Comparing Franklin's 2026 holiday listings with last year's makes it look as if everything moved. The tree lighting went from December 5 to December 4, the parade from December 6 to December 5, Dickens of a Christmas from the 13th to the 12th, and FrankTown's opening night from November 21 to November 20. Each of those events still lands on the same day of the week it did in 2025. December 2026 simply starts one weekday later than December 2025 did.
Two changes are real. The Made Market holiday market no longer falls on the Saturday of Dickens and moved to the following Saturday. Franklin Parks also added a third night to the Flashlight Candy Cane Hunt at Harlinsdale. With those two moves, the season runs as four separate stretches, each built around its own headline event, and no Saturday has both the biggest downtown festival and the biggest maker market.
The 2026 Calendar, Stretch by Stretch
| Dates | Headline event | Also on the calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Fri Nov 20 to Sun Nov 22 | FrankTown Festival of Lights opens Nov 20 | Elf at Harlinsdale Park, Nov 20; O Night Divine at the Franklin Theatre, Nov 21 |
| Fri Dec 4 to Sun Dec 6 | Tree lighting on the Square, Dec 4; Christmas Parade, Dec 5 | An Ozzie & Harriett Christmas at the Franklin Theatre, Dec 6 |
| Wed Dec 9 to Sun Dec 13 | Candy Cane Hunt, Dec 9 to 11; Dickens of a Christmas, Dec 12 to 13 | Donna Reed program at the Franklin Theatre, Dec 12 to 13 |
| Mon Dec 14 to Tue Dec 22 | A Franklin Christmas, Dec 14; Made Market, Dec 19 | Christmas with the King, Dec 19 to 20; Gatlin Brothers Christmas, Dec 21 to 22 |
The Saturday That Used to Collide
In 2025, the Made Market Franklin Holiday Market ran on Saturday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Liberty Hall at The Factory at Franklin. That was also the first day of the 40th Dickens of a Christmas, which ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Main Street. Last year's biggest downtown festival and the biggest maker market at The Factory took place on the same day, and anyone planning around one had to plan around the other too.
The 2026 Made Market is set for Saturday, December 19, with the same 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours and the same venue at 230 Franklin Road. According to the Visit Franklin listing, the market brings in more than 50 artists and artisans. Admission is $5 for adults plus tax, children 15 and under get in free, and parking is free. The six-day move puts it on the Saturday after Dickens. Dickens ends on the 13th, and the market opens six days later.
The rest of December's schedule is built around that gap.
Weekend One Belongs to the Square
The City of Franklin's annual events calendar lists the Christmas tree lighting for Friday, December 4, at 6 p.m. on the Downtown Franklin Public Square. The free Franklin Christmas Parade, organized by Downtown Franklin Rotary, follows at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, on Main Street. The parade keeps to its first-Saturday-in-December rule, so the 2026 date is the rule applied to a new calendar, not a change in format.
The city has not yet posted the 2026 program for the tree lighting. Its tree lighting page still shows the 2025 event, which offered no shuttle service. Whether 2026 will have a shuttle hasn't been announced.
The Week Between Fills In at Harlinsdale
Franklin Parks' free Flashlight Candy Cane Hunt at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm runs Wednesday through Friday, December 9, 10 and 11, with sessions at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Preregistration is required. In 2025 the city listed it on two nights, December 11 and 12. This year adds a third night and starts on a Wednesday. That gives families six sessions spread over three evenings to choose from, all before Dickens weekend.
Harlinsdale gets an earlier visit as well. The city has scheduled an outdoor screening of Elf at Harlinsdale Park for November 20, the same night FrankTown opens its lights.
Dickens Returns After Losing Last Year's Sunday
The 41st annual Dickens of a Christmas is listed for 10 a.m. Saturday, December 12, through 5 p.m. Sunday, December 13, in Historic Downtown Franklin. It is free and produced by the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County.
The 40th edition only ran for one day. As the Williamson Herald reported, the Heritage Foundation canceled the Sunday program over wind chills near zero and the risk of freezing water and sanitation problems. It added warming stations and indoor warming spaces for Saturday. The Herald also reported that some of Landmark Booksellers' Sunday book signings were moved to Saturday or held indoors. For 2026 the festival is again scheduled for two full days.
The 2025 program gives a sense of what downtown looks like that weekend. FranklinIs' preview listed a Main Stage and an Acoustic Stage, a Victorian Village with dancers and carolers, StoryTimes, a whiskey lounge from Leipers Fork Distillery, and a beer garden from Bavarian Bierhaus. Santa took photos on the Square. The Saturday Town Sing began at 5:30 p.m. on the Main Stage, and Sunday's was set for 4:15 p.m. at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church. The 2026 listings haven't published a stage schedule yet.
Two items from the week after Dickens are worth knowing about early. The Circle of Giving's "A Franklin Christmas," with Steven Curtis Chapman & Friends, returns to Liberty Hall on Monday, December 14. FranklinIs' October 7 announcement calls it the second annual event and lists tickets at $50, $75 and $125. Last year's concert was also on the Monday after Dickens. Its date shifted for the same calendar reason as everything else.
The Franklin Theatre and FrankTown Fill the Gaps
FranklinIs' 2026 Franklin Theatre holiday roundup lists shows from late November through the week before Christmas:
- O Night Divine, Saturday, November 21
- Christmas with The Celts, Monday, November 30
- Ryan Middaugh Jazz Orchestra, Tuesday, December 1
- Rock the Halls, Wednesday, December 2
- An Ozzie & Harriett Christmas, Sunday, December 6, 1 p.m.
- It's a Wonderful Life with a Donna Reed program, December 12 and 13
- Christmas with the King, December 19 and 20
- A Gatlin Brothers Christmas, December 21 and 22
Several of these fall on weeknights between the big weekends, so the downtown holiday season continues on the days with no festival scheduled.
FrankTown Festival of Lights runs nightly from 5 to 9 p.m., November 20 through December 31, at the Williamson County AG Expo Center, 4215 Long Lane. The organizer describes it as a 1.5-mile display. The walk-through evenings are Wednesdays, November 25 and December 2, 9 and 16, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Cars may enter at 7 p.m. on those nights. In 2025 the walking nights were November 26 and December 3, 10 and 17, which were also all Wednesdays. The December 9 walking night is the same evening as the first night of the Candy Cane Hunt, so a family could do both on one Wednesday.
Still Unannounced as of Mid-October
Several details have not been published in the sources that would normally carry them:
- Dickens shuttle and parking. In 2025, Franklin Transit ran $1-per-ride shuttles from Harlinsdale Farm starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, and from both Harlinsdale and Franklin High School on Sunday. The 2026 listing from the Heritage Foundation shows the festival's dates but no shuttle or parking plan.
- Dickens daily hours. The 2026 listing gives the overall span from 10 a.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday, without separate hours for each day.
- Tree lighting performers. The city's calendar describes the usual mix of school groups, musicians, performers and Santa, but has not posted a 2026 lineup.
- Holiday programming at Carnton and the Carter House. The Battle of Franklin Trust's program page lists its late-November battle commemorations, but no 2026 holiday tour dates. The regular Classic House Tour at Carnton is listed at $22 for adults and $14 for children ages 6 to 15.
- Holiday Magic on Main. The Downtown Franklin Association's page for it has no 2026 details. The Heritage Foundation's events calendar lists Dickens as its only December 2026 event.
The Dickens shuttle matters most on that list. The Candy Cane Hunt ends at Harlinsdale on Friday, December 11, and Harlinsdale served as last year's Saturday morning shuttle lot.
If you're looking at homes around Franklin this winter, The Phillips Group can work showings around tree-lighting Friday, parade Saturday and Dickens weekend, so you see the streets near downtown on a busy December day and on a quiet one. Start your home search with us.
