"Please be prepared to walk a distance to the start of the Holiday LIGHTS experience." That line sits in Cheekwood's 2026 visitor FAQ. It is the most practical sentence anyone heading up Forrest Park Drive between November 20 and January 3 will read this season.
Holiday LIGHTS opens in three weeks. It returns to a campus that is building its own replacement for the parking it has relied on for years. Cheekwood's timeline points to 2027 as the year that arrangement ends. This season's tickets, entry windows and parking rules make the most sense read as the last version of a system on its way out.
A Garage With a Deadline Attached
The project is the Parking Pavilion & Welcome Plaza. It is a $35 million structure designed by the Nashville firm HASTINGS and built by R.C. Mathews Contractor, with three below-grade levels, 674 spaces, EV charging, a rideshare area, a new ticketing center and a green roof. It sits west of the entry drive, on the Botanic Hall side of the property. Together with the existing Lot A, Cheekwood counts 750 spaces on site once it opens.
Cheekwood's own project FAQ explains the timing: the 18-month build is "timed with the end of our parking agreement with Metro Parks," and the stated hope is a grand opening "by the start of Holiday LIGHTS in 2027." The agreement itself is a memorandum of understanding with Metro. It runs from April 1, 2025 through December 31, 2027 and limits Cheekwood to specific mapped Metro Parks parking areas. Cheekwood's directions page says the facility "must be completed in 2027."
So the 2026 season runs on a site that is still under construction. Lot A, the lot just past the gate, does extra work this year. It is the designated rideshare drop-off and pickup point. Cheekwood's FAQ also says that "while we are under construction, Lot A serves as our accessible parking area." Everyone else is directed by the parking team to whatever space is open, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Why Parking Became the Whole Conversation
The garage answers a traffic question that has been building for years. In December 2024, NewsChannel 5 reported that close to 3,000 cars a day used nearby neighborhood streets on a busy Saturday, many headed to Cheekwood. The station said that was more than twice the recommended volume. It also reported that most visitors parked in two off-property overflow lots, because Lot A held only 86 spaces at the time.
Metro's Belle Meade Highlands study followed. It recommended evaluating a new entrance from Highway 100 so Cheekwood traffic would stop running through the neighborhood. WPLN reported in August that progress on one such road stalled last year amid concerns ranging from bat habitat to mountain bike trails. The Nashville Banner reported that the traffic consultants identified five possible Highway 100 access points. The most discussed option is a shared road through Percy Warner Park, which the heirs of Col. Luke Lea have challenged in Chancery Court under the terms of the 1927 deed that gave that land to the park.
The garage has also drawn a formal challenge. A neighborhood group, Neighbors for Safety BMH, appealed Metro's construction permit. According to WPLN, the Board of Zoning Appeals ruled on August 20 that Metro did not err, so work could continue. In mid-September, WPLN reported that the group's Chancery suit against Metro, filed in June, had been amended to add Cheekwood as a defendant. The zoning board had not yet ruled on the separate question of Cheekwood's larger events. As of mid-October, Cheekwood's homepage was still selling Holiday LIGHTS tickets for the full run.
Cheekwood's side of the numbers came through the Banner. Cheekwood told the paper the garage would bring total parking down from 949 spaces to 837 and move all of it onto its own campus. Cheekwood's pavilion page puts the on-site total at 750 instead, so the two figures appear to count different things. In a Tennessean op-ed cited by the Banner, the board chair wrote that Cheekwood had 370,000 visitors in 2025 and had cut attendance by 15 percent over five years through timed ticketing and rideshare coupons. That last point explains how this season's tickets work.
The Ticket Is Really a Parking Plan
Holiday LIGHTS admission comes in 30-minute entry windows from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., and everyone must leave the grounds by 10 p.m. Tickets must be booked in advance, and Cheekwood members have to buy them too. When the reservation asks how many cars your party is bringing, that answer is part of the plan. If a time slot sells out online, Cheekwood says no tickets are available by phone or at the gate. Each ticket type changes the evening in a different way:
| Option | Price, 2026 season | What it means for arrival |
|---|---|---|
| Standard timed entry | Adults $26 to $32, youth $20 to $26, plus a $2 advance fee | Pick a 30-minute window; parking is $5 per car for nonmembers, and members get one vehicle free |
| Late Night LIGHTS | $20 per person, Gardens only | 8:30 p.m. entry on select Monday through Thursday nights, after the early-evening rush |
| Merry & Bright package | $130 members, $155 nonmembers | Two Gardens and Mansion passes with parking for one vehicle, drink tickets and s'mores kits |
| Holiday LIGHTS Igloo Experience | $350 | Private heated igloo for up to eight, booked for 5:30 to 7 p.m. or 7:30 to 9 p.m. |
Some details only matter once you are there. Daytime admission and Holiday LIGHTS are separate tickets. Anyone holding both has to leave the garden by 3:30 p.m. and come back for the evening window. Reciprocal memberships from other gardens are not honored for this event. Cheekwood says the Holiday LIGHTS trail has no shuttle, and it encourages rideshare to Lot A. The free trolley from Belle Meade Office Park at 4525 Harding Pike was billed as an October-weekend offer for daytime visits, not as part of the holiday season.
What Waits at the End of the Walk
This year's Mansion is the clearest change from last year. It keeps the "An Enchanted Noel" name but adds a new French-inspired design, "Un Noël Enchanté," created by Laura Dowling and Mauricio Clavero Kozlowski. The rooms draw on Versailles and the château tradition, include a hameau inspired by Marie-Antoinette, and feature collaborations with French houses including Baccarat and Le Meurice. Last season's Mansion theme was "Sweet Dreams," with sugarplum and candy colors, a woodland allée and handmade snowflakes.
Outdoors, TRAINS! takes on a new "North Pole Butterfly Garden" theme. Familiar pieces return, including the 28-foot Pixel Pine, the Peppermint Path, the Enchanted Esplanade and the Sparkling Serpentine. The Holiday Marketplace carries five décor collections, winterwear, Jellycat plush toys, snow globes and custom ornaments. Daytime Santa visits run December 12 through 24, with dog-friendly visits on December 13 and December 22.
The Season, In Order
Pairing Cheekwood with its neighbor down the road makes the season longer and spreads out the busiest nights. The dates fall like this:
- November 12, 5 to 8 p.m. Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery holds its free Holiday Open House. It includes walkthroughs of the decorated Mansion on a first-come basis, Santa and Mrs. Claus, carolers, crafts, wine and bourbon tastings, and holiday cocktails.
- November 19, 4:30 to 10 p.m. Cheekwood's one-night member preview, which requires an advance reservation.
- November 20. Holiday LIGHTS opens to the public and runs nightly.
- November 26 and December 25. Cheekwood is closed Thanksgiving Day and night and Christmas Day and night.
- January 1, 2027. Closed during the day, open for New Year's Night.
- January 3, 2027. Final night of the season.
Our earlier look at how Belle Meade is learning to stay home followed the Historic Site's growing events calendar. The Holiday Open House is the earliest holiday date on that calendar this year.
If Cheekwood's 2027 timeline holds, next year's visitors will drive into a garage built for 674 cars and walk out to a new Welcome Plaza. This year's visitors will park wherever the attendants send them. Book the entry window first, and decide on the car or rideshare before you choose a night.
Cheekwood's parking, the access-road question and the zoning dispute are all part of how the streets around Forrest Park Drive work. At Bainbridge Realty Group, we follow those details for neighbors in Belle Meade and the surrounding area year-round. If you would like to talk through what changes like these mean for a home nearby, we are glad to have that conversation whenever you are ready.
