Collierville's Holiday Season Starts With the Shops, Not the Tree

On Saturday, November 14, the shops around Collierville Town Square will have their holiday décor up and refreshments out from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for Main Street Collierville's Holiday Open House. The Square's tree isn't lit yet that morning. The tree and its nearly quarter-million lights come on ten days later, on November 24.

That gap matters when you plan. The Square's holiday season has two hosts. Main Street Collierville and its merchants open the season first, and the Town of Collierville takes over for everything after. Those first ten days are the Square's quietest holiday stretch for shopping, and they come before the hot chocolate, carriages and Santa photos draw the bigger crowds.

Here is the 2026 season in the order it happens.

1. Holiday Open House: Saturday, Nov. 14, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., hosted by Main Street Collierville
2. Girls Night Out: Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 to 8 p.m., hosted by Main Street Collierville
3. Christmas Tree Lighting: Tuesday, Nov. 24, 5:30 to 8 p.m., hosted by the Town
4. Nightly carriage rides: Friday, Nov. 27, through Wednesday, Dec. 30, with no rides on Dec. 24 or 25
5. Christmas in Collierville Saturdays: Nov. 28, Dec. 5, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
6. Collierville Christmas Parade: Friday, Dec. 4, 7 to 9 p.m., on Byhalia Road

Ten Days When Main Street Has the Square

The two Main Street nights are set up differently. The Holiday Open House is a daytime Saturday shopping event with seasonal décor, refreshments and gift shopping at the merchants around the Square. Girls Night Out follows on Thursday, November 19, from 5 to 8 p.m. Main Street bills it as the kickoff to holiday shopping, with merchant specials, in-store giveaways and prizes.

Girls Night Out also has a drawing. Bring Main Street merchant receipts totaling more than $25 to the Main Street office and you're eligible for the basket drawing. Main Street hasn't published a list of participating shops or their hours for either night, so call the Main Street office at 901-853-1666 if you want to plan a route.

One storefront on this year's route wasn't there last holiday season. Sorelle Boutique moved into the former Patricia's on the Square space at 124 E. Mulberry Street. It had a soft opening on September 9 and a grand opening on September 19, the Commercial Appeal reported, and the store is 1,800 square feet. That makes this November its first holiday shopping season on the Square.

November 24, When the Town Takes Over

The Town calls its Christmas Tree Lighting the official kickoff of Christmas in Collierville. It runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 24, at Town Square Park, 96 Center Street.

The evening runs on a schedule. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen start serving hot chocolate at 5:30. Kevin and Bethany Paige play an hour of Christmas classics leading up to the countdown, and the tree and nearly a quarter of a million lights on the Square come on at 7 p.m. After the lighting, Santa takes pictures in the Gazebo until about 8.

The Town has no rain date for the lighting. If the weather is bad that Tuesday, the event either goes ahead or doesn't happen at all, so check the Town's page that afternoon before you head out. The Town also says its special events are free unless noted otherwise.

After the Lights, Nights and Saturdays Run on Separate Schedules

Once the lights are on, the season splits into two schedules. Weeknights belong to the carriages, and Saturday daytimes belong to Santa and the performers.

Carriage rides from Cunningham Tours run every night from Friday, November 27, through Wednesday, December 30, except December 24 and 25. Each carriage holds five to six people and costs $30 per trip, weather permitting. That works out to about $5 to $6 a person for a full carriage, compared with $30 for a couple riding alone. Bringing friends or a second family makes the ride a lot cheaper per person. The Town posts weather changes at colliervilletn.gov/christmas. For other questions, call Parks Administration at 901-457-2770, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Christmas in Collierville Saturdays all run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Town Square Park, with Santa in the Gazebo and seasonal music each week. Beyond that, each Saturday has a different lineup, so choose your Saturday by who you're bringing.

December 12 also has a second event a few blocks west of the Square. The Contemporary Club's home tour and holiday market runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Linda Kerley Center, 175 W. Poplar Ave., with tickets sold online and at the Center that day. Because it runs two hours past the Gazebo program, you can do the school choirs in the morning and the home tour in the afternoon.

December 4 and 5 Make the Busiest 24 Hours

The 49th annual Collierville Christmas Parade is the one big event of the season that isn't on the Square. It steps off Friday, December 4, at 7 p.m., starting on Byhalia Road north of White Road at Polo Run Road and continuing to West Collierville Middle School. The Town expects thousands of spectators and has no inclement-weather date.

The next morning is the December 5 Saturday, with model trains at the Depot and the Children's Entrepreneur Market on N. Rowlett Street. So the parade Friday night and the Square on Saturday morning come back to back, and families with young kids may want to space out that weekend.

If your business, church, scout troop or club wants to be in the parade, the timing is tight. Applications opened October 1, and the deadline is Friday, October 30, at 5 p.m., the day after this post goes up. The Town emails acceptance and rejection notices the week of November 2, and selected entrants owe a non-refundable $60 fee by Friday, November 13. Entry isn't guaranteed, local applicants get preference, and marching bands take part by invitation only. The Town's parade page names Special Events Coordinator Jennifer Taylor as the contact for parade questions and lists 901-457-2770 as the number to call.

Down the Block From Sorelle, a Storefront Waiting for Next Year

On the same stretch of Mulberry, during Holiday Open House you'll pass the merchant who won't be open this season. Dan and Lane Causgrove are renovating the 1,900-square-foot former Raven & Lily space at 120 E. Mulberry St. into Terra Tara, a French restaurant, the Daily Memphian reported. Dan Causgrove told the paper the couple wants

"an intimate, inviting space that people really feel is an important part of the community."

The Daily Memphian's September report said the restaurant was aiming to open in February, early next year. That means this holiday season the space will still be a renovation, just down the block from Sorelle's first Christmas at 124 E. Mulberry. By next year's Holiday Open House, if that February target holds, that block of Mulberry will have a new shop and a new dining room.

If your family is weighing a move in 2027, and you want to know how homes near the Square and across town are doing heading into the new year, Mia Atkinson is happy to walk you through it over coffee on Mulberry. Book a Call, and we'll find a time that works around your Saturdays.