Last December, the garden lights behind the President James K. Polk Home were on for nine nights. They opened Dec. 5 and ran on scattered evenings until Dec. 23. If you wanted to walk the gardens, you checked the calendar first and hoped your free Friday was on it.
This year there's nothing to check. Garden Lights at the Polk Home runs from Nov. 25 through Dec. 23, 2026, from 5 to 9 p.m., and the museum's ticket listing calls it nightly. Because of that one change, the 300 block of West 7th Street is lit every evening of the season. Downtown's biggest December Saturday also takes place on that street.
From Nine Nights to Every Night
The museum billed the 2025 event as its "First-Ever Tour of Lights." When Visit Columbia covered it last November, it described Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in December with a $5 admission that included a hot drink. The 2026 version starts earlier and runs longer:
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| First night | Dec. 5 | Nov. 25 |
| Last night | Dec. 23 | Dec. 23 |
| Schedule | Nine selected nights | Nightly |
| Hours | 5 to 9 p.m. | 5 to 9 p.m. |
| Listed admission | $5 | $7.12 |
A few things carry over from last year. Admission still covers the whole evening in the illuminated gardens plus one hot beverage per guest. Children under 3 get in free, and everyone 3 and older needs a ticket. The paths are lit, but the museum still asks visitors to watch their step. All proceeds go to preserving the Polk Home.
The Nov. 25 opening matters most. Last year the lights waited until December, but this year they come on the night before Thanksgiving, so family visiting for the holiday can walk the gardens too. The home is at 301 W. 7th St. Tickets are sold through the Polk Home's TicketLeap page, and the museum's event page links to them. If you're planning around Thanksgiving week, call the number on the Visit Columbia listing, (931) 505-8019, before you load up the car.
The Week Before the Lights Come On
Before the lights move the season onto West 7th, it starts across town at the Factory at Columbia, 101 N. James Campbell Blvd. That's where A Very Maury Christmas returns Nov. 20 through 22 for its 12th year, with more than 75 curated vendors, Santa, and Mini Makers.
Each of the three days runs a little differently:
- Friday, Nov. 20: The preview party is hosted by Amuseum Children's Museum and runs 5:30 to 8 p.m. It gets you early access and first pick of the vendors, and you'll need tickets in advance.
- Saturday, Nov. 21: The market is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10, and Santa is there from 2 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 22: The market is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $5, and Santa is there from 1 to 3 p.m.
Children 12 and under get in free both market days. Sunday costs half as much and has a shorter Santa window. If you want to finish your gift list early with small kids along, the Saturday afternoon visit with Santa is the best fit for the day.
Three days after the market closes, Garden Lights opens. The weekend after Thanksgiving fills in around it. Visit Columbia lists Deck the Gingerbread on Nov. 28 and a Santa & Mrs. Claus event on Nov. 29. From then on, the gardens at 301 W. 7th are open every evening, whatever else is on the calendar.
Saturday, Dec. 5, Happens Mostly on One Street
Last year, Garden Lights opened Friday, Dec. 5, and the parade followed the next evening. This year the gardens will have been lit for more than a week by Dec. 5, and that Saturday brings almost everything else downtown does in December onto the same corridor.
Here's how the day stacks up, according to the organizers' own listings:
- 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.: It's the second and final day of the Maury Christmas Historic Home Tour, which opens privately and publicly owned historic properties around Maury County. Tickets are $25 per person. Visit Columbia lists ticket sales at the Maury County Visitors Center, at Historic Elm Springs at 2357 Park Plus Drive, and at the tour's headquarters in the Athenaeum Rectory at 808 Athenaeum St.
- 10 a.m.: Columbia's Most Wonderful Weekend opens with free Christmas open houses at five local shops.
- 5 p.m.: The Polk Home gardens light up.
- 6 p.m.: Columbia Main Street presents the 40th annual Columbia Christmas Parade downtown. Registration is $25 per entry for groups that want to march.
The parade is the reason this day centers on one street. For last year's 39th parade, the Columbia Daily Herald reported that it would "once again make its route down West 7th Street into the heart of downtown starting at 6 p.m." If the 40th follows that route, the parade passes through the same blocks where the Polk Home's gardens will be lit until 9. Columbia Main Street posts the details on its parade page, so check there before you pick a spot on the curb.
Which Open Houses Are a Walk and Which Are a Drive
The Most Wonderful Weekend listing names five shops: Bleu 32/Brocante Bleu, Angela's Attic, Baxter's Mercantile, Columbia Antiques Marketplace, and Loblolly. They aren't all on the parade side of downtown, which matters once streets start filling up toward evening.
| Shop | Address | What it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Bleu 32 / Brocante Bleu | 108 W. 7th St. | A 12,000-square-foot vintage marketplace just off the Square with antiques, boutique clothing, gifts, jewelry and art |
| Baxter's Mercantile | 808 S. Garden St. | Home décor, gifts, vintage and repurposed furniture, gourmet food and handmade goods |
| Loblolly Interiors Market | 810 Walker St. | Antiques, art and interior design |
| Angela's Attic | 2634 Pulaski Hwy. | Vintage resale |
Bleu 32 is in the 100 block of West 7th, and the Polk Home is in the 300 block. You can walk between them in a few minutes, so they can easily be the last two stops of the afternoon. Angela's Attic, out on Pulaski Highway, is the one open house that's clearly a drive from the Square. Going there in the morning, before the 6 p.m. parade, gets you back downtown before the crowds and the parking crunch.
If you're doing the home tour too, the Athenaeum Rectory is the natural place to start. You can buy tickets at the tour headquarters and spend the middle of the day on the historic properties. The shops open at 10, and the home tour runs until 4, so you can work the open houses in around it. That leaves a free hour to get to West 7th before the gardens light at 5.
The Lights Outlast Everything Else
After Dec. 5, the downtown calendar thins out. Visit Columbia lists A Worthy Clause 5k & Fun Run on Dec. 12, and Garden Lights at the Polk Home stays open every evening through Dec. 23.
Under last year's schedule, that stretch had gaps. In 2025, the gardens went dark for whole runs of weeknights, and after Dec. 20 the only remaining night was Dec. 23. This year, a Tuesday after school, a weeknight when the grandparents are in town, or a quiet evening the week before Christmas all have the same answer. The gardens at 301 W. 7th St. are open from 5 to 9, and your ticket comes with a hot drink.
If you're mapping out Saturday, Dec. 5, or picking an evening at the Polk Home's gardens for visiting family, we'd love to help you plan your December in Columbia. Home and Farms Realty is glad to be part of a town that lights up West 7th Street this way. Let's Connect.
