In 1976, during the Bicentennial, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden came to Swedesboro to visit Trinity Episcopal "Old Swedes" Church. New Town Press recalled the visit this September in a feature on the congregation's USA 250 tribute, and it described the church as one of the earliest Swedish settlements in America. The king came to see the brick church on Kings Highway. Fifty years later, that same stretch of road is where the holiday season starts for Woolwich Township.
The season comes in two parts, a week apart. Swedesboro goes first on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Woolwich lights its own tree at Locke Ave Park the next Saturday. The older of the two, the one on Kings Highway, runs past a church that helped build the street it uses.
The Street the Church Once Owned
Swedish settlers founded Old Swedes in 1703. Church records quoted by New Town Press describe the first building as a cedar log structure chinked with mud, dedicated in 1705 as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church at Raccoon. The congregation built the current brick church on Kings Highway in 1784, and it is now on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1789 the congregation joined the Episcopal Church.
The church's history and the downtown's history are closely tied. Elaine Matteo has been a member for more than 60 years and was the congregation's first female senior warden. She told New Town Press that the church once owned all the land along Kings Highway. In the early years it rented parcels to newcomers, who opened stores, workshops and small businesses there.
"Without the church, the borough would not have been settled the way it was."
Matteo said that in the same New Town Press feature. So when floats and marching bands come down Kings Highway on November 28, they pass storefronts that started on rented church land.
November 28 Belongs to Kings Highway
The Historic Swedesboro event page calls the Annual Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting a holiday tradition held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year that's November 28, 2026. The day has two parts:
- 1 p.m., parade on downtown Kings Highway. The listing promises floats, marching bands, festive performers and Santa Claus.
- 6:30 p.m., tree lighting at Borough Hall.
That leaves about five and a half hours between the parade and the lighting. Historic Swedesboro also lists a Holiday Sip & Shop at participating Swedesboro businesses, but as of this writing its date and time are still marked "TBD." Keep an eye on the Sip & Shop listing as Thanksgiving gets closer. Whatever date it lands on, it will happen along the same street.
Last year's schedule followed the same pattern. New Town Press's 2025 holiday roundup listed the Swedesboro parade for Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, which was also the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The date changes each year, but the rule doesn't. Pencil it in as Thanksgiving weekend's Saturday.
A Week Later, Woolwich Lights Its Own Tree
Woolwich holds its own event at its own park. The township calendar lists the Locke Ave Park Annual Holiday Tree Lighting & Fireworks for December 5, 2026, at 6 p.m. The Woolwich Township event page carries the 2026 flyer, and that's the place to check for added details as the date gets closer.
For a sense of the night, here's what it looked like in 2025. New Town Press reported that the Dec. 6, 2025 event at Locke Ave. Park ran from 6 to 8 p.m., with Santa available for family pictures, cookies, hot chocolate and fireworks. A rain date was set for Sunday, Dec. 7. Those were last year's details. Confirm the 2026 program and any rain date on the township's page before you go.
The calendar works out neatly. Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so the Swedesboro parade and lighting come two days later. The Locke Ave fireworks come exactly one week after that. A family in Woolwich can go to both without having to pick one.
Santa Lucia Takes the Season Back to the Church
The parade passes Old Swedes, and the church also has a holiday tradition of its own that goes back to the people who founded it. According to New Town Press, the congregation still honors its Swedish heritage with Santa Lucia, a youth pageant with candle processions. In Sweden, St. Lucia's Day is a much-loved holiday that stands for light in the darkness of winter.
The church hasn't posted a 2026 date for the pageant yet. The Trinity Episcopal "Old Swedes" Church website is where the announcement will show up.
The church draws visitors in other seasons too. New Town Press reports that it keeps an Old Swedes Bible given to the congregation in 1938, plus archives of centuries-old receipts, records and letters. Visitors from around the country still come to Swedesboro to trace their roots in those records. The building itself was nearly lost in 1994, when its roof was found close to collapse. A major renovation followed and saved the structure.
The Supplies Come From Woolwich's Farm Roads
The celebrations happen in Swedesboro and at Locke Ave Park. The trees, wreaths and baked goods come from Woolwich's farm roads. New Jersey's Jersey Grown directory, run by the state Department of Agriculture, lists these growers and markets:
- Stecher's Country Store, 1028 Township Line Rd., Woolwich. Listed for Christmas trees, wreaths, grave blankets and a gift shop. It's the one Woolwich stop in the directory where a tree, a wreath and a gift are all available.
- Rode's Greenhouses, 41 Paulsboro Rd., Woolwich Township. Listed for wreaths and grave blankets.
Back on Township Line Road, a short way from Stecher's, G & G Farm Market at 1067 Township Line Road in Swedesboro advertises fresh-baked goods. The market posts daily hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but its note about holiday hours only covers holidays from April through October. Call ahead before planning a pie run around Thanksgiving or Christmas.
The state directory doesn't give seasonal hours for Stecher's or Rode's, and it doesn't say whether Stecher's trees are pre-cut or cut-your-own. Check with each business directly before the weekend you plan to go.
Put it on a map and the whole season stays close to home. The tree can come from Township Line Road, the parade runs down Kings Highway past a church founded in 1703, and the last fireworks go up over Locke Ave Park on December 5.
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