On the evening of Saturday, November 21, a Bloom Fosters tent at the Town at Trilith will be collecting toys, shoes and pajamas for children and teens in foster care. Food trucks and live music will fill the streets from 4 to 8 p.m., and Santa's Workshop will run the same hours. Most people will treat that as Fayetteville's holiday kickoff. It is also when three separate seasonal experiences start at once, and they close on three different dates, the last one in January.
According to Trilith's event page, this year's Light Up "will also launch several holiday experiences throughout the Town at Trilith." Light Up lasts four hours. What it starts lasts six weeks, and that longer stretch is the part worth planning around.
What starts on November 21, and when each one closes
Everything below opens on the night of Light Up. The dates that matter are the closing dates.
| Experience | Where | Runs through | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art's Christmas Tree Farm | Plaza at Trilith Guesthouse | December 19 | Daily, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Miracle pop-up bar | Oliver's Twist, Trilith Guesthouse | December 31 | Wed–Sat 4 p.m. to midnight, Sun 4 to 9 p.m. |
| Holiday Movie Studio Tour | Trilith Studios | January 4 | 1.5-hour guided tours |
There are fifteen days between the tree farm closing and the studio tour ending. If your December fills up fast, the order is simple: tree first, bar before New Year's Eve, and the tour can wait until the week after Christmas.
Light Up night belongs to the kids
Santa's Workshop is the ticketed part of November 21. Tickets are $25 per child and sold through Eventeny, and the workshop is open the whole 4 to 8 p.m. window. Per Trilith's listing, one ticket covers:
- Bounce houses, a snow tube slide and an obstacle course
- A snow area and a train ride
- An ornament make-and-take
- Meeting Minnie and Mickey
- Glitter tattoos and hair tinsel
Trilith suggests booking dinner at one of its restaurants before or after the celebration. One place to keep an eye on is Harvest & Grace at 210 Trilith Parkway. The Citizen reported in August that the café was slated to open this fall, and Rough Draft Atlanta reported in October that Justin Dixon had been named executive chef.
The studio tour runs the longest, and it's new this year
The Trilith Foundation calls its holiday studio tour "A New Holiday Tradition." The standard tour is the base: a 1.5-hour guided trolley ride through the studio lot with a StoryGuide, a walk through two soundstages with a set from a real production, vendor showcases about the craftspeople behind filming, and a stop at the Foundation shop. For the season, the Foundation adds soundstages decorated for the holidays, a demonstration of one way filmmakers make it snow, and hot cocoa during the tour.
Santa will be on Saturday tours and on December 23. There's no photographer on site, so families take their own pictures. Tickets are $45 per guest, and children 3 and under are free, according to the Foundation's holiday booking page.
The Foundation's holiday page lists tour dates of November 21 through January 4, which makes it the only part of Trilith's season that continues into the new year. That gives it a use the rest of the calendar doesn't have. When out-of-town family stays past New Year's and the decorations are coming down everywhere else, there are still decorated soundstages to visit close to home.
If you want Santa in your photos, there are a limited number of chances. Between November 21 and Christmas there are five Saturdays, plus December 23, which is a Wednesday this year.
Miracle keeps evening hours
The Christmas pop-up runs inside Oliver's Twist at Trilith Guesthouse. The hotel's activity listing for Miracle describes it as "America's favorite Christmas-themed pop-up bar," with kitschy holiday décor and professionally developed cocktails. The listing says no reservations are needed, and food and drinks go on your own tab.
The hours listed are Wednesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday aren't listed. The bar opens at 4 p.m., the same time Light Up begins, so opening night gives you the entire festival plus the bar's first evening. It stays open through December 31, so it's an option on New Year's Eve for anyone who would rather stay close to home.
The tree farm closes first
Art's Christmas Tree Farm sets up on the Plaza at Trilith Guesthouse from November 21 through December 19, open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Citizen's preview of Light Up describes families walking through the trees and picking one to take home.
December 19 is a Saturday, six days before Christmas. If your family waits until the last weekend to buy a tree, that Saturday is the last chance here. The 11 a.m. opening also means you can pick up a tree on the way to an afternoon studio tour.
Downtown fills in the dates around Trilith
The City of Fayetteville's calendar for City Center Park, at 210 Stonewall Avenue West, mostly falls on different days from Trilith's, and where the two share a date, they use different hours, which makes it easy to do both.
- Friday, November 20: Movies in the Park shows "Elf" the night before Light Up Trilith. The City lists 5:30 p.m., and the movie starts after sunset.
- Saturday, November 21: Light Up Trilith, 4 to 8 p.m.
- Friday, November 27: The Christmas Parade and Light Up City Center Park runs 5 to 8 p.m. The parade starts at 5:30 and follows last year's route, with a map at downtownfayetteville.org. The park lighting runs 6 to 8. The City says you can see the whole parade from the park.
- Saturday, November 28: Shop Small Saturday at Trilith, the day after the parade.
- Saturday, December 12: The Miracle on Main Street Market at City Center Park, 4 to 8 p.m.
Taken together, the two calendars cover the two weekends around Thanksgiving: a downtown movie Friday, Trilith's lighting Saturday, downtown's parade the next Friday, and Trilith's small-business Saturday after that. For dinner before the parade, Santa Maria Latin Tapas, Seafood and Oyster Bar at 715 Glynn St. South is open until 11 p.m. on Fridays, according to The Citizen's October visit.
December 12 has an event at both ends of the day
The Holiday Hustle 5K, on Trilith's events calendar, starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 12. It benefits Piedmont Cancer Wellness and Cancer Wellness and Oncology Services at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. Race Roster's registration page says you need to register by November 13 to be guaranteed a T-shirt in your size. Early packet pickup is Friday, December 11, from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Piedmont Wellness Lobby. Race-day pickup and in-person registration run from 7 to 8:15 a.m.
The Miracle on Main Street Market opens at City Center Park at 4 p.m. that same day. So December 12 can start with a morning run at Trilith and end with an evening market downtown, and the tree farm is open in between, with one week left before it closes on December 19.
Whether you're picking a Saturday for the studio tour or marking December 19 on the fridge, the Watkins team loves helping neighbors make the most of the season here. If the new year brings questions about your own home, Watkins Real Estate Associates can start with a free home valuation whenever you're ready.
