October 22, 2026
On Nov. 15, 2025, Braselton packed its whole holiday kickoff into one Saturday. The parade stepped off at 10:30 a.m., the festival ran until 7 p.m., and the tree lighting and a drone show ended the day. The year before followed the same plan, with a festival from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2024, and the tree lighting as its finale.
That changes this year. The tree lighting now has its own evening, Friday, Nov. 20, the night before the parade. Most of the season after that also runs on separate evenings, not on one long day. If you plan by the night, you get about 20 separate dates on the calendar between Nov. 20 and Dec. 23, and 14 of them are trolley tour nights.
The official parade listing on Explore Braselton states it plainly:
"NEW for 2026 - The annual tree lighting ceremony has been rescheduled. Join us for a Tree Lighting Celebration to be held on Friday, November 20, 2026 from 6 to 8 p.m."
The town hasn't given a reason for the move. The Tree Lighting Celebration page calls it an "inaugural holiday event" and still reads as a save-the-date, so the program hasn't been posted yet.
When you line up the three years, the shift is clear. The Saturday got shorter, and the lighting moved to the night before.
| Year | Parade day | Festival hours | Tree lighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Sat., Nov. 16 | 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. | Ended the Saturday |
| 2025 | Sat., Nov. 15 | 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Ended the Saturday, with a drone show |
| 2026 | Sat., Nov. 21 | 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. | Fri., Nov. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. |
In 2025, families who wanted the parade and the lighting stayed downtown for about nine hours. In 2026 they can come Friday night for the lighting and come back Saturday morning for the parade, with no nine-hour day. The 2026 parade listing doesn't mention a drone show.
One note if you search for times online. A statewide tourism listing still pairs the Nov. 21 date with an older schedule that puts the tree lighting on Saturday evening. For 2026, go by the town's own Explore Braselton pages.
These details are confirmed for the first standalone lighting:
The trolley runs until 11 p.m., three hours after the lighting ends. That leaves plenty of time for dinner downtown before you go home. Performers, vendors, and whether Santa will be there haven't been announced. Check the event page closer to the date.
The Celebrate the Holidays Parade & Festival is free. The 2026 theme is "Magic of the Holiday Season."
The parade, 10:30 a.m. It starts on Hwy. 53 at the entrance to the Braselton TechCenter and heads south through downtown. It turns right on Henry Street past Town Hall, follows Harrison Street by Braselton Park, passes the Braselton Library on Davis Street, and ends on Hwy. 124 at Free Chapel. If you're watching with small children, the Henry Street and Harrison Street stretch keeps you near the Town Green, so you can head straight to the festival afterward.
The Holiday Marketplace, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Vendors on the Town Green sell holiday gifts, and food is for sale. Live reindeer, Santa, and community performers fill out the day.
The Welcome Center at The Mill, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The historic Enterprise Roller Mill has a market of locally made gifts and a museum about the early-1900s mill. Its regular hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, so festival day is one of the few chances to visit on a Saturday.
Getting there. Use the same two lots as Friday: the deck on E. Lake Dr. and the Municipal Complex on Hwy. 53. The free trolley runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The town's event page links a Google map with the parade route, activity locations, and parking. Road closure times for Hwy. 53 haven't been posted, so check that map and the town's notices before you leave.
With the opening weekend split into Friday night and Saturday, the rest of the calendar follows suit. Most of what comes next happens after dark, on weeknights or on single days:
With the town's lighting on Nov. 20 and Chateau Elan's on Dec. 4, Braselton has two tree lightings two weeks apart. Both are free, and both start at 6 p.m. on a Friday.
Davis Street may also look different by the end of the season. MainStreet News reported that the former A Flea Antique building at 10101 Davis St. is being turned into 15 commercial suites. Completion is projected for as early as December, and a hair salon and a boutique are among the planned tenants. The timeline is still a projection, so don't count on seeing new shops during trolley season.
The trolley tours are the only event on this list where you buy tickets for a set departure time, and those tickets go on sale Sunday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m. That's the Sunday after next, almost three weeks before the tree lighting.
Here's how the tours work, from the Holiday Lights Trolley Tours page:
The tours run only Sunday through Thursday, so they'll never conflict with the Friday lightings or the Saturday markets above. The listing also points out that hot cocoa, ice cream, dinner, and drinks are within walking distance of the stop. A 6:00 departure gets you back by 7, early enough for a weeknight dinner at Mulberry Walk. Group tours are booked through a separate page on Explore Braselton.
If you're thinking about listing your Braselton home in the new year, the weeks between the trolley tours and Christmas are a good time to plan. NP Sells Homes can map out pricing, photography, and timing now, so your home is ready to go live when buyers start looking again. Get a Free Seller Strategy.
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