Lebanon's holiday season starts early and runs long. A drive-through light and music show opens at the fairgrounds on Saturday, November 7, the Chamber's parade comes on a Sunday in December, and a daylong festival takes over the Public Square six days later. Below are the 2026 dates the organizers have published, one event still waiting on a date, and a few Mt. Juliet and Hermitage events to the west. Plans can change late in the year, so recheck each organizer's page shortly before you go.
The Dancing Lights of Christmas: November 7 to January 3
- Date:
- Saturday, November 7, 2026 to Sunday, January 3, 2027
- Time:
- 5:00 to 10:00 pm Sunday through Thursday, until 11:00 pm Fridays and Saturdays
- Place:
- Wilson County Fairgrounds (the Ward Ag Center), 1033 Sparta Pike
The Dancing Lights of Christmas is a light show synced to music that you drive through in your own car, staged at the Wilson County Fairgrounds (the Ward Ag Center), 1033 Sparta Pike. The 2026 run starts Saturday, November 7, 2026, and ends Sunday, January 3, 2027. Weeknight hours, Sunday through Thursday, are 5:00 to 10:00 pm; on Fridays and Saturdays it stays open an hour later, until 11:00 pm. It runs rain or shine, holidays included: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Admission is per vehicle, bought at the entrance or online, and it also covers Santa's Village, a visit with Santa and the petting zoo. The organizers warn that weekends after Thanksgiving get very busy, with Saturdays the worst, and that December 19 to 23 is crowded too. Weeknights have little to no wait.
Lebanon's Christmas Parade 2026: Sunday, December 6
- Date:
- Sunday, December 6, 2026
- Time:
- 2:00 to 3:30 pm
The Lebanon Wilson County Chamber of Commerce has set Lebanon's 2026 Christmas Parade for Sunday, December 6, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm. No route is published yet; the Chamber says more information is coming soon.
A parade that wraps up at 3:30 leaves the whole evening for the fairgrounds show, which opens at 5:00 pm that Sunday.
Christmas on the Square: Saturday, December 12
- Date:
- Saturday, December 12, 2026
- Time:
- 10 am to 4 pm
- Place:
- Historic Public Square, Lebanon
The next Saturday, Christmas on the Square fills downtown Lebanon between 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Three hosts share it (the City of Lebanon, the merchants downtown and a special events division of the Chamber), and the day brings local vendors, food trucks, activities for kids, a tree decorating contest and a dance floor set up outdoors.
City tree lighting: no 2026 date yet
No 2026 date for the city's tree lighting has appeared yet on the Chamber's events calendar or the city's, so look again in early November.
Mt. Juliet and The Hermitage, a few exits west
- Christmas in the Park, Mt. Juliet: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 is the date, and Charlie Daniels Park is the place. The city has not posted hours yet. See the city's event page.
- Date:
- Tuesday, December 1, 2026
- Place:
- Charlie Daniels Park
- Mt. Juliet Christmas Parade: 11:00 am on Saturday, December 12, 2026, the same day as Christmas on the Square, with "A Holly Dolly Christmas" as the theme. See the parade page.
- Date:
- Saturday, December 12, 2026
- Time:
- 11:00 am
- Place:
- West Wilson Middle School to East Division, about 1.4 miles
- Christmas by Lamplight Tour, The Hermitage: the mansion and grounds by lantern light, on Fridays and Saturdays between November 13 and December 19, 2026, each tour leaving at 6:00 pm, with a last one on Saturday, December 26. See The Hermitage tour page.
- Date:
- Fridays and Saturdays, November 13 to December 19, 2026, plus Saturday, December 26
- Time:
- 6:00 pm
- Place:
- The Hermitage mansion and grounds
- Jacksonian Christmas Festival, Tulip Grove: 19th-century holiday decor, family crafts, games and storytelling, open 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday, December 5, 2026. The same Hermitage page has details.
- Date:
- Saturday, December 5, 2026
- Time:
- 10 am to 4 pm
- Place:
- Tulip Grove, The Hermitage
Each of these also appears on the Nashville-area holiday lights calendar, sorted by date with the season's parades and light shows from other towns.
Nine weeks of a light show next door
The Dancing Lights runs for about nine weeks, from early November into the new year, and Lebanon's own parade and Square festival land right in the middle of it. A roofline on a sunset schedule covers that whole stretch: it comes on by itself every evening, red and green through New Year's Day, and nobody climbs a ladder in January to take it down.
Closer to home than the fairgrounds
The Lebanon permanent lighting page covers houses around Lebanon in more detail, and if you would like a roofline that keeps pace with the Dancing Lights through New Year's Day, the quote form takes it from there.