Nashville Annual November Event Guide

If you're planning on going out to dinner for Thanksgiving, you'll find several restaurants in Nashville that are normally open and serve up turkey dinners from bountiful feasts to last-minute meals.

From the second week of November until New Years' Day, the Gaylord Opryland Resort is host to many holiday events, including lavish holiday displays with more than three million twinkling lights. ICE is an interactive display that tells the story of Charlie Brown through ice sculptures. There's even an extreme snow tubing hill covered in 1.5 million pounds of real snow.

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

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. 

Brain Matters is an interactive exhibit that has in-depth information about the brain, how it works, and its diseases and disorders. This exhibit, sponsored by Vanderbilt University, consists of three touch-screen stations that allow you to spend as much time as you like delving into the mystery of the human brain. The exhibit is open Mondays through Saturdays and is free 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.

Traditional country music fans have the opportunity to enjoy a very talented line-up at the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree, which broadcasts from the landmark Texas Troubadour Theatre every Saturday night. Audience tapings take place at 10 p.m. for midnight broadcast. Admission is free, and many artists typically stick around after the show to sign autographs in the lobby.

On the first Saturday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m, art galleries throughout downtown Nashville host receptions and art openings with most offering free wine and other refreshments. More than 20 art venues present local and international artists.

The Frist Center offers a monthly architecture tour for those interested in learning more about this 1933 Nashville landmark building. The former downtown post office is a prominent Nashville architectural treasure from the art deco period. Tours are normally held on the first Saturday of each month.

The Grand Ole Opry, one of the worlds longest-running radio shows, offers several live shows every week on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Every year, in late fall, the show leaves the Grand Ole Opry House and returns to the Ryman Auditorium Stage for the winter months beginning in November.

Enjoy some of Nashville's most accomplished and celebrated artists as they perform at the Frist Center on Thursday and Friday evenings. Musicians perform all types of music from classical, jazz, Latin, Americana, bluegrass, and electronic. Some of the area's accomplished singer/songwriters contribute their talents each week, as well.

Music City Roots is a weekly live radio show built on the Nashville Americana music scene and the legacy of WSM's historic roots. Broadcast from The Factory, it airs live every Wednesday night and features four artists in 25-minute segments and short interviews, followed by a Nashville Jam to close the show.

For over two 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.

Held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, the Nashville Flea Market is known as one of the best flea markets in Tennessee. It's open on the fourth weekend of every month except in December when it's usually held a week earlier for holiday shopping.

On the first weekend 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.
 

Poet’s Corner at Scarritt-Bennett Center offers a monthly poetry reading on the fourth Thursday of each month. The environment is informal, and conversations between the poet and the audience are encouraged. Normally held in the Fondren Building on the Scarritt-Bennett Center campus, the event is free and open to the public.

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.