On Saturday, Dec. 5, the 18-foot tree supplied by the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District gets lit outside Prim Library on the University of Nevada's Lake Tahoe campus. That lighting closes IVCBA's Northern Lights Community Celebration, which runs from 3 to 5 p.m. One hour later, Diamond Peak's Ski Season Kickoff Party starts at Alibi Ale Works Incline Public House on Tahoe Boulevard. The resort's event page asks guests to "head over from the Northern Lights Community Celebration."
Incline Village's winter calendar opens with four days in a row, Thursday, Dec. 3 through Sunday, Dec. 6, and the organizers have timed their events to follow one another. The film festival, the school holiday market, the community celebration and the ski party leave room for each other. Only one piece is outside anyone's control, and that's the ski opening itself.
The one date that depends on snow
Diamond Peak plans to open for skiing and snowboarding on Thursday, Dec. 3, "conditions permitting." The resort announced that date on Sept. 29 and repeated it on its flex-pass page on Nov. 3. Every other event in this post has a fixed time, a fixed room and a ticket price. The opening day has a weather condition attached.
This year's snowmaking upgrade went to the base area. The resort added a TechnoAlpin TT10 tower-mounted fan gun and a TR10 movable fan gun there. That's where several trails meet and where the chairlift loading areas need extra snow. The history fits. Diamond Peak opened on Nov. 19, 1966, as Ski Incline, and it was the first resort in the West to add man-made snow to what fell naturally.
That November anniversary is why the 60th celebration carries into a second season. Opening day is one of the resort's $60 Deal Days. On those days every paid single-day lift ticket, whether adult, youth, child, senior or beginner, costs $60 when bought online. Other promotions don't stack with it, and the price doesn't apply to multi-day products. The resort says those tickets go on sale in mid-November. If you plan to ski Dec. 3, buy online in the next few weeks.
Thursday and Friday belong to the film fest and the school
If the lifts are turning on Thursday, the evening is still the same either way. The 12th Tahoe Film Fest opens at Incline Village Cinema with Paper Tiger at 6 p.m. and Rehearsals for a Revolution at 8:15 p.m. Its proceeds benefit the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, and it leads with environmental films alongside American independent work, new Latin American cinema and music documentaries. Tickets are $12 per film or $85 for an All-Film Pass. At that price, the pass pays for itself by the eighth film. That's a realistic count for anyone who plans to spend much of the weekend in the Incline Village Cinema seats.
Friday adds a second room. The Lake Tahoe School Holiday Market runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on the school campus at 995 Tahoe Boulevard. The film schedule at Incline Village Cinema starts at 5:30 p.m. with a pair of shorter films and a Donner Summit documentary that runs 50 minutes. After that come Ink at 7:15 p.m. and Once Upon a Time in Harlem at 9:30 p.m. That evening has two good routes: the market first and Ink second, or the 5:30 block and then the late film.
The festival also runs screenings across the state line at The Village Cinemas at Northstar, 3001 Northstar Dr. in Truckee. On Friday, Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff plays there at 5:30 p.m., followed by American Doctor at 7:30 p.m. The schedule notes free parking at Northstar after 3 p.m.
Saturday is where the events start to overlap
All of these Saturday events happen in Incline Village.
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1:30 p.m. | Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tahoe Film Fest | Incline Village Cinema |
| 2 p.m. | North Tahoe Community Choir Christmas Concert | St. Patrick's Church, 341 Village Blvd. |
| 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. | Northern Lights Community Celebration | Prim Library, UNR Lake Tahoe campus |
| 3:30 p.m. | Casting By, Tahoe Film Fest | Incline Village Cinema |
| 5:30 p.m. | A Song for a Snow Lion and Everest: The Other Side | Incline Village Cinema |
| 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Diamond Peak Ski Season Kickoff Party | Alibi Ale Works Incline Public House, 931 Tahoe Blvd. |
| 8:15 p.m. | Fjord | Incline Village Cinema |
The hardest choice falls at 3:30 p.m. The festival program says Casting By will be introduced by director Tom Donahue and Robert Roussel, who co-wrote the memoir the film is based on. The Tahoe Daily Tribune has identified Roussel as the festival's founder. That introduction falls in the same hours as the Northern Lights celebration, which IVCBA describes as the event that:
"brings the entire community together to kick off the holidays in Incline Village."
According to IVCBA, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on a North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District engine. The Incline Middle School Jazz Band plays, and Boys and Girls Club North Lake Tahoe puts on its Great Futures Holiday Show. More than 30 nonprofits decorate trees inside Prim Library, and each takes donations through a QR code on its ornaments. Attendees vote on the most original tree, the most decorated tree and the tree with the best theme. Students at Incline Elementary School make the ornaments for the big tree.
The choir concert is the easiest conflict to solve. The North Tahoe Community Choir repeats the program on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. at the same church. Admission is $25 in advance or $30 at the door.
The evening then moves to Alibi. Diamond Peak is co-hosting the party with Village Ski Loft. Entry is free, with food, drinks and raffle tickets for sale. The resort is offering prizes for the best ugly sweater or retro ski sweater. The party is part of the month-long Tahoe Northern Lights Celebration, which keeps its full calendar at NorthernLightsTahoe.com. Diamond Peak is also handing out free copies of its 60th anniversary poster at its special events. Local artist Bryn Merrell designed it from one of the resort's panoramic views of the lake.
Sunday is the long-film day
The festival's last day at Incline Village Cinema starts at 1 p.m. with All of a Sudden, which runs 3 hours 16 minutes. It continues with Surfilmusic at 4:45 p.m. and The Only Living Pickpocket in New York at 6:15 p.m., and closes with The Last Place on Earth at 8 p.m. Northstar's Sunday lineup includes Redemption River, Iron Boy and Jane Elliott Against the World. Sunday is also the most open day for skiing. If the mountain opened on schedule Thursday, a morning on the hill and a 4:45 screening fit in the same day.
The deadlines fall before the weekend does
Most of the weekend is pay-at-the-door or free. A few pieces have to be handled in November:
- $60 opening-day lift tickets. These are online only, and the resort says they go on sale in mid-November.
- Lake Tahoe School Turkey Trot, Thursday, Nov. 26. Registration opens at 8 a.m. at Duffield Hall, and the race starts at 9 a.m. IVCBA says the Northern Lights Tahoe festivities begin right after Thanksgiving.
- Diamond Peak 3-Day Flex Pass, by Nov. 30. The preseason price is $360 for adults, $300 for youth and seniors, and $150 for children. It's good for any three days of the 2026–27 season with no blackout dates, and the price goes up on Dec. 1.
- Film Fest All-Film Pass, $85. It's worth buying ahead for anyone planning to follow the schedule above for more than a few screenings.
What carries the season past Dec. 6
The handoffs continue into the following week. The choir's second performance is Dec. 8. On Dec. 12, IVCBA's Jingle & Mingle, which was once a mixer held in one location, becomes a shopping day across Incline Village's major shopping centers.
At the mountain, the new Get Lifted Coffee + Waffles trailer will serve espresso drinks, waffles and hot chocolate in the Base Area Plaza on busy weekends and holidays. Local DJ Dom Morelli hosts Friday Fundays après-ski parties at the Loft Bar on select Fridays, and they move out to the Loft Bar Sun Deck when the weather allows. Further out, the replacement of the mid-mountain Snowflake Lodge is in preliminary design with CCY Architects. The target is about 11,600 square feet with 160 indoor seats and 175 outdoor seats. The resort expects to ask the community for input in early 2027, likely in January or February.
Weekends like this one show what a community-owned ski hill, a film festival in its 12th edition and a business association can build together when they plan around each other, and that kind of local context shapes how we talk with clients about Incline Village. If the start of the season has you thinking about time at the lake, Bryan Drakulich and our team would be glad to talk through it with you. Work With Us.
