Santa lights the Creekside tree on Sunday, November 22, and from then on Gahanna's holiday season runs mostly on weeknight hours. The Creekside Park display runs every night through January 3, 2027. The lights move to music from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 5 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Across that whole span, only a dozen nights go past 8:30.
The celebration is the first night of a six-week season. The rest of that season is a nightly schedule you can plan around, and that schedule now runs beside a stretch of Mill Street that looked very different a year ago.
Forty-Three Nights, Two Closing Times
From Sunday, November 22 through Sunday, January 3 is 43 nights. Here is how they split under the published show hours.
| Night type | Show hours | Nights in the 2026–27 run |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday through Thursday | 5:00–8:30 p.m. | 31 |
| Friday and Saturday | 5:00–10:00 p.m. | 12 |
So almost three nights in four end at 8:30. That leaves three and a half hours of synchronized lights after dark, and much of that falls around dinner and homework. The late nights are the Friday-Saturday pairs that follow Thanksgiving and each weekend in December, plus January 1 and 2.
Christmas Day and New Year's Day both land on a Friday in 2026, so under the regular weekly schedule both fall in the 10 p.m. window. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are Thursdays, which puts them in the 8:30 window. If your family walks the lights after Christmas dinner, the published hours give you the longer evening.
Creekside Park has more on offer than a light display. The display includes a Gingerbread Village, and a Letters to Santa mailbox stands in front of the Christmas tree in the Creekside District all season. The park is also inside the district's outdoor refreshment area. That means a stroll through the lights can start at one of the Mill Street spots covered below.
Sunday Afternoon Runs on Its Own Clock
The kickoff runs from 3 to 6:30 p.m., with Creekside Plaza at 117 Mill Street as the center of it, according to the City of Gahanna's event calendar. Admission is free, and The Nth Degree presents the event. The day builds toward one moment, so it's easier to plan in order:
- 3:00 p.m. Free activities open throughout the Creekside District. Musicologie's Home Before Midnight opens the Holiday Stage at 3:00, and the Gahanna Community Chorus follows at 3:30.
- 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. You'll find trackless train rides, a Giant Snow Globe photo spot, a petting zoo, a Snow Room, holiday characters and a stiltwalker, face painting, caricatures, snow axe throwing and a festive silent disco.
- By 6:00 p.m. Santa arrives, by firetruck according to Columbus on the Cheap, to light the tree and set off the holiday fireworks.
- After the tree lighting. Visit Gahanna points visitors to the Creekside Park display, which totals more than 300,000 lights.
Sunday is also the first night of the regular schedule, which means an 8:30 close. The lights come on around the same time Santa does, so families who stay after the fireworks get roughly two hours in the park before the music stops.
Visit Gahanna's food vendor list includes Midway Kettle Corn, Cousins Maine Lobster, My Chick'N Bites, Schmidt's, Tortilla Street Food and Pretzel Shop Etc. Retail tables include Hai Hunny Candle Co., Thistle Bee Pottery, Just Papa's Baking Company, The Cousin Collection, Sugar Rae and WHATTAMUTT. Event-day parking is in the garage, per Columbus on the Cheap's event listing. The event map also marks an accessible-parking-only zone near North High Street.
The Walk to the Lights Passes Grass on Mill Street
This is the first holiday season with the Mill Street lots cleared. As NBC4 reported in July, five vacant buildings just south of Carpenter Road were demolished between January and July 2026, three on the west side of Mill Street and two on the east. City spokesperson Dan Pearlman told NBC4 the lots were planted with grass for erosion control and to "make the area more appealing prior to construction."
According to NBC4, the first phase planned for those parcels calls for two seven-story buildings, one on each side of Mill Street. Together they would hold 263 apartments, a hotel of 55 to 70 rooms, two restaurants including a rooftop one, and a parking garage, with a pedestrian bridge linking the buildings. The city's Creekside FAQ says private construction would likely begin in 2027 and finish within three years. Separate city plans for the plaza and park call for an amphitheater and an interactive water feature.
For now, the stretch between the parking garage and the lights is open grass on both sides of the street, with the established Mill Street businesses on either side of it. If you've walked the Creekside side of the teardown since summer, you already know the route. These are the places along it, with addresses from Visit Gahanna's directory:
- Barrel & Boar Creekside, 121 Mill Street, Suite 130
- Nostalgia Brewing, 81 Mill Street, Suite 150
- Signatures Mill Stone Tavern, 94 Mill Street
- Cafe Creekside, 53 Granville Street
- Gahanna Grill, 82 Granville Street
Visit Gahanna's Holiday Lights map lists open houses at Barrel & Boar, Cantina Sports Bar & Grill, Marlow's Cheesesteaks, Blue Agave, Nostalgia Brewing Co. and Signatures Tavern. On a regular weeknight, those same addresses frame the 5-to-8:30 window. Dinner at 5:30 and a walk through the park afterward fits easily before the music stops.
December 5 Is the One Saturday That Fills Every Hour
Most December weekends follow one pattern: a free day, then lights until 10. Saturday, December 5 is different, because three events fit back to back.
The morning starts with the Santa Race 5K and Little Reindeer Dash. The youth dash begins at 9 a.m. and costs $15 to $18. Registration for the 5K runs $25 to $45 and is capped at 500 runners, according to Columbus on the Cheap. Registration is through Visit Gahanna. 5K finishers who register in time get a medal, a Santa hat and a T-shirt. Reindeer Dashers get a youth shirt, a finisher's ribbon and a gift.
From noon to 3 p.m., the Gahanna Historical Society holds its Victorian Christmas Celebration. It offers a vintage Santa for photos, tree decorating, craft-making, traditional wassail and holiday music.
Since December 5 is a Saturday, the Creekside lights run until 10 p.m. that night. You could cover a morning race, an old-fashioned Santa at midday and five hours of lights in the evening without leaving Gahanna. It's the longest single day the season offers. A family with young runners could do the 9 a.m. dash, warm up at home, visit the Historical Society before 3 and still reach Mill Street with time to spare.
The Back Half of the Calendar
After December 5 the season returns to its weekly rhythm. That means four more Friday-Saturday pairs at 10 p.m., including the Christmas and New Year's weekends, with 8:30 nights in between. The last weekend pair is Friday, January 1 and Saturday, January 2. The final night of the display, Sunday, January 3, follows the weeknight schedule and ends at 8:30.
For guests in town between Christmas and New Year's, the late nights to plan around are Friday, December 25 and Saturday, December 26, then Friday, January 1 and Saturday, January 2. From December 27 through 31, the lights go dark at 8:30.
The full season in one place:
- Sunday, Nov. 22: Holiday Lights Celebration, 3 to 6:30 p.m., Creekside Plaza, 117 Mill Street; the display opens with an 8:30 close
- Saturday, Dec. 5: Little Reindeer Dash at 9 a.m., Santa Race 5K, Victorian Christmas from noon to 3 p.m., lights until 10
- Fridays and Saturdays: lights from 5 to 10 p.m.
- Sundays through Thursdays: lights from 5 to 8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Jan. 3: final night of the display, ending at 8:30
If you're hosting family this season and wondering how Creekside's changes might affect your own home's value, Connie Sadowski knows Gahanna block by block and is glad to talk it through over coffee on Mill Street. Learn more about the area on our Gahanna neighborhood page, or get your free home valuation from Connie J Sadowski whenever the timing feels right.
