On Friday, December 4, the Town of Morrisville will light its Town Tree at 7:50 p.m. at Indian Creek Trailhead, with festivities starting two hours earlier at 6 p.m. The lights on the Town Hall campus will already be on, and the tree will be lit well after dark.
Less than a day later, Downtown Cary Park begins its own free Tree Lighting Celebration at 9 a.m. on Saturday, December 5, and holds its official ceremony at 6 p.m. Weston Estates sits on Weston Estates Way, off Weston Parkway, and the Town of Cary approved that roadway in 1998. From there, this year's calendar offers something it did not last December: two town tree lightings on consecutive days, each with a different format, and a reason to attend both.
Last December, Morrisville's Was a Saturday Matinee
Morrisville's event used to fit a different slot. In its 2025 holiday guide, The Line from westernwakenc.com listed it as a Saturday, December 6 event from 3 to 6 p.m. at Town Hall, with parking and shuttles from Cedar Fork Community Center. The Town of Morrisville's 2026 listing moves it to a Friday and starts it at the hour last year's event ended.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Day and date | Saturday, December 6 | Friday, December 4 |
| Hours | 3 to 6 p.m. | 6 to 8 p.m. |
| Tree lit | Within the afternoon window | 7:50 p.m. |
| Listed location | Town Hall | Indian Creek Trailhead, 101 Town Hall Drive |
Indian Creek Trailhead is the main entrance to Morrisville's Indian Creek Greenway, at 101 Town Hall Drive. The 1.8-mile corridor runs from Morrisville-Carpenter Road to McCrimmon Parkway. The trailhead is part of the Town Hall campus, so the 2026 address names a specific spot on the same campus the 2025 guide called Town Hall.
The new schedule changes two things. The event now falls on a weeknight, after the workday instead of in the middle of a Saturday. It also stops competing for Saturday time. Cary's daylong celebration gets the Saturday to itself, and Morrisville gets the Friday evening.
Friday at Indian Creek Trailhead
The Town describes the evening as one where "the Town Hall campus shines with festive holiday lights," ending with the official lighting of the Town Tree. The listed activities for 2026 are:
- Hot chocolate station
- Ornament crafts
- Musical and dance performances
- Letters to Santa
- A visit with Santa
- Music
Parking is the detail to plan around. General parking is off-site at Cedar Fork Community Center, 1050 B Town Hall Drive, and a shuttle runs from there to the trailhead throughout the event. Accessible parking is at Town Hall, 100 Town Hall Drive. From Weston Parkway, Cedar Fork Community Center is the place to aim for, since the trailhead itself is not the parking destination.
The two-hour window shapes the evening too. With crafts, Santa and performances starting at 6 p.m. and the lighting at 7:50, families with young children can arrive early for the activities. Anyone who mainly wants the moment the tree comes on can arrive later, as long as the shuttle gets them there before 7:50.
Saturday in Downtown Cary, From Farmers Market to 6 p.m.
Cary's version is listed for 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Downtown Cary Park, 327 S. Academy St. Morrisville builds a two-hour evening around one moment. Cary spreads its programming across the whole day, with different activities in different parts of the park. The Downtown Cary Park schedule lays it out:
- 9 a.m. to noon: Cary Farmers Holiday Market on East Park Street
- 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Photos with Santa at The Gathering House
- Noon to 8 p.m.: Holiday Vendor Market on S. Academy Street
- 2 to 5 p.m.: Art Cart at The Nest Pavilion
- 2 to 6 p.m.: Reindeer Games at Park Street Arena, plus a snowball fight area and face painting at The Nest Pavilion and a holiday photo backdrop at Frantz Square Plaza
- 2 to 9 p.m.: Food trucks on Park Street and Academy Street
- 6 p.m.: Official Tree Lighting Ceremony
Downtown Cary Park notes that Academy Street from Park Street to Dry Avenue will be closed from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on December 5. That closure covers almost the whole event, including the evening hours around the ceremony, so drivers heading downtown that afternoon should plan their approach around that stretch of Academy Street.
The Town of Cary's Heart of the Holidays calendar adds one more stop the same afternoon. Victorian Christmas at Page-Walker runs from 2 to 5 p.m. on December 5. It ends an hour before the downtown ceremony, so a Saturday that includes both is easy to plan.
How the Two Days Fit Together From Weston Parkway
| Morrisville | Cary | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Friday, December 4 | Saturday, December 5 |
| Listed event hours | 6 to 8 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., with food trucks until 9 p.m. |
| Lighting moment | 7:50 p.m. | 6 p.m. |
| Getting there | Park at Cedar Fork Community Center, shuttle to trailhead | Academy Street closed Park St. to Dry Ave., 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Format | One evening centered on the Town Tree | Markets, Santa photos, games and food trucks across the day |
For a household on Weston Estates Way, the weekend works as a sequence. Friday is the short evening in Morrisville, with a tree lit near 8 p.m. Saturday can start as early as the 9 a.m. farmers market or as late as the 6 p.m. ceremony downtown. Cary's 6 p.m. lighting comes nearly two hours earlier in the evening than Morrisville's 7:50, which matters for anyone with an early bedtime in the house.
Santa appears on both days. In Morrisville he is part of the Friday evening program. In Cary, photos with Santa at The Gathering House end at 5 p.m., an hour before the ceremony. Families who want those photos downtown need to arrive in the afternoon, not just for the lighting.
The Rest of the Season's Lights
The tree lighting is not Morrisville's last December event at the trailhead. The Town's "Light Up Morrisville" series ends with the Menorah Lighting on Thursday, December 10, at 5:30 p.m., also at Indian Creek Trailhead. The Town describes it as a ceremony with live music. Parking is handled differently from the tree lighting. Instead of a shuttle from Cedar Fork, parking for the menorah lighting is at Town Hall, 100 Town Hall Drive, and the Connector Building, 240 Town Hall Drive.
The date has moved here too. The 2025 guide listed Morrisville's menorah lighting for December 21. This year it falls in the second week of December, eleven days earlier.
On the Cary side, the Cary Jaycees Christmas Parade runs from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, according to the Town's Heart of the Holidays calendar. That makes it the second Saturday in a row with a major downtown Cary holiday event.
Before any of that, there is a lighting this Saturday. Fenton's Light the Square is scheduled for November 21, from 3 to 7 p.m., with a market, skating and family activities, and a live stage show at 6 p.m. Skate the Square at Fenton Square by Paragon Theaters, 21 Fenton Main Street, opened its season on November 6 and runs through February 7. Its official page lists DJ nights on December 3, 10 and 17. The December 3 DJ night falls the evening before Morrisville's tree lighting, so that weekend can start a day early.
All of these are free public events or published schedules set by the towns and venues, and details can change. The official pages for Morrisville's tree lighting, Downtown Cary Park's celebration and Fenton's Light the Square are the places to check the morning of each event.
From Weston Estates, the first weekend of December now holds two tree lightings, about 22 hours apart, in two towns. If you're thinking about how your home in Weston Estates fits into the year ahead, the team at Karen Coe Realty Group is glad to talk it through with you. Request Your Home Valuation and we'll start with what your home is worth today.
