Christmas in Blowing Rock 2026: Lights, Parade & Tweetsie

Christmas in Blowing Rock 2026 kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, and for our guests the first holiday lights glow on the resort where they’re staying. Our condo, The Jungle House, is inside Chetola Resort, home of the free Chetola Festival of Lights, and downtown Blowing Rock is a 4-minute drive away. This guide covers the Blowing Rock Christmas events worth planning around this season, from the tree lighting and parade to Tweetsie Christmas, tree farms and New Year’s Eve on the slopes. Already have dates? Book direct and save 7% on the nightly rate.

Living room with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, sofas, and sliding glass doors to the balcony — The stone wood-burning fireplace at The Jungle House, ready for a cold December night.

Chetola Festival of Lights: on our own resort

Start here, because it’s the one event you don’t have to drive to. Chetola Resort’s annual Festival of Lights runs nightly from Friday, November 27, 2026, through Sunday, January 31, 2027, and it’s free and open to the public.

According to Chetola, close to 30,000 holiday lights switch on at dusk around Chetola Lake. As you stroll the lake, look for glittering ice skaters, a Nativity scene, a colorful train and Rudolph. The Blowing Rock tourism office notes you can drive or stroll around the lake, and that the display stays up through Blowing Rock WinterFest at the end of January.

Chetola also lists two extras for Thanksgiving weekend:

Carriage rides around Chetola Lake on November 27 and 28, 2026. Reserve a time through Chetola’s website.
Storytime with Santa at Haven, November 27 and 28 from 5 to 8 PM, with cookie decorating and hot chocolate. No reservations needed.

Because the condo is on the same resort grounds, you can see the lights on a quiet weeknight in January as easily as on opening weekend. More about our location inside Chetola Resort.

Gray-sided Blue Ridge Building at Chetola Resort with tall evergreens beside the stairs and a parking lot in front — The Blue Ridge Building at Chetola Resort, home of The Jungle House.

Christmas in Blowing Rock 2026 at a glance

Fri, Nov 20: Appalachian Ski Mtn’s scheduled opening day (weather permitting).
Fri, Nov 27: Christmas in the Park & Lighting of the Town in Memorial Park. The Festival of Lights and Tweetsie Christmas both open the same night.
Sat, Nov 28, 10 AM: Blowing Rock Christmas Parade on Main Street.
Thanksgiving weekend through Dec 17: Choose-and-cut Christmas tree season at local farms.
Fri, Dec 11: Blowing Rock Holiday Stroll downtown.
Select evenings, Nov 27 to Dec 30: Tweetsie Christmas.
Thu, Dec 31: New Year’s Eve at Appalachian Ski Mtn.
Nightly through Jan 31, 2027: Chetola Festival of Lights.

Christmas in the Park & Lighting of the Town (Fri, Nov 27)

Blowing Rock’s holiday season officially starts the Friday after Thanksgiving in Memorial Park, right on Main Street. Expect visits with Santa, live music and caroling, and hot chocolate from local vendors next to the park. The countdown to lighting the town’s Christmas tree comes at about 5:30 PM.

The town’s posted schedule is last year’s lineup and may change, so check blowingrock.com closer to the date.

Blowing Rock Christmas Parade (Sat, Nov 28, 10 AM)

The next morning, the Christmas Parade comes down Main Street with costumes, floats, animals and plenty of holiday cheer. It starts at 10 AM, leaving the rest of the day for shopping.

Parking tips for parade weekend:

Main Street is closed to parking from midnight the night before until just after the parade.
A free shuttle runs from the Shoppes on the Parkway parking lot to Main Street: 10 AM to 7 PM on Friday and 8 AM to 5 PM on Saturday.
Free public parking is also on Maple Street and in the decks on Wallingford Street, by the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum and the American Legion.

Downtown is only a 4-minute drive from the condo, but on parade morning the shuttle saves you circling for a spot.

Tweetsie Christmas

Tweetsie Railroad, the Wild West theme park just outside town, turns into a holiday village on select evenings. For 2026 the dates are November 27–29; December 4–6, 11–13, 18–23 and 26–30, from 5 to 9:30 PM.

The highlight is a reserved, open-air ride behind a historic steam locomotive: a three-mile loop through thousands of lights that lasts about 20 minutes. Tickets also cover four amusement rides, Santa’s Gingerbread House and a musical Christmas show. Santa is there through December 23.

Know before you go:

Buy ahead. Tickets are tied to a date and train time, and Tweetsie says it’s not uncommon for evenings to sell out. 2026 prices are $65 for ages 13 and up, $45 for ages 3–12, and free for 2 and under, with taxes and fees included. Parking is free.
Dress warm. The train cars are open-air, and Tweetsie warns that wind, rain and snow are all possible in November and December.
Want smaller crowds? Tweetsie says Sundays and the week after Christmas tend to be less busy.

Holiday Stroll downtown (Fri, Dec 11)

On Friday, December 11, participating downtown shops offer special deals and refreshments for the Blowing Rock Holiday Stroll. It’s an easy evening plan: shop Main Street, grab dinner downtown, then head back for the lights at Chetola.

Choose-and-cut Christmas trees

The local choose-and-cut season gets underway Thanksgiving weekend, and the tourism office lists it running through December 17. You pick your tree, and the farm cuts and bales it for you to take home. Hours vary from farm to farm, so check current listings before you go.

Skiing and New Year’s Eve at Appalachian Ski Mtn

Opening day. Appalachian Ski Mtn has set its 2026–27 opening day for Friday, November 20, weather permitting, so a holiday trip can mix a ski day with the evening events in town.

New Year’s Eve. The tourism office says the holiday season wraps up with torchlight skiing and fireworks at App Ski Mtn. Explore Boone’s 2026 listing shows slopes open until 11:30 PM, ice skating from 9:30 to 11:30 PM and a torchlight parade at 11:45 PM, followed by fireworks. The mountain’s own event page still showed last year’s text when we checked, so confirm with App Ski Mtn closer to the date.

A sample Thanksgiving weekend

Friday: Check in at 4 PM, then head downtown for the tree lighting at about 5:30 PM. Come back to the resort for your first look at the Festival of Lights.
Saturday: Take the shuttle in for the 10 AM parade, browse Main Street, then catch an evening Tweetsie Christmas train (buy that ticket well ahead).
Sunday: Check out by 11 AM and pick up a tree at a choose-and-cut farm on the way home.

Want the Chetola carriage ride too? It’s offered only on November 27 and 28, so reserve a time when you plan your weekend.

Prefer a quieter trip? Come mid-December, when the lights are still up and the Holiday Stroll is on December 11.

Bass Lake in late fall, perfectly still, reflecting bare trees, evergreens and a deep blue sky — Bass Lake after the leaves are down, about a 3-minute walk from our front door.

Between events, take a walk. A trail starts about 30 seconds from our front door and reaches the Bass Lake loop in Moses H. Cone Memorial Park in about 3 minutes on foot. The park is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a unit of the National Park System, and its carriage roads are a quiet place to stretch your legs on a crisp December morning.

Quick answers

When does Christmas in Blowing Rock start in 2026? Friday, November 27, with Christmas in the Park and the Lighting of the Town in Memorial Park. The Chetola Festival of Lights and Tweetsie Christmas open the same night.

Is the Chetola Festival of Lights free? Yes. It’s free and open to the public nightly from dusk, November 27, 2026, through January 31, 2027.

What time is the Blowing Rock Christmas Parade? 10 AM on Saturday, November 28, 2026, on Main Street. Main Street is closed to parking from midnight the night before.

Will it snow? Snow isn’t guaranteed. Some years town gets a white Christmas and some years it doesn’t, so pack warm layers either way and check the forecast before you drive.

Coming in October instead? Our Blowing Rock fall colors guide covers peak leaf season.

Come home to the fireplace

After a parade morning or a cold night on the Tweetsie train, here’s what’s waiting at The Jungle House:

A floor-to-ceiling stone wood-burning fireplace for the coldest nights of the year.
A fully equipped kitchen and a dining table for a holiday dinner in.
2-person Jacuzzi tubs upstairs and downstairs, one in each suite, to warm up after the slopes.
Three bedrooms and three baths, sleeping up to seven, so the whole family can share one place for the holidays.
A private balcony with outdoor dining, looking out over the woods.

Set dining table beneath a pendant light, with the stone fireplace and balcony doors behind it — The dining room has room for the whole group’s holiday dinner.

King suite bathroom with a 2-person whirlpool Jacuzzi tub, dark granite vanity and walk-in shower — The king suite’s 2-person Jacuzzi tub.

A few practical notes: check-in is at 4 PM and checkout is at 11 AM. The Jungle House is a non-smoking, pet-free home, and we don’t allow parties or events, so it’s a peaceful base for family holidays.

Book direct and save 7% on the nightly rate. You’ll see your total before you pay, and you’ll hear back from the host personally.

Christmas in Blowing Rock 2026: Festival of Lights, Parade and More