Tomorrow, Friday, November 20, between 2 and 5 p.m., gingerbread houses will be carried one at a time into The Art Center at 420 West Main Street. Every house sits on a base no bigger than 12 by 12 inches. Everything above that base has to be edible, except for any lights the builder adds. None of it can need a refrigerator, because the houses stay out at room temperature for a month.
On Saturday, November 21, at noon, that room opens to the public as the Gingerbread Village. It opens six days before Blue Friday and a full week before the Great Tree lighting. The Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association lends the classroom to the Light Up Blue Ridge committee, and the contest held there sets dates that the rest of the season follows.
A room full of houses built by the town
This is the 14th year of the Light Up Blue Ridge Gingerbread House Contest. In its listing for the 2026 contest, BRMAA says more than 60 houses will be on display. The committee thanks the Arts Association for the space and says it shows the houses "in one of their classrooms."
The builders come from all over town. The contest has seven entry categories:
- Business or Organization
- Adult Individual
- High School
- Middle School
- Pre-School and Kindergarten
- Elementary, grades 1 through 3
- Elementary, grades 4 through 5
Each entrant has to design, build and decorate their own house. A kit is fine as a starting point, but every house must be a building, it must be original, and it has to arrive finished, fixed to its base and labeled. A school can send many houses on one entry form, as long as each house carries its own name label.
Last year's winners show who turns up. The 2025 village results include "Santa's Chalet" by Sharon Arnold, first place among adults, and "Blue Ridge Bungalow" by the Blue Ridge Business Association, first place for businesses and organizations. In high school, Caitlin O'Mara took first with "Snow on the Steps." In middle school, first went to "An American Winter," and "Santa's Bait and Tackle" placed second. A Spanish class from Casa Berean Co-op won grades 1 through 3 with a house called "Hola!" McKinley Bramlett and Griffin Grey won grades 4 and 5 with "Candy Cane Lane," and Tate Robertson's "Nightmare Before Christmas" won Pre-K and kindergarten.
Those names add up to a crowd that has little in common with Thanksgiving weekend's out-of-town visitors. These are local students, local clubs, a downtown business group and neighbors who spent their evenings with royal icing.
Three dates the village sets for the season
Sunday, November 22. The judges pick winners, and the committee posts them on Facebook the day after the village opens. That's five days before Blue Friday. Families who check that Sunday will know the results before most of the region has heard the event is open.
Saturday, November 28. The judges' winners are announced again at the Christmas tree lighting. That ties the gingerbread contest to the biggest moment of Light Up weekend. Winners in each category receive a plaque for first place, second place and honorable mention.
Sunday, December 20, at noon. People's Choice voting closes. Visitors vote at the display itself, and this year there are two People's Choice awards, one for 4th through 12th grade and one for adults. The committee announces those winners Monday, December 21, and builders pick up their houses after that.
So the parade comes and goes in one evening, but the village runs about a week before it and more than three weeks after it. The public vote lasts all that time. Anyone who walks through in early December still helps decide a winner.
The room next door has been open since the 15th
The village shares the building with the BRMAA Holiday Market, which opened Sunday, November 15, and runs through December 19. Member artists sell jewelry, pottery, paintings and other handmade work. The market keeps the Arts Association's holiday hours, Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it's closed on Mondays. According to the organizer, the village is open whenever the Arts Center is open. If you plan around the market's Tuesday-to-Sunday schedule, you can see both on the same trip. Skip Monday.
The Chamber's listing for Light Up Blue Ridge sends weekend visitors to The Art Center for the gingerbread houses, and asks them to vote for a favorite before heading to the Holiday Market. On Thanksgiving weekend the building turns into one of the stops on the walk between East Main and the park. During the rest of the season it's a quieter place to see the same houses.
How Light Up weekend uses the village
By the time Light Up begins, the village has been open almost a week and its judged winners are already posted. Here's the weekend on the Light Up Blue Ridge schedule, which says it goes on rain, snow or shine.
Blue Friday, November 27
- Downtown merchants offer store discounts, with food vendors and live entertainment from noon to 5 p.m.
- Santa takes photos in the City Park gazebo from noon to 4:15 p.m. Children already in line by then are seen until 4:30.
- Children can write to Santa's Mailbox and get a handwritten reply in the mail a few days later. Habitat for Humanity volunteers help with letters from noon to 5 on both Friday and Saturday.
Light Up Saturday, November 28
- Tuba Christmas plays near Depot Street from 11 a.m. to noon, and the Brasstown Big Band follows from noon to 1.
- Entertainment runs on East Main from noon to 5 p.m.
- Santa sees visitors until 4:30, when, in the organizer's words, he "MUST leave by 4:30 so he has time to eat something and then be in the parade."
- The parade starts at 5:30 p.m. at Church Street and East Main. It runs down East Main to Mountain Street, down Mountain, then back up West Main to the Depot.
- The Great Tree is lit right after the parade, at about 7 p.m., at Blue Ridge City Park. The gingerbread winners are announced at the lighting.
The parade's return leg up West Main passes the same block as The Art Center. Saturday afternoon is the busiest time all season to get into the village. A weekday visit before Thanksgiving or in early December means more room to look at each house.
The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway also runs a Holiday Express that Friday morning. It's a one-hour holiday ride with Santa, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., leaving from 241 Depot Street. For parking near the depot, the railway's FAQ lists a paid lot at 204 West Main Street that charges $5 Monday through Wednesday and $10 Thursday through Sunday. It says street spaces around the depot are free unless signs say otherwise.
The same season, down the road in McCaysville
The holiday calendar along the state line stretches beyond Blue Ridge's own weekend.
- Light Up McCaysville runs Thanksgiving Friday, November 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. at 100 Blue Ridge Drive, with a tree lighting at dusk and Santa at the Riverwalk Shops.
- The McCaysville & Copperhill Christmas Parade is Saturday, December 5. The Copperhill Kiwanis Club invites participants to line up next to McCaysville City Park, and the listing names downtown McCaysville and Copperhill as the event location.
Both events fall during the village's run, so a December 5 trip to the state line still leaves two more weekends to get back to West Main and vote for People's Choice.
Our team has spent decades watching traditions like this one grow, from craft fairs in Brasstown to parades through downtown Murphy. Local traditions also affect what home and land are worth here, and if you're weighing a move or a sale anywhere in these mountains, the Randy Dockery Team is glad to talk it through. Ask us for a free home valuation and local market advice.
