At 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5, Main Street in downtown Huntersville closes from Huntersville-Concord Road to Bigham Street. It stays closed until 9:30 that night. Maxwell Street also closes from Huntersville-Concord Road to Huntersville ARP Church. The night before, the same streets close from 5 to 9 p.m. for the Town Tree Lighting. For the people driving in, the town's parking list for those two days reads almost like a directory of one block. It lists the Town Center parking garage at 105 Gilead Road, the downtown greenway trailhead at 102 Gilead Road, and Huntersville Elementary at 200 Gilead Road.
This December, that block has places to go before and after the events. The Holbrook at Town Center filled in this fall, after sitting mostly quiet for more than 18 months. The businesses there and across the street keep hours that fit around the town's holiday schedule. Downtown Huntersville's season now runs through Gilead Road.
The parking list and the new storefronts are on the same block
Lake Norman Publications reported on Oct. 23 that two long-awaited businesses had arrived in The Holbrook at Town Center, "more than 18 months after the development opened."
- Cocotte is an artisan French bakery and gourmet market with another location in Cornelius. It soft-opened Monday, Oct. 12, at 111 Gilead Road, one address up from the parking garage. The menu covers croissants, baguettes, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and lattes.
- The Corkscrew Wine Shoppe & Bar spent two decades at Birkdale Village before that location closed at the end of 2022. Its new home is in The Holbrook. It pours 30 to 40 wines by the glass and also sells craft beer, cocktails, bourbon and small plates. Its Huntersville page has posted soft-opening hours.
- B & Co Hair Salon opened in The Holbrook about a year ago.
- 760 Craft Works is across the street at 100 Gilead Road. It has added a 21-and-older late-night program called Night Swim.
Veterans Park, where the tree goes up, is at 201 Huntersville-Concord Road.
Each business keeps different hours
The town events run in the evening. The new businesses on the block open at different times of day, and between them they cover most of the hours before and after each event.
| Stop | Hours as published | Where it falls on event days |
|---|---|---|
| Cocotte, 111 Gilead Road | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Tuesdays, as reported in October | Morning and midday, before any town event begins |
| The Corkscrew, The Holbrook | Posted soft-opening hours: 3 to 9 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 3 to 10 p.m. Thursday to Saturday | The posted Saturday start lines up with the festival's 3 p.m. start |
| Holidays in Huntersville, Veterans Park | 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5 | The afternoon block |
| 760 Craft Works Night Swim | Fridays and Saturdays, 8:30 to 11:30 p.m., 21 and older | Starts half an hour after the festival ends |
Cocotte's reported closing time is 3 p.m., the hour Holidays in Huntersville opens at Veterans Park. On the Friday of the tree lighting, it closes three hours before the event starts at 6 p.m. Anyone who wants a croissant on tree-lighting weekend needs to come in the morning.
At the other end of the evening, 760 Craft Works lists Night Swim every Friday and Saturday starting at 8:30 p.m., with craft cocktails, late-night bites, vinyl sessions and low lights. Lake Norman Publications described it as bringing "a Lake Norman after-dark vibe to the taproom." The current schedule lists dates in early November. If the weekly program carries into December, Night Swim falls on both nights of the holiday weekend, Dec. 4 and Dec. 5. During regular hours, 760 stays a family-friendly taproom.
Saturday, Dec. 5, hour by hour
The busiest day of the season is a good test of how the block works together. From the town's schedule and the businesses' published hours:
- Morning, from 8 a.m.: Cocotte is open on Gilead Road. Main Street is still open to traffic.
- 11 a.m.: Main and Maxwell streets close downtown.
- 1 p.m.: The 44th annual North Mecklenburg Holiday Parade steps off on Main Street in Davidson, about six miles north. Because of NCDOT work on NC 115, it follows a shorter alternate route of a little under a mile and is limited to 50 entries.
- 3 p.m.: Holidays in Huntersville opens at Veterans Park, and Cocotte's reported hours end. The free festival has children's rides, artisan ice sculptures, holiday performances by local groups, carolers, face painting, balloon twisters and roaming holiday characters. The Corkscrew's posted soft-opening hours on Saturdays also start at 3 p.m.
- 8 p.m.: The festival wraps up.
- 8:30 p.m.: 760's Night Swim slot begins across the street.
- 9:30 p.m.: Main Street reopens.
Huntersville Today's holiday guide points out that Huntersville has no Christmas parade of its own, and it pairs the Davidson parade at 1 p.m. with the Huntersville festival later that afternoon. A family can leave Davidson after the parade and be back on Gilead Road before the festival opens. Accessible parking is reserved at Town Hall, 14704 N. Old Statesville Road. The Huntersville Arts and Cultural Center at 14614 S. Old Statesville Road is the one listed lot that isn't on Gilead Road. The town's Holidays in Huntersville page is the official source for any changes.
Santa's Village follows the next week. It runs Thursday to Saturday, Dec. 10 to 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. inside the American Legion Post 321 building. Reservations open closer to the date, and walk-ups are also taken.
New Year's Eve moves into The Holbrook
The town calls A Huntersville New Year's its "first-ever" New Year's celebration. It runs from 9 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Dec. 31, at Holbrook Park, 100 Sherwood Drive, and 760 CraftWorks, 100 Gilead Road.
According to Huntersville Today's New Year's guide, the night includes:
- Live music
- Activities and games
- A light show projected on Huntersville Town Hall, counting down to midnight
- A New Year's photo booth
- Drinks for sale from 760 CraftWorks
Admission and parking are free, and the town asks guests to bring lawn chairs. There are no fireworks. The countdown is the light show on Town Hall. The town's first New Year's party is set in The Holbrook's park, with the taproom across the street handling drinks.
Birkdale has its holiday night two weeks earlier
Huntersville's other holiday center lights up first. The Lighting of Birkdale Village is Saturday, Nov. 21, from 2 to 7 p.m. Activity Row runs along the Parkway from 2 to 4 p.m., and the Birkdale Biergarten pours beer from Suffolk Punch Brewing, Hoptown Brewing, Royal Bliss Brewing Co. and Lost Worlds Brewing. At 4:30 p.m., a parade with the Hopewell High School Marching Band goes around the whole loop of Birkdale Commons Parkway. The tree lighting in The Plaza starts at 6 p.m. Birkdale Village's event page notes that the ceremony starts promptly at 6 p.m. and does not begin right after the parade.
Birkdale on Ice opens the same afternoon with a skating performance at 2 p.m. Sessions last 75 minutes and cost $18, or $120 for a season pass, through Jan. 10. From Dec. 26 to Jan. 3, the rink runs holiday hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., so an afternoon skate at Birkdale and the 9 p.m. start downtown both fit on Dec. 31.
The restaurant lineup around Birkdale's Plaza has also changed this fall. Queen City News reported that Bonefish Grill closed its Birkdale Village location, ending a run of more than 14 years in the Lake Norman area, ahead of a 2027 lease expiration. Foxcroft Food & Wine closed there on Oct. 10 after about two years. Huntersville's two dining areas had already been settling into different hours of the day. The Corkscrew's move from Birkdale to The Holbrook carries that shift into the holidays. Birkdale has its big night on Nov. 21, and downtown has its events on Dec. 4, Dec. 5 and Dec. 31. With nearly two weeks between them, the two calendars don't overlap.
The rest of the block is still filling in
Lake Norman Publications reported that Dumpling Girls, a popular food truck, plans to open a restaurant next to The Holbrook. Pint and Page, a combined bookstore and biergarten/café, plans to open next to that. The former town hall is set to become a food, beverage and specialty retail destination, with construction scheduled to start in 2027. The paper also reported that a parking garage planned over the Town Hall parking lot is expected to spur further downtown investment.
For now, the plan for Dec. 4 and 5 is to park on Gilead Road. Come early for Cocotte, or stay after the festival for the evening spots across the street. For more on the town beyond the holidays, our Huntersville area guide and our look at Rural Hill's fall calendar cover the rest of the year.
If you're thinking about life near downtown Huntersville, where the town now holds its tree lighting, its December festival and its first New Year's countdown, Southern Charm Realty & Retreats can walk the Gilead Road blocks with you and show you which streets sit near the new storefronts. Schedule a Lake Norman Consult, by car or by boat, and we'll plan it around the season's dates.
