On Saturday, December 5, where will Santa be at 11:30 in the morning, and where will he be at 2:30?
Both times put him on the West Meade side of Harding Pike. Santa's schedule for that day starts at Brook Hollow Baptist Church, then the boulevard, and the stop listed after the parade is West Meade Park. For families in Hillwood and West Meade, the parade is one hour in the middle of a day that starts and ends near home. A brand-new craft market at Hillwood Presbyterian the next morning stretches it into a full weekend.
Saturday, stop by stop
The City of Belle Meade's September 2026 newsletter confirms the parade for Saturday, December 5, at 1 p.m. The stop-by-stop schedule comes from Santa Alert, which runs Santa's fire-truck appearances around the parade. It lists this order for "Saturday, Dec. 5":
- 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Brook Hollow Baptist Church, 678 Brook Hollow Rd.
- 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Belle Meade Links / Parmer Park, 578 Leake Ave.
- 1 to 2:15 p.m. The Belle Meade Parade. It starts at Percy Warner Park on Page Road, heads up Belle Meade Boulevard and finishes at the field across from Belle Meade Country Club.
- 2:30 to 3 p.m. West Meade Park, at Carnavon Parkway and Melinda Drive. Turn into the gravel lot on Melinda Drive across from Westmeade Elementary School.
The page doesn't print a year, so check santa-alert.com the morning of December 5 before heading out. The weekday and date line up with the city's 2026 parade notice, but stop times can shift.
The schedule opens and closes in this neighborhood. The first stop, on Brook Hollow Road, gives early risers 45 minutes with Santa before anyone has to think about parking on the boulevard. The 2:30 stop at West Meade Park comes after the parade crowd has broken up. Families who skip the boulevard altogether still get two chances to see Santa within a short drive of home.
The boulevard hour, and how it works
The parade is young. When WSMV listed holiday events for the first weekend of December 2025, it billed that year's event as the "3rd Annual Belle Meade Holiday Parade." The parade started at the Percy Warner Park entrance at Belle Meade Boulevard and Page Road and ran north toward Harding Place, with comedian Hugh Howser as Grand Marshal. That makes this December's parade roughly the fourth, still new enough that its habits are taking shape.
The city is still building its lineup. Its newsletter put out a call for holiday parade floats, and anyone who wants to take part should contact Police Chief Chuck Williams at [email protected]. A Hillwood or West Meade group with a truck, a wagon and some lights still has time to get in touch.
For spectators, the Santa Alert page gives these parking and traffic instructions:
- Belle Meade Boulevard closes to through traffic from Harding Place to Page Road.
- Spectators may park in the right lane of the southbound side. The left lane stays clear for emergency vehicles.
- The parade heads north at 1 p.m. and ends at the triangle across from Belle Meade Country Club.
From West Meade, the closure mostly matters if you usually take the boulevard to Percy Warner Park or to errands near Harding Place. Plan for that stretch to be closed early that afternoon.
Two more details apply all day. Santa Alert asks children to bring their letters to Santa, with "NO postage" needed. And the stops run rain or shine, with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves promised either way. If you have a letter-writer at home, December 5 is the delivery deadline.
After 3 p.m., the day keeps going in town
Santa leaves West Meade Park at 3. The Centennial Park Conservancy's free Centennial Park Holiday Social starts at the same hour and runs until 8 p.m. at Croquet Cafe & Lawn, 2530 Park Plaza, with Santa photos, live performances and a holiday artisan market. A family that catches the 2:30 stop can be at Centennial Park in time for dinner, and the evening has its own Santa for anyone who missed the morning.
Sunday, December 6, a first-year market on Hickory Valley Drive
The weekend's newest event is on the Hillwood side of the neighborhood. Hillwood Presbyterian Church, at 6220 Hickory Valley Dr., will host its inaugural A Homemade Holiday at Hillwood on Sunday, December 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free. The church's event announcement lists:
- Free hot cocoa with your choice of toppings, plus candy canes
- A craft market with local vendors
- A make-your-own station for cards and ornaments
- Baked goods for sale
- Music and singalongs
- Complimentary yoga and sound bath sessions
- Photos with Santa
The event is presented by Flourish!, which Hillwood Presbyterian describes as a co-working collective and ministry on the church campus. It offers workspace along with creative, therapeutic and community programming. That explains why the lineup includes a sound bath next to the cocoa bar. The market comes from a group that already works in the building during the week, and it uses both the church and the Flourish! spaces, indoors and out.
Since this is the first year, the vendor list is still filling in. The church's announcement is looking for creatives, artists, crafters, photographers, jewelry makers and bakers. If you've been selling ornaments to friends or baking for the cul-de-sac every December, this is a market close to home, and the vendor form is linked from the event page.
Combined with Saturday, a West Meade household gets two separate Santa visits and two Santa photo opportunities in two days, all within a short drive of Hickory Valley and Davidson Road.
Sunday's other choice, a wreath at Belle Meade Historic Site
Sunday has one overlap to plan around. Belle Meade Historic Site's Deck the Halls Holiday Wreath-Making Workshop is also on December 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with tickets starting at $95. The workshop window is wider than the Hillwood market's 10:30-to-2 hours, so one adult could make a wreath while the rest of the household does cocoa and ornaments on Hickory Valley Drive. The two are close enough to fit into one Sunday.
Fitting the Nature Center and a bagel run into the weekend
Two quieter options fit around the bigger events.
Warner Park Nature Center is showing "Wintery Dreams," an exhibition by the Nashville Collage Collective, in its classroom through November and December. The parade starts at the Page Road entrance to Percy Warner Park, and the Nature Center is on the Edwin Warner side along Highway 100. If your family heads that way for a pre-parade walk on Saturday, the exhibit is an indoor stop on the same side of town.
Closer to Harding Pike, Harvey's Bagels is at 100 Kenner Ave. The Nashville Post placed the site near White Bridge and Harding pikes and Hill Center Belle Meade. Williamson Source describes it as a New York-style bagel shop out of Charleston. The brand began with founder Joe Harvey, who helped grow a Charleston-area bagel shop to six locations. Its menu runs from bagels and schmears to breakfast sandwiches, lox, pizza bagels and specialty lattes. Check the shop's locations page before building a Saturday morning around it.
The two days in order
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. | Santa's first stop | Brook Hollow Baptist Church, 678 Brook Hollow Rd. |
| Sat., 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. | Santa's second stop | Belle Meade Links / Parmer Park, 578 Leake Ave. |
| Sat., 1 to 2:15 p.m. | Belle Meade Holiday Parade | Page Road at Percy Warner Park, north on Belle Meade Blvd. |
| Sat., 2:30 to 3 p.m. | Santa's post-parade stop | West Meade Park, Carnavon Pkwy. and Melinda Dr. |
| Sat., 3 to 8 p.m. | Centennial Park Holiday Social | Croquet Cafe & Lawn, 2530 Park Plaza |
| Sun., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Deck the Halls wreath workshop, from $95 | Belle Meade Historic Site |
| Sun., 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | A Homemade Holiday at Hillwood, free | Hillwood Presbyterian, 6220 Hickory Valley Dr. |
Santa's Saturday visits to Brook Hollow Road and West Meade Park, along with Sunday's new market on Hickory Valley Drive, are small neighborhood traditions in the making. They're part of what I enjoy most about west Nashville in December. If a holiday move, a new year listing, or questions about your own corner of Hillwood or West Meade are on your mind between parade stops, I'd be glad to talk it through. Barbara-Keith Payne is available to schedule a free consultation at whatever pace the season allows.
