Located in the heart of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains, Hendersonville, NC transforms into a magical winter wonderland during its annual Home for the Holidays Christmas celebration. This delightful and fun mountain town is the perfect place to embrace the holiday spirit.
We love exploring and experiencing holiday events in the small towns and cities and of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
We recently visited Hendersonville, NC, to experience Home for the Holidays first hand. Its charm and festive holiday spirit truly captivated us!
With holiday carriage rides, dazzling lights, peppermint bear's scavenger hunt, and much more, Home for the Holidays has something for everyone to enjoy and really brings families together for the holiday season.
In this guide, we share our firsthand experience at Home for the Holidays, including event highlights and tips to help you plan your visit.
Hendersonville was one of the Western NC towns affected by flooding and damage from Hurricane Helene. The town was essentially closed through the entire month of October, and lost significant revenue.
Home for the Holidays is especially important this year to help in the continued recovery from the hurricane, and to also help the community and businesses as well.
We definitely encourage you to visit, not only to help support the town but also to enjoy a truly magical holiday season!
Our Video
Here is the video of our visit!
Christmas Tree Lighting and Carriage Rides
The kick-off event for Hendersonville's Home for the Holidays is the Christmas tree lighting at the historic courthouse in downtown. Before the event, shops are open, allowing families to shop, explore, and help peppermint bear find her lost cubs (see below for details).
There is also live music playing, food trucks, hot drinks, and the town is decorated with beautiful Christmas lights.
Around 6:00pm, Santa arrives and the countdown to light the enormous Christmas tree. Santa lights the tree, and the Hendersonville holiday season officially begins!
We were there for this magical event and really enjoyed the festivities, even with the frigid temperatures that evening! Hundreds of people turned out to support the town and this amazing event.
Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas Show
One highlight of our visit to Hendersonville was seeing the annual Christmas show at the historic Flat Rock Playhouse. This Christmas themed musical features singing and dancing performances by a cast from all over the US.
This 90 minute performance full of traditional holiday favorites and new adaptations was wonderful. The caliber of the cast, music, and quality of the performance blew us away.
This is a dazzling show, perfect for the whole family, and a great way to put everyone in the holiday spirit! Purchase tickets here.
Peppermint Bear Scavenger Hunt
Oh, no! Peppermint bear has lost her cubs in downtown Hendersonville! She needs your help to search for her lost cubs!
We took part in this super fun scavenger hunt before the tree lighting during our visit to Hendersonville's Home for the Holidays. We honestly didn't expect this to be near as challenging or fun as it was, but we had a blast.
The cubs are located in different downtown Hendersonville businesses. You'll want to grab one of the brochures from the Hendersonville Welcome Center or from one of the participating businesses. The brochure will have a list of the participating businesses, and the locations for each.
You'll visit the locations and find the hidden bear cub. Once you do, the shopkeeper will punch your brochure. You need at least 12 of the 28 participating businesses in order to be eligible for a scavenger hunt prize. The brochure has instructions on how to enter to win prizes.
During our search, we found our 12! Ok, Jenn found 12. I (Larry) didn't find any.
Not only did we have fun trying to find the stuffed bear cubs, we also were able to explore many businesses that we had never been in. We also throughly enjoyed meeting the shop owners and staff as well. They were having as much fun as we were!
Some of our favorite participating shops included: Henderson County Heritage Museum, sweetFrog, Wag, Mia's Marketplace, Pisgah Forest Gem Mine, LazyOne, Fins on Fifth, and Razberry Threads.
Jeter Mountain Farm Christmas
New this year, is Christmas on the Farm at Jeter Mountain Farms, a popular Hendersonville Apple Farm and one of our favorites!
During your visit, you can pick out the perfect Christmas tree (all from Western NC), take a holiday tractor ride around the farm, enjoy live music and more!
Jeter Mountain Farm has special holiday cookies (sugar and chocolate chunk), special holiday ciders, live Christmas music playing that you can enjoy fireside, and even take a wagon ride. Even the 1813 Smokehouse has new hot soups on the menu to help keep you warm!
We really enjoyed our visit, where we explored the shop adorned with beautiful Christmas decorations, took a holiday themed tractor ride, walked through the Christmas trees, and even sampled the hot cookies and holiday drinks!
Admission is free! They recommend making a reservation to purchase a tree so they can guarantee you'll get one.
Olde Fashioned Christmas
You'll feel like you're stepping into a classic Hallmark Christmas movie as downtown merchants stay open late and serve holiday treats.
You'll also find carolers walking the sidewalks, horse-drawn carriage rides, and Santa and Mrs. Claus make an appearance in the courthouse plaza. Learn more.
Holiday Carriage Rides in Downtown
Holiday Carriage Rides along Main street in downtown Hendersonville are available after the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony and on the evening of December 6.
These horse-drawn carriage rides begin at the Historic Courthouse and take up Main Street surrounded by shops, restaurants, Christmas Lights and decorations.
Carriage rides are free, and on a first-come, first-serve basis.
On December 6th, the rides are part of the Olde Fashioned Christmas event where stores and shops stay open late, and Santa Claus makes an appearance.
We really enjoyed taking photos and watching everyone ride in the carriages. The horses and old-fashioned carriages were absolutely beautiful, surrounded by the lights and decorations. Learn more.
Christmas Parade
Photo courtesy of Visit Hendersonville
A holiday Christmas tradition going back many, many years is the Christmas Parade. The parade features festive floats, marching bands, and, of course, Mrs. Claus and Santa.
Floats and lighted vehicles are from participating local businesses and organizations, and they really get into the holiday sprit with their creative decorations and themes. Learn more.
Holiday Inn Tour and Cookie Caper
Historic Hendersonville Inns welcome the public to experience the beauty of their holiday decor and lights. You'll also enjoy a cookie at each inn along the self-guided tour.
Tickets are required and can be purchased in advance at the Hendersonville Welcome Center.
During our stay at Echo Mountain Inn for Home for the Holidays, we really enjoyed the beautiful Christmas decorations. We really enjoyed taking photos of the gorgeous trees, lights, and buildings.
Here are some photos of the beautiful holiday decorations we found at Echo Mountain Inn and examples of what you'll see on the Inn Tour. Learn more.
Holly Jolly Train Rides on Main Street
Photo courtesy of Visit Hendersonville
Take a holiday train ride on a mini-train rides along Main Street in downtown Hendersonville. These rides are sure to be a big hit with the kids. They begin and end at the historic courthouse square.
During the same evening, you can also enjoy holiday craft vendors, displays, face painting, and a market with fresh backed goods and treats. Learn more.
Holiday Llamas
Photo courtesy of Visit Hendersonville
A popular holiday event is getting your photo taken with the holiday llamas from Ellaberry Lllama Farm. On December 21st from 5-8pm you can sit in the llama's Christmas sleigh and get a photo of you and your family with the llamas.
These are fun memories, and great for social media! Learn more.
Tips for Visiting Home for the Holidays
During our visit to Home for the Holidays, we picked up a few tips to help make your experience even more enjoyable:
- If you plan to do the Peppermint Bear scavenger hunt, be sure to grab a brochure before you start. It has the section that needs to be punched, and will show you where all the participating merchants are.
- During many of the events, Main Street in downtown is closed. You'll need to park on Church Street, in a paid lot or the town parking garage. You'll need the ParkMobile app. Set it up before you head out to make your parking easy!
- Check the weather forecast and dress appropriately. The evening we were there, it was extremely cold. We wore layers, brought hand warmers, gloves and hats.
- Eat before you arrive, or enjoy dinner in one of the restaurants - but make advanced reservations, as the restaurants in downtown are extremely busy. We enjoyed dinner at Shine later in the evening.
- For the tree lighting, the event begins at 6pm. Be there at least 30 minutes before, as it gets crowded quickly. There is plenty to do and live music to enjoy.
- If you live more than an hour away, we would recommend staying the night, so you have plenty of time to enjoy the activities and not have to rush. We highly recommend Echo Mountain Inn.
