Oberstrass's Turnip Lantern Parade: The Only One That Really Sets Off in the Dark
✓ Checked at the source · as of 9 September 2026
A turnip lantern parade promises an image: children's hands, carved turnips, light in the dark. Most deliver only half of it, because they start at 17:30 or 18:00 and spend the first twenty minutes in twilight. Oberstrass sets off at 19:00 — the only one in this survey.
📅 Parade 2026 — when and where
A single Friday – miss it and you wait a year.
Räbeliechtliumzug Oberstrass
✓Friday, 6 November 2026 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Quartierverein Oberstrass (QVO)
The latest start in the entire survey: elsewhere the parades set off at 17:30 or 18:00, here only at 19:00 — the only one that steps off in full darkness.
Source: qvo.ch · checked on 9 September 2026
🕐 Start time and running order
Where there are two groups, each start is listed separately — an average would be wrong for both.
Start: 19:00–20:00
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| Session | Run | Opening hours | Date set? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Räbeliechtliumzug Oberstrass | Fri 6 Nov | 19:00–20:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
🚋 Meeting point & transport with stop
- Meeting point
- Pausenplatz Schulhaus Scherr
✨ Highlights on site
What sets this parade apart from every other one is not in its date.
An hour's difference sounds like scheduling. In November it is the difference between two different evenings. Set off at 17:30 and you light your turnip while the sky is still grey and see nobody glowing for the first stretch. Set off at 19:00 and from the first step you have the picture you came for.
That is the trade Oberstrass makes — and it has a flip side worth knowing in advance: you are back at 20:00. For a kindergarten child that means the walk home, getting undressed and supper after eight. This parade is built for schoolchildren; not against the little ones, but not for them either.
On the same evening, 6 November 2026, 4 other parades set off in the dataset — among them Küttigen, which starts at 18:00 for 45 minutes and is explicitly for kindergarten children. Same night, same idea, one hour apart and a completely different audience. If you have two children of different ages, this is the clearest choice of the whole season.
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🎯 Practical tips for the evening
In Oberstrass the time decides everything — the picture, and the question of who comes along.
- 1For early planners: 8 of the season's 17 events start later than this one.
- 2Scherr school playground – meet at the entranceThe playground is easy to find but broad and unlit in the evening. If you are meeting others, the entrance works better than «on the playground».
- 3The turnip has to be still burning at 19:00At the early parades you light up shortly before the start. Here more time passes between preparing at home and setting off — a spare tea light in your pocket saves the discussion on a dark playground.
- 4There are alternatives for younger children the same evening6 November 2026 is one of the best-documented evenings of the season. If the late start doesn't suit, there are earlier parades on the same date — the canton page lists them.
📊 Season comparison with nearby villages
Where this parade sits in the season — and which neighbouring village walks on the same evening.
Each bar is a documented evening. Dark = this parade, light = the nearest ones. A parade lasts an hour and often falls on the same evening as another — read only a date and you miss that the next village sets off at the same minute.
- Zurich · OberstrassRäbeliechtliumzug Oberstrass
🗺️ Nearby parades
In Zurich, lantern parades are a neighbourhood matter: Oberstrass has its own, Oerlikon its own, Albisrieden its own. In the canton of Zurich the ConvivaPlus survey lists 12 parades; nationwide, 22 entries with 17 documented dates, the season running from 30 October 2026 to 14 November 2026.
Being able to say which parade starts latest is itself a result of the ConvivaPlus survey: it presupposes a start time read at a first-hand source (organiser or municipality) for every entry. The densest evening of the season is 6 November 2026, with 5 parades at once.
More turnip lantern parades in the canton of Zurich
All of the canton of Zurich→❓ FAQ — answered
Answers from the verified dataset – no date is carried over from last year.
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Related questions from our magazine
The recorded parades set off between 17:30 and 19:00. At the earliest ones you walk the first minutes in twilight; only Oberstrass steps off in full darkness. The survey lists 12 parades in the canton of Zurich.
The start time is the best guide. On 6 November 2026 a 45-minute parade for kindergarten children and this one at 19:00 fall on the same evening — same idea, two different audiences.
More so at a late start than an early one: more time passes between lighting up at home and setting off, and a candle that has gone out on a dark playground is harder to replace than in the living room.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
Oberstrass is the only parade in this survey that fully delivers the image lantern parades are advertised with everywhere. That is not a small difference, it is the very reason to come — and it costs nothing but supper an hour later.
Our recommendation is therefore age-dependent, and we say so plainly: for schoolchildren Oberstrass is the best choice in the canton.
Freshness note: Time and meeting point come from the Quartierverein Oberstrass (as of 9 September 2026). Nothing is published about what happens in heavy rain — unlike Biglen, where the proviso is explicit.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Turnip Lantern Dataset 2026 – Zurich · Oberstrass →
- ◆An hour in November is not a detail but a different evening. With a 17:30 start you walk the first quarter of an hour in twilight — the turnips glow, but they do not stand out. At 19:00 the ratio is reversed: from the first step you see nothing but light.
- ◆In 2026 the first day falls on a Friday.
How we check
Every date comes from the organiser's, the municipality's or the canton's own site — never from an aggregator, never copied over from last year. Next to each source is the date we last read it.
Something missing or changed? A note below is enough; we check it at the source.
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It only starts at 19:00 – an evening outing.
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🏮 Turnip lantern parade · 10 September 2026