On Saturday, December 5, Greensboro's Holiday Parade starts at noon downtown. Kernersville's Hometown Christmas runs from 4 to 8 p.m., and its tree is lit at 7. Summerfield lights its tree at 5:30 p.m. at Summerfield Athletic Park.
By then, the Oak Ridge tree will have been lit for two weeks. The town's 2026 Light Up the Night and Tree Lighting is set for Saturday, November 21, from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Oak Ridge Town Park. The town lists more than 1,400 luminaries along the park's paths, plus lighted archways, stars and snowflakes, Santa, a Grinch tractor ride, hot chocolate, craft booths and carols with the choir. The early date was a choice the town made on purpose, and it shapes the whole afternoon.
Why Oak Ridge left the first Saturday of December
Light Up the Night has usually been held in early December. The Special Events Committee's minutes put the 2024 event on Saturday, December 7, and the committee's 2025 calendar listed it for December 6. The committee's planning calendar in January still had December 5, 2026.
At that same January 16 meeting, the committee talked about moving the event to an earlier Saturday in November. Their reason was the crowded calendar around Oak Ridge. Kernersville lights its tree, Greensboro holds its holiday parade and Summerfield has its tree lighting on the first Saturday of December, and Stokesdale's parade comes on the second Saturday. By March, the decision was made. The March 19 minutes say: "The LUN date has been moved to Nov 21, 2026, to address the many other Christmas events around the area."
Here is how the season's holiday Saturdays fall across the five towns:
| Saturday | Town | Event | Time and place |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 21 | Oak Ridge | Light Up the Night and Tree Lighting | 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., Oak Ridge Town Park |
| December 5 | Greensboro | Holiday Parade | Noon to 2 p.m., starting at North Greene and West Lindsay streets |
| December 5 | Kernersville | Hometown Christmas | 4 to 8 p.m. downtown, tree lighting 7 p.m. at Town Hall |
| December 5 | Summerfield | Tree Lighting | 5:30 p.m., Summerfield Athletic Park on US-220 |
| December 12 | Stokesdale | Christmas Parade | 2 p.m., downtown Stokesdale |
Oak Ridge now has a Saturday to itself, and residents no longer have to choose between their own town's tree and someone else's.
Santa moves to the Farmhouse
Santa has a new spot this year. The committee's April calendar says "Santa at the farmhouse," and two members are handling the decorations.
The Farmhouse Community Center is the town's 1930s Craftsman house at 8300 Linville Road. It has two historic fireplaces, a 400-square-foot deck and patio, accessible bathrooms and a flat-screen TV. It sits about 635 feet from the main Town Park lot. The January minutes give the reasons for the move. Putting Santa inside or on the porch would make him easier to find and would be warmer for Santa and for the kids. The committee also raised the idea of adding a craft or storybook reading and running holiday movies like Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph on the Farmhouse TV. The March minutes have the town reserving the Farmhouse from noon to 6 p.m. on event day.
The move also deals with a problem the committee heard about directly. At the January meeting, a member reported a comment that people couldn't easily tell where the activities were. In March, the committee said the signs "needs to be bigger, clearer, available in multiple places and remind folks to visit the vendors." A historic house with a porch is easier to point people to than a spot somewhere in the park.
How the afternoon is laid out
Moving the date also changed the clock. The event used to start at 2 p.m., and the tree and luminaries were lit at 5:45. That timeline was described in High Point Enterprise coverage of an earlier edition. For 2026, the committee moved the start up to 1:30. Here is the working schedule it set out in March:
- 1:30 p.m. A church band plays at the tree, Grinch tractor rides begin, and craft and food vendors are set up.
- 2:00 p.m. The Jumpers perform and a robotics demo starts. Letters to Santa, fairy hair and temporary tattoos open, and Lowe's cookies come out.
- 2:30 p.m. The Oak Ridge Elementary performance.
- 3:00 p.m. Destination Arts dancers perform, and Santa's visiting hours begin. They run until 6.
- 4:00 p.m. Grinch tractor rides end. Summit Church hot chocolate opens at the concession stand.
- 4:45 p.m. The Presbyterian choir leads a community sing at the tree.
- 5:15 p.m. The tree is lit.
The event runs until 6:30 p.m., and the printable 2026 schedule with final times is linked from the town's event page so give it a look before you head over.
Families with young children may find the mid-afternoon block the easiest. The performances, letters to Santa and tractor rides all fall between 1:30 and 4 p.m., and Santa is available from 3. The choir and the tree lighting come later.
What 1,400 luminaries take
The display behind the tree lighting is built by volunteers through the year. In 2024, the committee approved buying six sets of three lighted arches and planned to reuse the 25 stars it already had. Parks and Recreation staff helped put up the arches and stars, and committee and community volunteers set out the luminaries. Scouts helped vendors unload.
This year's additions were made at the Farmhouse in July. The committee planned a July 16 workshop to build 12 new stars and replace the lights on the big snowflakes. The workshop minutes say "13 new stars were created," one more than planned.
A November date also affects setup. The January minutes note that the luminaries can go up and come down on other days, as long as they are installed and tested before the event. They also point out that Parks and Recreation staff are not available on Saturdays and holidays, so the committee has to identify what it needs early in the year. Anyone driving past Town Park in the days before November 21 may see the paths being lined.
Parking around Town Park
Oak Ridge Town Park is at 6231 Lisa Drive. At past Light Up the Night events, parking was available in both Town Park lots, with overflow at the State Employees' Credit Union and CrossFit. Those businesses offered their lots for the 2024 event. The 2026 schedule on the town's page will have this year's parking details.
The Farmhouse has only five regular spaces and two accessible spaces. It shares the main Town Park lot, which is about 635 feet away. With Santa at the Farmhouse, plan on a short walk between Santa, the vendor booths and the tree.
December 5 is open for the neighboring towns
The calendar change gives Oak Ridge residents a second holiday Saturday. Two weeks after their own tree lighting, these neighboring events all happen on the same day:
- Greensboro Holiday Parade runs from noon to 2 p.m., starting at North Greene Street and West Lindsay Street.
- Summerfield's tree lighting is at 5:30 p.m. at Summerfield Athletic Park on US-220. Summerfield's latest new outdoor space is covered in our post on Bandera Farms Park.
- Kernersville's Hometown Christmas runs from 4 to 8 p.m. downtown, with the tree lit at Town Hall at 7 p.m. Our Kernersville Hometown Christmas guide walks through the trolley loop stop by stop.
Stokesdale's Christmas Parade follows on Saturday, December 12, at 2 p.m. Before the change, Oak Ridge's own lighting would have competed with the Greensboro, Kernersville and Summerfield events. Now residents can go to their own on November 21 and still have December 5 free for the others.
Earlier Town Park events are covered in our guide to Oak Ridge's fall calendar. For more on the town itself, see our Oak Ridge neighborhood page.
At Carolina Home Partners, we keep track of what's changing around Oak Ridge, from Town Park's calendar to the street you live on. If you're wondering what your Oak Ridge home is worth heading into the new year, we're glad to talk it through once the tree is lit. Start with a free home valuation and we'll follow up with the local detail.
