Your Guide to Christmas Parades and Holiday Festivities Across Mobile and Baldwin Counties

The holiday season brings a full slate of parades, tree lightings, and festivals to Mobile and Baldwin counties, with events stretching from Tillman’s Corner to Gulf Shores and inland to Atmore and Millry. Here’s a rundown of what’s on the calendar.

Alabama’s largest synchronized light show, Christmas Nights of Lights, returns to Hank Aaron Stadium, running nightly from November 12 through January 7 from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., with more than a million lights set to music. The City of Mobile kicks things off with its Lighting of the Tree at Mardi Gras Park on November 19 from 6-9 p.m., featuring live music, vendors, food trucks, and Santa. Bellingrath Gardens celebrates the 26th year of Magic Christmas in Lights with 3 million bulbs across 16 scenes, open nightly through January 5.

Tillman’s Corner holds its 41st annual Christmas Parade at 10:30 a.m. December 4, starting at Griggs Elementary School on Three Notch Road. Prichard offers a Breakfast with Santa on December 4 ($10 adults) and its tree lighting December 10 at Prichard and Wilson avenues. Saraland’s 53rd annual parade moves to Sunday, December 12 at 2 p.m. after a weather postponement, and its Mistletoe Market craft fair runs that same day. In Semmes, the Woman’s Club hosts its 12th annual Christmas Tour and Shop Hop on December 11, and Semmes Fire Rescue pairs a drive-through emergency vehicle maze with a Toys for Tots toy drive on December 3.

Downtown, the Mobile Ballet brings back alumna Kathryn Morgan for The Nutcracker December 11-12 at the Mobile Civic Center Theater, while the Mobile Symphony Orchestra performs “Joy to the World” at the Saenger Theatre the same weekend. The Saenger also screens classic Christmas films December 16 and 19.

Fairhope’s parade steps off at 7 p.m. December 3 downtown, following its November 18 Lighting of the Trees. Foley packs the season with Christmas in the Park and its tree lighting December 3, the Kiwanis-sponsored parade December 4, the Let It Snow festival with snow flurries over Heritage Park, and holiday festivities at OWA beginning November 20. Spanish Fort lights its tree December 5 and stages its “Spirit of Christmas” parade December 12 at the Eastern Shore Centre.

In south Baldwin County, Gulf Shores hosts a lighted boat parade from LuLu’s at dusk December 11, Santa’s drive-through visits December 4 and 11, and the free Baldwin Pops Holiday Concert December 7 at the Cultural Center. Orange Beach lights its tree at The Wharf on November 30, where Holly Days on Main returns December 11-12. Silverhill (December 3), Robertsdale (December 4), and Loxley (December 10) all hold Christmas-in-the-Park parades, and Bay Minette’s 39th annual Christmas Festival fills the Courthouse Square December 11.

Grove Hill’s chamber-run parade rolls December 2 with a “Christmas Magic” theme, Jackson lights its downtown tree that same evening, Atmore combines an afternoon of downtown festivities with its first tree lighting December 2 and a parade December 11, Brewton launches a first-ever fundraiser for the elderly at Jennings Park on December 11, and Millry caps the season with its parade December 12 followed by Christmas in the Park with fireworks on December 14.

About the venues

Hank Aaron Stadium, site of Christmas Nights of Lights, opened in 1997 and was home to the minor-league Mobile BayBears until the team played its final game there in 2019 before relocating to Madison, Alabama.

Bellingrath Gardens and Home, on the Fowl River in Theodore, first opened its gardens to the public in 1932.