Nashville Annual November Event Guide

From the second week of November until New Years' Day, the Gaylord Opryland Resort is host to many holiday events, including lavish displays with more than 3 million twinkling lights. ICE! is an interactive display that tells the story of the classic holiday movie "A Christmas Story." There's even a 15-foot-high snow tubing hill made up of four lanes.

Every year, Nashville's old antebellum homes (big, elegant and typically plantation houses built before the Civil War) are opened to the public during the holiday season in grandiose style. Visit with Santa and enjoy an evening of candlelight tours, wine tasting, caroling, and holiday shopping. This event at Belle Meade Plantation is free and open to the public.

This annual event is usually held the second weekend of November and has been a Nashville tradition for over 40 years. Approximately 260 merchants and 30,000 shoppers take part. A variety of seasonal gift items are offered for sale to benefit local charities. A great opportunity to get those presents early.

Take a look at all of the sparkling, twinkling displays that take place annually in Nashville in celebration of the Christmas holiday season. Most Nashvillians put their holiday lights on display prior to Thanksgiving.

Holiday Lights at Cheekwood is an annual event that displays one million glowing lights throughout the gardens. Festivities include visits with Santa and real reindeer, gingerbread workshops, and holiday carolers. This event runs from Thanksgiving through the first week of January. 

For over three decades, Music Row rivals have competed on the gridiron in the Music Row Turkey Bowl. Proceeds go to local charities. This annual November event is a perfect way to kick off the holiday season in Nashville.

In November, the Nashville International Auto Show showcases hundreds of new models from major domestic and import manufacturers at Music City Center. See more than 350 of the latest fuel-efficient compact cars, alternative fuel vehicles, crossovers, SUVs, tough trucks, and more. 

Nashville Jewish Film Festival begins in the middle of October and runs through the second week of November. It offers an extensive and eclectic selection of films from all genres, including art, drama, romance, comedy, animation, and Jewish history at various Nashville venues.

This annual parade takes place in downtown Nashville and pays tribute to all members of the U.S. armed forces. The 10-block-long parade goes down Broadway and always begins promptly at 11 a.m. on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in connection with the end of World War I in 1918.

The historic Belle Meade mansion is decorated for the holidays every year and normally portrays an old-fashioned Christmas. Take a tour of one of Tennessee's grandest mansions during its festive Victorian Christmas celebration. View the 1892 carriage house and taste Wassail, a spiced holiday drink that goes back centuries.