"Our Christmas parade has more than 100 entries, and we want everyone to get the most out of the night," parade organizer Paige Ashe-McLean told the Hardin County Courier in its Nov. 5 edition. The night she means is Monday, Dec. 7, at 6:30 p.m., between two weekends of Christmas on Main.
Look at the whole 2026 calendar and the pattern holds. Savannah's big holiday events are spread out so they rarely land on the same night. The shopping kickoff gets its own weekend in November. Christmas on Main gets Friday and Saturday evenings. The parade gets a weeknight that nothing else is using. The exception is the weekend of Dec. 11 and 12, when Pickwick Landing State Park and downtown Savannah both have events, and Saturday the 12th has the fullest schedule. You can fill that whole day from a Lodge breakfast to the skating at Savannah Market.
November 14 and 15 Start the Season Early
The first holiday weekend comes three weeks before anything lights up downtown. On Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15, two events run at once in two parts of town.
- Holiday Mart at the Hardin County Fairgrounds, 685 Clifton Road: Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.
- Downtown Savannah Christmas Open House: Main Street businesses start the season with sales and specials, according to the Courier's Oct. 29 community calendar.
The Holiday Mart closes early on Sunday, so Saturday gives you the most time. The fairgrounds is open all day, and downtown is a short drive away. You can do both in one Saturday without rushing either.
Another deadline falls the following day. Applications for the Mistletoe Market, the artisan market inside The Venue at 454 Main Street during Christmas on Main, are due Monday, Nov. 16. The city's application page asks vendors which December weekends they can work. If you make ornaments, candles or gifts at your kitchen table, this is the indoor booth that runs alongside the whole Christmas on Main schedule.
Six Nights on Main Street, All of Them Free
The City of Savannah's Christmas on Main page sets the downtown schedule as the first three weekends in December, Friday and Saturday nights from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The dates are Dec. 4 and 5, Dec. 11 and 12, and Dec. 18 and 19. Every activity is free.
The city lists these activities:
- Skating Under the Lights at the Savannah Market
- Carriage rides and kiddie train rides
- The Giant Christmas Tree and the Canopy of Lights
- Santa and Mrs. Claus, plus a North Pole Mailbox
- The Festival of Trees and Elf Land
- Arts and crafts, face painting and live music
- Christmas movies at the historic Savannah Theater
Three and a half hours a night across six nights adds up to 21 hours of downtown programming in December. Every hour falls on a weekend evening. Families with young kids can pick the first weekend, before school winds down. Anyone who wants the carriage rides and skating to be less crowded can choose whichever weekend fits, since the activity list is the same on all six nights.
The Mistletoe Market at The Venue is a few doors down Main Street from the skating and the tree. That gives you somewhere to shop indoors on a cold night between the Savannah Theater movie and the walk back to the car.
The Parade Gets a Monday to Itself
The Savannah Rotary Club and the City of Savannah present the 2026 Christmas Parade on Monday, Dec. 7, at 6:30 p.m. That is the first weeknight after Christmas on Main's opening weekend. This year's theme is "Under the Christmas Lights," and the Courier notes that organizations can interpret it in different ways.
The route is the same as last year. In order:
- Entries line up along Shell Street and across Fairgrounds Road.
- The parade starts on Wayne Road at Sherwin Williams.
- It continues through town, and the judges sit in front of CB&S Bank on Main Street.
- It finishes at the Tennessee River Museum.
Since the route hasn't changed, last year's viewing spots still work. The judging stand at CB&S Bank is where entries put on their best show. The museum end is where the parade wraps up.
The rain date is also a Monday: Dec. 14, which again falls between two Christmas on Main weekends. Even if the weather pushes the parade back a week, it won't overlap with skating at Savannah Market.
If your church, club, team or business wants a spot, entries are due Nov. 27. According to the Courier, entry forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce at the Tennessee River Museum. Completed forms can be mailed, faxed or hand-delivered, and the Chamber does not take entries by phone. Questions go to the Chamber at 731-925-2363. Once registered, each group's contact person gets its entry number, lineup location and the rest of the night's instructions.
December 12 Runs From Breakfast to Bedtime
The Hardin County Chamber's 2026 events list puts Christmas in the Park at Pickwick Landing State Park on Dec. 11 and 12, with a Holiday Mart and a Designer Tree Auction. On Saturday the 12th, the park's own schedule fills the morning and afternoon. Christmas on Main's second Saturday starts downtown at 5 p.m. The result is the one day this season with something on the calendar from breakfast to bedtime.
Here is that Saturday in order:
- 8 to 9 a.m. Breakfast with Santa at the Pickwick Lodge restaurant, with a second seating from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. Tennessee State Parks lists it as reservations required.
- 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The sixth annual Christmas Hike Along the River, a free, ranger-led 2.8-mile walk that meets at the Island Loop Trailhead by Cabin 9.
- 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The Winter Wonderland Workshop, a come-and-go pinecone ornament craft in the Pickwick Room inside The Lodge, listed at $10.
- 5 to 8:30 p.m. Christmas on Main in downtown Savannah, with skating at Savannah Market, the Festival of Trees and a movie at the Savannah Theater.
The schedule fits together well. The early breakfast seating ends in time for the hike. The hike ends an hour before the ornament workshop opens. The workshop is come-and-go, so you can leave whenever you like and still reach Main Street for the start of the evening. Christmas in the Park's Holiday Mart and Designer Tree Auction run through the same two days. That makes the park easy to combine with Friday night on Main Street, Dec. 11, if you'd rather split the weekend in two.
The hike and Christmas on Main are both free. A family can spend the whole day and only pay for breakfast and the $10 ornament craft.
The Dates to Mark Now
Some of these dates come before the season starts, so they're worth putting on the fridge calendar now:
- Nov. 14 and 15: Holiday Mart at the fairgrounds and the Downtown Christmas Open House
- Nov. 16: Mistletoe Market applications due
- Nov. 27: Christmas Parade entries due at the Chamber
- Dec. 4 and 5: Christmas on Main opens
- Dec. 7: Christmas Parade, 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 11 and 12: Christmas in the Park at Pickwick Landing, plus Christmas on Main
- Dec. 14: Parade rain date
- Dec. 18 and 19: Christmas on Main's final weekend
If your family is coming in for the parade or for that Dec. 12 Saturday and you'd like help planning where everyone stays, eats and parks, the team at Crye-Leike Pickwick is glad to share what we know about getting around Savannah and Pickwick in December. Stop by the Counce office or give us a call, and we'll help you get the most out of the season.
