South Forsyth's Holiday Season Has a New Center This Year: The Cumming Fairgrounds
Starting Friday, November 20, the upper area of the Cumming Fairgrounds on Castleberry Road becomes a walk-through light show. It opens at 5 p.m. every evening and stays lit until 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, running through Sunday, December 27. The organizers call Nights of Lights "Cumming, Georgia's New Favorite Christmas Attraction," and it is new. 2026 is its first season here.
That changes how a Forsyth holiday season fits together. In past years the calendar was a string of separate Saturdays: a market here, a tree lighting there, the parade in mid-December. This year one place stays open on nearly every night of the season, and the city says it will still be lit after the Christmas Parade. The free events plan best around it.
From November 20 through December 27 is 38 calendar days. The Fairgrounds has hosted holiday lights before. In 2014, Patch reported a "Christmas light show" as one of the activities around the annual Christmas in Cumming Arts and Crafts Show. That show came with a craft fair. Nights of Lights is the main event, and it runs for more than five weeks.
The show isn't new to its organizers. They ran Nights of Lights at the CCNB Amphitheater at Heritage Park in Simpsonville, South Carolina, starting in 2023. The Greenville Journal covered its return for a second season in 2024. The show describes itself as an annual event put on by "a team of family and friends," and its about page says plainly, "We can't wait to bring the magic to Cumming, Georgia, in 2026." The organizers also describe the event as accessible and wheelchair-friendly.
The Nights of Lights website lists the centerpiece as a 65-foot-tall Christmas tree. From there the walk-through trail leads past themed light scenes to a life-size igloo, a petting zoo, pony rides and carnival rides. There's a skating rink on the list too, though the organizers say attractions are "subject to change year over year."
Here's how the 2026 dates fall around the Fairgrounds run. All of the one-day events land on Saturdays, and every Saturday from November 21 on is a night when the lights stay on until 10 p.m.
| Date | Event | Where | Hours | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Holiday Artists Market | Halcyon, Village Green | 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. | No admission price listed |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Nights of Lights opens | Cumming Fairgrounds, 235 Castleberry Rd. | 5 to 10 p.m. | $10 ages 16+, $7 ages 5 to 15 |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | 5th Annual Holiday Market, Tree Lighting and Concert | Cumming City Center, 423 Canton Rd. | 10 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. | Free |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Snow Day | Cumming City Center, Vision Drive | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Bounce houses $10 or a donated gift |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | City of Cumming Christmas Parade | Lineup at Forsyth Central High School; listed at the Fairgrounds | Starts 5 p.m. | No fee to march |
| Sun., Dec. 27 | Nights of Lights final night | Cumming Fairgrounds | 5 to 9 p.m. | Same as above |
The season starts closest to home. Halcyon's Holiday Artists Market brings 20 local artisans to the Village Green on November 7, two weeks before anything opens in Cumming. If you shop small for gifts, that's the early Saturday. Everything after it heads north.
Admission is $10 for ages 16 and up, $7 for ages 5 to 15, and free for children 4 and under. For two adults and two school-age kids, that's $34 to get in. The FAQ makes clear the ticket covers the walk-through, and several of the most kid-friendly attractions cost extra.
Included with admission:
Paid separately, per the event's attractions page:
The ticketing page works the same way. Its listing reads "General Admission Only" and says some in-park activities need additional tickets. You can buy tickets at the gate or online. For a family that wants the rink and the rides, $34 is where the evening starts, not what it costs.
That's where the City Center Saturdays come in. Snow Day at Cumming City Center on December 5 has bounce houses for $10 a person, or for a new, unopened gift of equal value, plus Santa and a DJ. If bouncing is the main event for your kids, Snow Day can cover it in daylight and turn it into a toy donation, and a later trip to the Fairgrounds can stay focused on the lights.
Nights of Lights opens on a Friday. The next day, Cumming City Center hosts its 5th Annual Holiday Market at 423 Canton Road. It's free, open to everyone, and promises more than 100 local vendors, with the Christmas Tree Lighting and Concert on the same day.
The two schedules don't quite agree on when that day ends. The City Center event page lists 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The City of Cumming's 2026 parade registration form calls it the "Winter Market & Tree Lighting Celebration" and lists 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. No 2026 lighting time has been published. If the tree is the reason you're going, plan to be at Canton Road into the evening, and check the City Center page closer to the date.
Either way, November 21 has a natural order. Shop the market during the day, stay for the lighting, and you still have hours left at the Fairgrounds, which stays open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays. It's the one weekend this season when Cumming's two tree events happen within about a day of each other: the City Center lighting and the 65-foot tree on Castleberry Road.
The City of Cumming's 2026 parade registration form tells participants:
"Following the 2026 Christmas Parade, this event will be going on in the upper area of the Fairgrounds."
The City of Cumming Christmas Parade starts at 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, and goes ahead rain or shine. The Cumming Fairgrounds events calendar lists it from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Fairgrounds. Last year's route ran from Forsyth Central High School to the Cumming Fairgrounds by way of Tribble Gap and Castleberry Road, and road closures began at 4:30 p.m. The 2026 form still has participants gathering at the Forsyth Central High School parking lot by 4 p.m.
If the parade wraps around 6:30 p.m. as listed, the light show has about three and a half hours left before it closes at 10. The light show offers free on-site parking. If you'd rather skip the parade crowd, a weeknight visit, open until 9 p.m., gets you the same lights.
There's a practical point for neighborhood groups, scout troops and teams that want to march. Entry is free, and the form must reach City Hall by 5 p.m. on Monday, December 7, 2026. Walking groups, golf carts, antique tractors and horse-drawn wagons are all on the entry list. The organizers also run Nights of Lights through the week after Christmas, with the last night on Sunday, December 27, if relatives arrive late in the month.
If you're thinking about where your family wants to spend future holiday seasons in Forsyth or North Fulton, from Halcyon to the streets around Cumming City Center, Casey Schiltz is glad to talk it through. Schedule a Consultation, and bring your questions about the area along with your parade-night plans.
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