Belle Meade is a small city with a long holiday season. It was incorporated in 1938 on part of the old Belle Meade Plantation, on land that also took in what became Cheekwood, parts of Percy Warner Park and the Belle Meade Country Club. That means two of the area's best-known holiday traditions sit in or beside Belle Meade: the city's own parade up Belle Meade Boulevard and Holiday LIGHTS at Cheekwood. This guide lists the 2026 dates that have been posted so far, with a source for each. Where an organizer has not posted a 2026 date yet, we say so. Confirm with each organizer before you go.
Belle Meade Holiday Parade, Saturday, December 5
- Date:
- Saturday, December 5, 2026
- Time:
- 1:00 pm
The City of Belle Meade lists its 2026 Holiday Parade for Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 1:00 pm. The city's October 2026 newsletter added something new this year: parade float awards.
The city has not posted a 2026 route yet. Last year, the parade started at 1:00 pm on Belle Meade Boulevard at Percy Warner Park and Page Road and ended at the Belle Meade Country Club at Harding Place, and Santa and his elves made stops before and after the parade. Check the city's site for the 2026 route map before you pick a spot.
Holiday LIGHTS at Cheekwood, November 20 to January 3
- Date:
- November 20, 2026 to January 3, 2027
- Time:
- 4:30 to 10:00 pm
- Place:
- Cheekwood Estate and Gardens
Cheekwood Estate and Gardens brings back Holiday LIGHTS from November 20, 2026 through January 3, 2027. Hours are 4:30 to 10:00 pm.
The 2026 release describes more than one million lights along a one-mile garden route, and a French-inspired holiday installation inside the Historic Mansion. Returning favorites listed for 2026 include the 28-foot Pixel Pine, Peppermint Path and the Star Field.
Belle Meade Historic Site at the holidays
Belle Meade Historic Site and Winery has not posted a 2026 date for its holiday events yet. Its free Holiday Open House was held on Thursday, November 13, 2025, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Past open houses have included mansion tours, live music and carolers.
The site also lists a Holiday Family Tour that runs from mid November through December. It walks families room by room through the Greek Revival mansion and covers how Christmas trees were decorated, historic holiday food, and how the season was experienced by people who were enslaved there. Watch the site's events page for 2026 dates.
Belle Meade Boulevard and Lynnwood Boulevard after dark
Belle Meade Boulevard was laid out in 1913 and runs about six miles, with two roadways split by a wide, planted median that once carried a streetcar line. Its south end lines up with the sandstone entrance to Percy Warner Park.
City Cast Nashville's guide to neighborhood Christmas lights names Lynnwood Boulevard and Belle Meade Boulevard for decorated homes. If you drive them, go slowly, keep to the roadway and pull fully over if you stop. More streets to drive slowly are in our Nashville Christmas lights neighborhoods guide.
Lighting a stone or brick home in Belle Meade
Many Belle Meade homes are older and larger, with several gables and rooflines that turn corners. On a house like that, a good lighting plan follows each edge of the roof instead of running one straight line across the front. On our Belle Meade page we describe how each gable edge gets its own piece of track and each corner is cut to match the angle of the roof. How the channel sits on masonry is on the brick, stone and stucco page.
Trees matter here too. A roofline system mounts to the house, not to the trees around it, so the canopy stays as it is.
Our Nashville-area holiday lights calendar lists more events near Belle Meade and across the region.
Permanent roofline lighting for Belle Meade homes
A permanent system keeps LED lights in a track along the roofline all year, run from an app on your phone. Choose red and green for Christmas, warm white for ordinary evenings, or another preset, and skip the ladder and the tangled strands each fall. At 6 to 12 hours a day, the system works out to about 10 to 20 years. Installation runs 8 to 10 hours, and every system carries the manufacturer's 5-year product warranty and our installers' workmanship warranty.
See more on our Belle Meade permanent lighting page. We also serve nearby Green Hills and Oak Hill. Get a quote through our online form when you are ready.