On Friday, Nov. 20, at 6:15 p.m., a countdown at the Gloria Sale Park stage will switch on the lights across Historic Downtown Bryan. Lights will run along Main Street and around the Palace Theatre, the Queen Theatre, the Carnegie Library and Mounce Library. KBTX reported that this year adds a new interactive photo display at Mounce Plaza and more lights on rooftops.
Two weeks later, College Station will hold a fun run, a parade and its own lighting ceremony between 3:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the same Saturday, all ending in the same park.
The two cities share a county line and a lot of daily life. Their holiday calendars work in opposite ways. Bryan's season is a series of downtown evenings from Nov. 20 to Dec. 17. College Station's is one long Dec. 5 at Stephen C. Beachy Central Park, plus a light display that stays on every night around it. In Bryan, planning means picking your nights. In College Station, it means getting the logistics right for one afternoon.
Bryan's version runs on downtown evenings
Destination Bryan has stretched the season over four weeks, and nearly every event lands on the same few blocks of Main Street and Bryan Avenue.
- Lights On!, Friday, Nov. 20, 5 to 10 p.m. This is the free opening night, presented by Frost Bank, with live music, family activities and Santa. The countdown at Gloria Sale Park, at the south end of downtown, starts at 6:15.
- Jingle Bell Sip & Shop, Saturday, Nov. 21. Tickets are $30, check-in is at Burr's Unfinished Furniture, and ticket proceeds benefit Voices for Children CASA. Check the event page for start time before you go.
- Holiday Magic, Thursday, Dec. 3, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. This one leaves downtown for Sue Haswell Memorial Park. More on that below.
- First Friday, Friday, Dec. 4, 5 to 10 p.m. Shops, vendors, art and live music in Historic Downtown Bryan.
- Holiday Stroll, Dec. 13 to 17. Activities are spread across downtown businesses, including Brazos Glassworks, Wonderful Words Bookshoppe, Burr's Unfinished Furniture, The Carnegie History Center and The Owl Pub & Grill.
- Lighted Parade, Thursday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m. It's free, and this year's theme is "Candy Cane on Main."
The way the season is built shows up in the storefronts, too. Destination Bryan set up a grant to help merchants decorate, and KBTX reported that about a dozen businesses had used it by early November. When a season runs across a month of evenings, the shop windows are part of the show. Downtown also added a market this year. The first Mistletoe Market brought more than 10 vendors downtown on Nov. 8, including Caney Creek & Co. and Blonde Bronc Designs, according to KBTX.
The Holiday Stroll has something you can book ahead. Brazos Glassworks is running glassmaking workshops on Dec. 14, 15 and 16, from 6 to 8 p.m., at $50 each. If you're groups, clubs or businesses hoping to ride in the Lighted Parade, applications close Dec. 7 at 5 p.m., or sooner if the parade fills.
Parking for opening night
On Nov. 20, Main Street closes from 26th to 29th, and West 28th closes from Tabor to Bryan Avenue, from 2 to 10 p.m. Free street parking stays open outside the closed blocks, and the Roy Kelly Parking Garage has paid parking.
College Station's version runs on one Saturday
Christmas in the Park dates to 1984, when a local family paid for a small display of light panels. It now covers the 47-acre Beachy Central Park with more than one million lights, and city crews work on the panels all year. The quiet part of the season is nightly. Lights On runs every day from 6 to 11 p.m., Nov. 26 through Jan. 1. You can drive or walk through, admission is free, and Willy 97.7 FM plays holiday music from Bryan Broadcasting.
Almost everything else happens on Saturday, Dec. 5.
| Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. | Recreation Drive closes until midnight, and vehicles can't drive through the park | Beachy Central Park |
| 3 p.m. | Fun run check-in | 810 Holleman Drive East |
| 3:30 p.m. | Jingle Bell Fun Run, 1.5 miles along part of the parade route | Ends at Beachy Central Park |
| 4 p.m. | College Station Christmas Parade starts; shuttles begin running | Post Oak Mall |
| 6 p.m. | Mayor switches on the lights; the event runs to 10 p.m. | Beachy Central Park |
| Midnight | Last shuttle; Recreation Drive reopens | Post Oak Mall lot |
The parade leaves Post Oak Mall and heads west on Holleman, turns south on Dartmouth, crosses Southwest Parkway, then goes east on Krenek Tap to Beachy Central Park. The run follows part of that route, so runners can finish in the park and watch the parade come in. Early run registration at $15 closed Nov. 15. Late registration costs $20 through Nov. 30 and includes jingle bells, with shirts while they last. Children 3 and under run free. Packet pickup is at the Parks and Recreation Administrative Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 3, and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 4.
The evening event has hayrides, cookies, hot cocoa, live entertainment and photos with Santa, and food vendors will be there. Admission is free, but the activities require wristbands. You get them at the information booths after filling out a waiver form, and filling it out at home saves time at the booth. The city doesn't provide a professional photographer for the Santa photos, so bring your own camera.
Since everything happens in one park, parking is the main thing to plan. Shuttles run from the Post Oak Mall parking lot from 4 p.m. to midnight, and accessible parking is at the Beachy Central Park softball complex, reached from State Highway 6. The city posts a parking and shuttle map that's worth a look before you leave. If you'd rather skip the crowds, the same lights are on every other night of the season, and the North Pole mailbox outside the Parks and Recreation Administrative Office takes letters to Santa from Nov. 26 through Dec. 24.
Where the two calendars overlap: Dec. 3 to 5
Bryan's month and College Station's single day overlap in early December, and that stretch takes the most planning.
- Thursday, Dec. 3: Holiday Magic at Sue Haswell Memorial Park, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., now in its 28th year. Admission, activities, parking and the shuttle are all free. There are snow hills, train rides, inflatables, face painting, a holiday character scavenger hunt and performances by Bryan ISD choirs. Pets aren't allowed.
- Friday, Dec. 4: First Friday in Historic Downtown Bryan, 5 to 10 p.m. It's also the last day of fun run packet pickup in College Station, which runs until 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: College Station's run, parade and lighting, from 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Families with young children can do Holiday Magic on Thursday and the College Station parade on Saturday and see Santa twice without paying for either. If you have a runner in the family, plan to pick up the race packet before Friday evening, since First Friday runs 5 to 10 p.m. and pickup ends at 6.
Around the edges: Santa's Wonderland and a Sunday market
Two events fall outside both city calendars. Santa's Wonderland on Highway 6 runs from Nov. 13 through Jan. 3, with hours that change by day. Its Super Saver sale ended Nov. 8. Advance tickets good for any day now cost $43.50 for adults and $38.50 for children 3 to 12, plus a $2.25 fee per ticket. At the gate, the prices are $59.95 and $54.95 before tax. For two adults and two children between 3 and 12, that comes to $229.80 at the gate before tax, or $173 buying ahead with fees included. By comparison, Lights On!, Holiday Magic, the nightly lights at Beachy Central Park and both parades are free to attend.
On Sunday, Nov. 22, the 5th Annual Holly Jolly Holiday Market runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Texas A&M Hotel, 177 Joe Routt Blvd. Admission is free. It's a good shopping stop two days after Bryan's lights come on.
Dinner around a downtown Bryan night
Because Bryan's evenings run as late as 10 p.m., you'll probably want dinner nearby, and downtown has new places this year. Carp's 24, a sports bar and grill, opened Oct. 7 at 300 N. Bryan Ave., in the space that used to be Casa Rodriguez, Community Impact reported. Final Score Sports Bar & Arcade at 121 N. Main St. was open by mid-August, according to KBTX, and an arcade is an easy way to fill the time between the lighting and the drive home. The Owl Pub & Grill is part of the Holiday Stroll lineup, so a stroll evening and dinner can happen on the same block.
For opening night, the street closures shape the evening. With Main Street closed from 26th to 29th until 10 p.m., parking once at the Roy Kelly garage and walking to the countdown, the Mounce Plaza photo display and dinner is easier than looking for street parking more than once.
If you're moving to Bryan–College Station around the holidays, or hosting family who are thinking about it, a few nights downtown or in Beachy Central Park are a good way to show them the area. When you have questions about homes in Bryan or College Station, Empyral Group is glad to help. Let's Make Your Next Move — Talk to Our Local Team.
