Westhaven is the master-planned community Southern Land Company built on the west side of Franklin, laid out around a Town Center, a lake and a public lakefront park called Magli Green. The holidays reach it early. A craft market sets up beside the water in mid November, and after that the season moves a short drive east to downtown Franklin for the parade and Dickens weekend. Each date here was taken from the organizer's own 2026 listing. Hours can still move as the day nears, so open the linked page once more before you go.
When is the Westhaven holiday market in 2026?
- Date:
- Saturday, November 14, 2026
- Time:
- 11 am to 4 pm
- Place:
- The Lake at Westhaven, 157 Front Street
- Cost:
- Free
The Franklin Makers Market page puts its Holiday Market on Saturday, November 14, 2026. Stalls open at 11 am and close at 4 pm, outdoors at The Lake at Westhaven, 157 Front Street, and admission is free. The organizer lists more than 150 curated craft and artisan vendors, free photos with Santa, food and cocktails, which makes the afternoon an easy head start on gift shopping.
What is the Santa Paddle at Westhaven?
- Date:
- Saturday, November 14, 2026
- Time:
- 1:45 gather, 2:00 Santa Strut
- Place:
- The Lake at Westhaven
Market day also carries a fundraiser for Friends of Williamson County Animal Center. Registered paddlers gather at 1:45, and at 2:00 a Santa Strut makes one lap of the lake, dogs welcome, before the canoes and kayaks push off. Everyone taking part wears a Santa suit or all red, and anyone who would rather stay on land can sign up for the strut alone. Registration runs ahead of time through the same market page, and the paddle goes on rain or shine.
Is there a Westhaven tree lighting in 2026?
Not yet on record. In past seasons a community tree has been lit on Magli Green, and a 2022 report in the Williamson Source placed that year's lighting there. For 2026, neither the community's site nor the developer's has posted a date as of mid October, so none is given here. Look again in November.
Downtown Franklin and a zoo full of lights
- Franklin Christmas Parade: the Rotary Club of Downtown Franklin holds it on the first Saturday of December, which in 2026 is Saturday, December 5, at 1:00 pm on Main Street. The parade page says it falls the same weekend as Franklin's tree lighting and has filled downtown for more than 60 years.
- Date:
- Saturday, December 5, 2026
- Time:
- 1:00 pm
- Place:
- Main Street
- Dickens of a Christmas: Saturday, December 12, from 10 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, December 13, 2026, from 11 am to 5 pm, along Main Street. Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Fagin and a Victorian Father and Mother Christmas roam the blocks, and Franklin Transit shuttles start running when the festival opens each morning. Details: the festival listing.
- Date:
- Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, 2026
- Time:
- Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
- Place:
- Main Street
- Glow Wild at the Nashville Zoo: for a full light show, head up toward Nashville. The zoo's holiday show opens on November 13, 2026 and plays every night, 5 pm until 9 pm, through January 3, 2027, with glowing wildlife displays and an 85-foot synchronized tree. Tickets are sold through the Glow Wild page.
- Date:
- November 13, 2026 to January 3, 2027
- Time:
- 5 to 9 pm nightly
- Place:
- Nashville Zoo
These dates sit beside dozens of others from towns all around Franklin on the Nashville-area holiday lights calendar.
Lake views and townhome rows
Houses that face the lake are seen across open water and from the strut route, so after dark the roof edge is about all a passer-by can make out. Westhaven mixes detached houses with rows of townhomes and condominiums. Lit end to end in red and green, a townhome row reads as one long stroke down the block, while the estimate for each townhome covers only that owner's share of the roof edge.
Lit before market day
Lakefront houses and townhome rows are covered in more depth on the Westhaven permanent lighting page, and the quote form is the way to get your roofline lit before the November 14 market.