45th Annual Bristol Christmas Tree Lighting

Bristol’s 45th Annual Community Christmas Tree Lighting is set for Monday, December 1, 2025 on Cumberland Street in Historic Downtown Bristol. The event showcases the site’s 30-foot Douglas Fir, lit with over 13,000 twinkling LED lights and surrounded by twenty-five live trees decorated by community members as part of Believe in Bristol’s Christmas Tree Village. Another twenty-five Christmas Tree Village trees will also be lit  at Anderson Park and The Downtown Center.

In addition to the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting, Believe in Bristol will host its 3rd Annual Winter Carnival in conjunction with the event. This free community event begins at 5:00 p.m. and will include free hot cocoa, activities, complimentary s’mores on the rooftop of The Bristol Hotel and a photo opportunity with Santa inside the hotel prior to the stage programming.

The tree lighting program is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with a ceremony led by our Bristol city representatives and conclude with a live performance by the big man himself and his band, Santa and the Sleigh Boys! Santa will perform an hour long set of bluegrass, country, and rockabilly style Christmas tunes, in a showcase that is quintessentially Bristol and spectacularly festive.

Music, community, and Christmas spirit will fill the evening air as local residents crowd around the tree to ring in the holiday season together. This event also signifies the opening of People’s Choice voting for the community’s favorite Christmas Tree Village tree! Voting will be open through the holiday season and close on New Year’s day with the winner announced on January 2nd.

“This event holds a special place in hearts all across our community,” says Maggie Elliott, Believe in Bristol Executive Director. “We’re so proud of the additions we’ve made over the past few years and hope community members will feel like they’ve stumbled upon the set of a Christmas movie when they arrive to celebrate with us that evening.”

For more information about the Community Christmas Tree Lighting or Winter Carnival, please call 423-573-2201 or visit www.believeinbristol.org/Christmas.