Piedmont Park's Second Holiday Lighting Asks You to Bring Your Own Light

Last November, Piedmont Park Conservancy lit a 50-foot tree, a 9-foot menorah and a 9-foot kinara in the Meadow. WSB Radio called it a first for the park. That 2025 evening was a ceremony with a set time and place: 6 p.m. in the Meadow on November 23, with performances and giveaways.

This year the Conservancy has added a Lantern Parade to Light Up the Season, which runs November 22, 2026 through January 4, 2027. Each light in the parade is one a neighbor made, so the kickoff now starts days or weeks before Sunday, November 22. Midtown has plenty of chances to make one before then.

The Sunday evening now covers half the park

The 2025 lighting took place in a single spot. On November 22 the program starts at Greystone and loops around Lake Clara Meer before it reaches the Meadow. Here is the Conservancy's schedule:

1. 3:30 p.m., Lantern-Making Party at Greystone. Free materials and instruction, plus music, seasonal food and sponsor activities.
2. 5:00 p.m., Holiday Lantern Parade. The Seed & Feed band leads the parade out of Greystone, around Lake Clara Meer and into the Meadow.
3. After the parade, Lighting Celebration. The Great Tree, Menorah and Kinara are lit in the Meadow, which officially opens the season.
4. After the lighting, Park Tavern. A family holiday movie, hot cocoa and more.

The whole evening is free. You don't need a ticket, but the Conservancy strongly encourages you to register ahead so it can plan, and you can still come if you haven't. Lanterns are encouraged but not required, and you're welcome to watch from along the route. The Conservancy suggests dressing for the weather, wearing comfortable walking shoes, and bringing a blanket or portable chair if you plan to stay for the movie.

In WSB Radio's coverage the day of last year's debut, Conservancy president and CEO Doug Widener described the evening as part of a bigger outing: "You can make a day of it, go to the garden lights, go see the lights of Piedmont Park and then end up ice skating at Park Tavern, and then hop on the Beltline to see more lights." With the parade, that wandering now happens inside the park too. The route takes the crowd past the lake before it gets to the tree.

Four ways to have a lantern in hand by November 22

Since the parade runs on homemade light, the Conservancy has set up more than one way to get a lantern. Each one fits a different kind of weekend.

Build it at a free Community Craft Night. The Conservancy has scheduled a free craft night at the Visitor Center/Dockside for the evening of November 10, with lantern-making materials and instruction on hand. Check the event listing for the start time before you go.

Pick up a kit at the Green Market. The Piedmont Park Green Market runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 21. That morning the Conservancy will have a limited number of free lantern-making kits, available with a suggested donation. The kits are limited, so they favor anyone already at the market on a Saturday morning.

Make it the same afternoon. The 3:30 p.m. party at Greystone provides materials while supplies last, and the Conservancy suggests arriving early.

Make it at home. For a kitchen-table version, the Conservancy links to lantern ideas and instructions from Weird Gone Pro.

Why a lantern parade means something on this side of town

Atlanta already has a lantern tradition, and it began a short walk from Piedmont Park. Atlanta Magazine reported that in 2010, about 500 people carried homemade lanterns up the Beltline's Eastside Trail in an informal walk organized by Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons. Back then the trail was still a dirt path.

The same article says the parade grew until it outgrew the Eastside Trail. By 2022, foot traffic on that stretch had reached what the magazine called "Downtown Connector–level congestion," and spectators outnumbered lanterns. Rytter moved the flagship parade to the Southwest Trail, citing safety. The 2025 parade, its 15th, started at Adair Park.

The Beltline's own recap of the 2022 parade lists the Seed & Feed Marching Abominables among that night's performers. Piedmont Park's parade is the Conservancy's own event, and it uses a Seed & Feed band and Weird Gone Pro's lantern instructions. For Midtown, that means a homemade-lantern parade once again runs a short walk from home, this time on a loop around Lake Clara Meer.

The Conservancy's paid workshops run all season

The lantern is the free way in. The Conservancy is also running paid evening workshops through December, and several use the same rooms the lantern-makers use. Registration varies by program and some have limited capacity, so each workshop links to its own ActiveNet registration page.

The mixology session's registration page lists sign-ups through December 1, the day before the class. The block-printed holiday cards on December 9 and the wreath on December 10 are things you make and then take home or mail. The pet-portrait night on December 16 lands in time for gifting.

The season that the November 22 lighting opens runs through January 4, 2027. Last year, WSB reported that the displays would stay lit in the Meadow through January 4. If you walked the Meadow last December, you know the tree. What's new this year is the lantern you can carry to it on the first night.

If you're making your own lantern for November 22, I'd love to see how it turns out, and I'm always glad to talk Midtown with neighbors. You can find more of our local coverage on the Midtown Atlanta neighborhood page. And if the walk home past the lit tree has you wondering what your own place near the park is worth this season, Makes Home Real Estate can help. Get your instant home valuation.