Nashville always has amazing events, but during Christmas, things really heat up! Here are my picks for the best Nashville events of the Christmas season!

nashville-christmasPorter Flea Holiday Market

Fire up your Fa-la-las: The Porter Flea Holiday Market — Nashville’s one-stop holiday shopping destination for unique, local and handmade gifts — is back for the 2016 season on December 10th for our Main Market.

Once again featuring a vibrant and varied mix of modern handmade goods, from clothing and jewelry to art and home goods, this year’s Holiday Flea will be held at East Nashville’s Skyway Studios. Attendees of July’s summer Flea already got an introduction to this spacious new location, which features a huge indoor shopping space and plenty of dedicated parking, right off Briley Parkway.

#PFHoliday16 kicks off Friday, December 9th with our more intimate, ticketed Preview Market, which gives attendees early shopping access, plus festive bonuses. The free Main Market runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 10th. Check out www.porterflea.com for more info!

Music City Winterfest

Visit Centennial Park December 10 from 10-4 PM for a day of holiday cheer for the whole family. All day, shop our Holiday Market for unique gifts from Nashville craft artisans, enjoy live music by local performing groups, and treat yourself at our food trucks, and beer garden. Be sure to be on the lookout for special appearances – we hear Santa himself will be coming to town!

-2016 Festival Activities-

  • 120 artisan and craft vendors
  • Holiday Photo Op
  • Carriage Rides
  • Kids Train Rides
  • Nashville Predators skate park
  • Nashville Soccer Club Field
  • Kids Face painting
  • Photos with Santa
  • Kids Crafting area
  • Holiday Pet Photos
  • Bounce Houses
  • Winter Beard Competition
  • 10:30 am Harding Academy Strings
  • 11:00 am Nashville State Community College Chorus
  • 10:30am – Harding Violins
  • 11am – Nashville State Community College Chorus
  • 12pm – HG Hill Choir
  • 12:30pm – “The Nutcracker” by Sound Riot Ensemble
  • 1:30pm – Mr. Steve, The Music Man
  • 2pm – Montgomery Bell Academy Ensemble
  • 2:30pm – Beard Competition hosted by the Metropolitan Pogonotrophy Society
  • 3:15pm – Vanderbilt University Melodores

    -Kids Stage Line up-

  • 10:30 am Parnassus Books Story Time
  • 11:00 am Cinderella
  • 12:00 pm Out of the Box Children’s Theater
  • 1:00 pm Snow White
  • 2:00 pm Mr. Bond & the Science Guys
  • 3:00 pm Elsa

Science of Beer – The Deep Brew Sea – 12-15-2016

Get ready to dive deep and explore the deep BREW sea during Adventure Science Center’s 8th annual Science of Beer (21+)! The Science of Beer is an annual festival that celebrates local, U.S. and international craft beers featuring tastings of more than 70 craft brews and fun beer-science demonstrations and activities.

Tickets are $55 for not-yet-members and $45 for members and include admission to all exhibits and activities, unlimited tastings and a souvenir Science of Beer pint glass. Food is sold at an additional cost.

New to 2016:

  • Live science show in Eureka Theater
  • Beer Jeopardy in the Sudekum Planetarium
  • Experience simulated weightlessness on the Moon Walk
  • Launch of Turtle Anarchy Brewing Company’s “Ignorance is Abyss” sea salt caramel porter

Science Fun:

  • Bar Games + Tricks: test your skills and impress your friends!
  • Feeling Dense?: discover how water plays into beer making.
  • Cooking with Beer feat. Chef Jon Kern from The Pub Nashville, including a demonstration on liquid nitrogen beer ice cream.
  • Beer + Jerky Pairings with our friends from KRAVE JERKY.
  • Live screen printing with our friends from Hip Hues (additional cost).

Food Options:

  • Daddy’s Dogs
  • Steaming Goat Food Truck

Nashville New Year’s Eve Party

Ring in the new year and rock out the old with Music City and thousands of your closest friends at Nashville’s New Year’s Eve party. Bring your party hats. Make some noise. Count down to the fireworks and midnight “Music Note Drop®”!  #NashvilleNYE

The show, which is free to the public, takes place at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park on New Year’s Eve. Keith Urban, Styx, A Thousand Horses, Moon Taxi, Charlie Worsham, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers are playing the 2016 event. Revelers attending the festivities count down to the New Year as a 15-foot-tall red “Music Note Drop®,” drops slowly from a 145-foot structure. The “Music Note Drop®” triggers a fireworks display and confetti cannons as it reaches the midnight mark.