Dog Park
- Saints Santa Run, Dec. 5, 9 a.m. to noon, starting at SSM Health St. Anthony, 535 NW 9th St.
- Lights on Broadway, Dec. 5 and 12 in Automobile Alley
- OKC Ballet's The Nutcracker, Dec. 11 to 21 at Civic Center Music Hall
The same page lists Red Earth Treefest from Nov. 13 to Jan. 1, the Myriad Gardens Holiday Poinsettia Show from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31, and the Metro Library Christmas Tree Lighting on Nov. 30. Deck the Hall of Fame is Dec. 12, the American Banjo Museum's Candy Cane Christmas is Dec. 13, and NYE Party in the Park closes the season on Dec. 31. Dec. 12 stands out. Lights on Broadway, the second SPARKLE Holiday Market and Deck the Hall of Fame all land that Saturday, and the streetcar runs until 2 a.m.
The holiday schedule shifts once. On Christmas Eve the streetcar runs 6 a.m. to midnight, and on Christmas Day it runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. New Year's Eve runs 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., which covers Party in the Park, and New Year's Day runs 6 a.m. to midnight.
Plenty of the people I work with split their time between a place in the city and land or a lake house a couple hours east, and a December weeknight downtown is one of the things they don't want to give up. If you're weighing how an Oklahoma City home fits with a weekend place on Lake Eufaula, Jeremy Grumbles can walk you through both sides of that move. Schedule your free consultation.
