Christmas in Blue RidgeThe depot lights, the parade down Main, the train with Santa aboard. Every date checked with the people who run it.
Light Up Blue Ridge · Nov 27–28, 2026
Christmas in Blue Ridge, Georgia starts Thanksgiving weekend. Light Up Blue Ridge is Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, 2026, with the parade at 5:30 p.m. and the Great Tree lit around 7 p.m. The Holiday Express train runs select dates November 28 to December 24, and the Gingerbread Village is open until noon December 22.
Checked with each organizer on October 17, 2026. Dates can change.
Film cut from real photographs of downtown Blue Ridge, the depot and its evening train (Nov 2015), Mercier Orchards and nearby North Georgia winter ridges, color-graded blue; nothing in it is generated. Credits
Decision tool · Season planner
Plan your Blue Ridge Christmas trip
Pick when you are coming and what you are into. Every event comes from its organizer's own page, checked October 17, 2026, and each one has add-to-calendar links.
When are you coming?
What are you into?
Dates and times are as each organizer published them on October 17, 2026, and can change. Items marked as not yet confirmed come from a listing the organizer itself has not confirmed.
All season Running on many days
Nov 17 – Jan 2
Blue Ridge on Ice
Blue Ridge Farmers Market, 787 Summit Street
$15 ages 13+, $12 ages 12 and under, $10 military (Chamber listing)
Calendar files are made in your browser. Your picks stay on this device.
Light Up Saturday
The parade, the tree and the day around them
Downtown Blue Ridge lights its Great Tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Here is the parade route on a real street map, the times the organizers have published so far, and a plan for your day.
The gold line is the parade route as the Light Up Blue Ridge organizers describe it: from Church Street and East Main, down East Main to Mountain Street, down Mountain and back along West Main. Their pages differ on where it ends, so the line stops at Depot Street. The outlined block is the downtown park. No 2026 route map or parking plan has been published; this is a planning sketch, not directions.
Downtown park where Light Up Blue Ridge Santa photos (gazebo/pavilion) and the Great Tree lighting take place; also the Turkey Trot hub. OSM names it 'Downtown Blue Ridge Park'.
Address: Downtown Blue Ridge, between Depot Street, West Main Street and the Art Center
Answer three questions and get one time-ordered plan for Saturday, November 28, 2026, built from the organizers' published schedule.
1 Who is coming?
2 What matters most?
3 When can you get downtown?
Your Light Up Saturday, November 28, 2026
Times come from the Light Up Blue Ridge organizers, the Fannin County Chamber and the railway as of October 17, 2026. No official 2026 parking or shuttle plan has been published.
Who is coming? Young kids
Plan the day around Santa, then claim a curb for the parade.
Santa's line closes at 4:15 p.m., so arriving after 4 p.m. will most likely miss pictures with Santa. Santa still rides at the very end of the parade. (Light Up Blue Ridge)
12 pm–4:15 pmPictures with Santa in the downtown park.(Light Up Blue Ridge)
by 4:15 pmAdvisory:Santa's line closes. Children already in line are seen until 4:30.(Light Up Blue Ridge)
No Santa costumes are allowed in the parade, so the Santa at the very end is the one.(Light Up Blue Ridge)
Downtown park where Light Up Blue Ridge Santa photos (gazebo/pavilion) and the Great Tree lighting take place; also the Turkey Trot hub. OSM names it 'Downtown Blue Ridge Park'.
Downtown Blue Ridge, between Depot Street, West Main Street and the Art Center · Free
Source: Fannin County Chamber, checked Oct 17, 2026
Who is coming? Adults
Come for the music and the shops, stay for the tree.
11 am–5 pmEntertainment on East Main Street.(Light Up Blue Ridge)
Food vendors set up on Depot Street between East and West Main.(Light Up Blue Ridge)
Downtown park where Light Up Blue Ridge Santa photos (gazebo/pavilion) and the Great Tree lighting take place; also the Turkey Trot hub. OSM names it 'Downtown Blue Ridge Park'.
Downtown Blue Ridge, between Depot Street, West Main Street and the Art Center · Free
Source: Fannin County Chamber, checked Oct 17, 2026
What matters most? The Holiday Express
Book first. The railway warns holiday rides sell out fast.
The last Holiday Express on Light Up Saturday leaves at 4 p.m. and the railway asks riders to arrive 45 minutes early, so an after-4 p.m. arrival cannot make a train that day. Get downtown by 3:15 p.m., or pick another train day in the season planner. (Railway booking system)
10 amFirst 1-Hour Holiday Express of the day. Others leave at noon, 2 and 4.(Railway booking system)
Arrive 45 minutes before your train; boarding starts 30 minutes before.(Blue Ridge Railway)
The 1905 depot where Blue Ridge Railway trains board, including the 1-hour Holiday Express with Santa from late November to Christmas Eve.
241 Depot Street, Blue Ridge, GA 30513 · Ticket office 9 a.m.-4 p.m. ET, seven days a week · 1-Hour Holiday Express $56.99 (13+), $46.99 (2-12), infants free, before fees
The Holiday Express leaves from the depot downtown
The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway runs its Christmas train from the downtown depot. The railway's own published details are on the ticket; the full guide covers dates, what happens on board and how to book.
No guesses and no promises: these are NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the nearest station that records temperature.
52.5°F
Normal December high
28.7°F
Normal December low
5.46in
December precipitation
1.2in
December snowfall (provisional)
A normal December day reaches the low 50s and drops below freezing at night. Snow can fall, but the long-term normal is about an inch for the whole month.
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for the Blairsville Experiment Station, about 22 miles east of Blue Ridge and the nearest station with temperature normals. Source: NOAA climate normals, checked Oct 17, 2026
Current listings from Gold Peach Realty, the North Georgia brokerage behind this guide. Homes around Blue Ridge listed with us are shown first; the rest are our other North Georgia listings. Photos, prices and details come from the MLS.
Want your home featured here? List with Gold Peach Realty and your home is featured on this guide and across our North Georgia community sites. How Gold Peach Realty markets homes
The questions people search most, answered from the organizers' own pages.
When is Christmas in Blue Ridge, GA in 2026?
The season opens Thanksgiving weekend with Light Up Blue Ridge on Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, 2026. From there the season runs through Christmas Eve.
Source: Light Up Blue Ridge, checked Oct 17, 2026
When is Light Up Blue Ridge 2026?
Light Up Blue Ridge is the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving: Blue Friday on November 27, 2026 and the main Light Up day on Saturday, November 28, 2026.
Source: Light Up Blue Ridge, checked Oct 17, 2026
What time is the Blue Ridge, GA Christmas parade in 2026?
The Light Up Blue Ridge parade is Saturday, November 28, 2026, starting at 5:30 p.m. from the corner of Church Street and East Main.
Source: Light Up Blue Ridge, checked Oct 17, 2026
How much is the Holiday Express train in Blue Ridge, GA?
Tickets are $56.99 for ages 13 and up and $46.99 for ages 2 to 12, and infants ride free. Prices are before booking fees and taxes.
Source: Fannin County Chamber, checked Oct 17, 2026
Is there a Polar Express in Blue Ridge, GA?
No train by that name runs in Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge Railway's holiday train is the 1-Hour Holiday Express, with holiday music, The Night Before Christmas and a chance to see Santa.
During Light Up weekend, pictures with Santa are in the downtown park from noon until 4:15 p.m. on both Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28, 2026.
Source: Light Up Blue Ridge, checked Oct 17, 2026
When is the Blue Ridge Gingerbread Village open in 2026?
It opens to the public at noon on November 27 inside the Arts Center and stays open whenever the Arts Center is open until noon on December 22, 2026.
Source: Light Up Blue Ridge, checked Oct 17, 2026
Photo: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0
After the holidays
Wondering what Blue Ridge is like the other eleven months?
Gold Peach Realty is the North Georgia brokerage behind this guide. If a December weekend in Fannin County has you thinking about a mountain home of your own, or selling one, our agents can walk you through what is for sale and how the area works.
