Alcoa Lights Two Christmas Trees This Season. Only One Has Room for Yours.
Alcoa's first holiday deadline is Saturday, November 28. That's two days after Thanksgiving and two days before the city lights its own tree. It's the last day to set up a tree in the lower field at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center on East Franklin Street, before H.O.M.E. for the Holidays lights them on December 5.
So if you want a tree of your own in Alcoa's season, the work happens over the long holiday weekend. Alcoa has two tree lightings, five days apart. At the city's lighting you watch one tree come on. At the second one, the trees come from the community.
The Maryville-Alcoa-Blount Parks & Recreation Hometown Christmas page describes H.O.M.E. for the Holidays as an annual celebration that kicks off the Christmas season. H.O.M.E. (Hall-Oldfield-Maryville Empowerment) runs it together with the MLK Jr. Community Center. Anyone who wants to put a tree in the lower field should have it there before the event, and that page gives November 28 as the last day.
That timing changes how the week before Thanksgiving goes. If you're decorating a tree for the field, the planning runs alongside the turkey shopping, and the setup lands on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, a week before the trees are lit.
The group behind it has a long history at this address. The Daily Times has described HOME Inc. as a nonprofit community organization focused on revitalization and cultural understanding across Blount County. The paper also reported that the newly organized group brought back Blount County's Eighth of August celebration at the MLK Center in 2005. The Christmas event is the same group in the same place, holding its other big gathering of the year.
The city's own lighting comes first. The City of Alcoa Tree Lighting is Monday, November 30, at the pedestrian bridge at Springbrook Corporate Center, 223 Associates Boulevard. Craft vendors and food trucks set up at 4 p.m., and the tree is lit at 6 p.m. After that come special music, refreshments and visits with Santa. The event is free.
That address is the City of Alcoa Municipal Building, according to the city's calendar. The setting is part of the appeal. The Daily Times has described the Municipal Building as sitting near "the iconic red pedestrian bridge over U.S. Highway 129." Behind the building is Springbrook Corporate Center Lake, with trails around it, according to another Daily Times report.
The format is the same as last season with a slightly earlier clock. WATE's 2025 holiday list put the 2025 lighting at the same bridge on Monday, December 1, at 6:15 p.m. This year it's a day earlier on the calendar and 15 minutes earlier on the clock. It's still a Monday, though, and that shapes the evening. If you work until 5, you'll miss most of the vendor window and arrive close to the 6 p.m. lighting. Two hours of vendors and food trucks before a weeknight ceremony means the people who can get there early get the full afternoon, and everyone else gets the tree, the music and Santa.
H.O.M.E. for the Holidays is Saturday, December 5, at the MLK Jr. Community Center, 209 E. Franklin Street. The center's listing runs it from 6 to 8 p.m., with family fun and light refreshments. The tree lighting is at 6 p.m.
Both events light up at 6 p.m. The city event is at the Springbrook Corporate Center bridge on a weeknight, with vendors beforehand. The H.O.M.E. event runs two hours on a Saturday night at a community center, with trees placed in its lower field ahead of time.
Past years show how the evening has worked. The Daily Times' 2023 holiday roundup described the annual gathering as light refreshments followed by a 6 p.m. lighting of trees "from around the community." The paper's 2020 roundup mentioned honor-and-memory ornaments sold for $1. An earlier Daily Times holiday guide listed music, family activities, refreshments and $1 memorial-and-honor ornaments for the center's tree. Those details come from earlier seasons. The 2026 listing promises family fun, refreshments and the lighting.
The center also opens onto Alcoa's greenway. A Daily Times photo from a city greenway tour shows kids heading out onto the trail from the MLK Jr. Community Center. If you'll be setting up a tree in the lower field the weekend before, you're already on site to check the walk.
Alcoa's two lightings frame a busy week across Blount County. Here's how it runs, according to Parks & Rec listings:
That's four lightings in eight days, and the two in Alcoa come at opposite ends of the week. The lower-field deadline falls on the same Saturday as Maryville's lighting, so you can drop off a tree that afternoon and still get downtown by 5:30.
Over at Springbrook Farm, the two easiest stops keep different Monday hours. Just Love Coffee Cafe at 1120 Franck Street, Suite 101, lists Monday hours of 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. That makes it a stop before the city lighting, while the vendors are setting up. Swig at 1110 Franck Street #101 lists Monday hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. So it's still open after Santa's visit.
Just Love Coffee has a new owner this year. WATE reported in September that Lydia Donahue had bought the cafe a few months earlier. She told the station the location "gives people that feel of what is Tennessee and what is a hometown in Tennessee like, even if they are just stopping in."
For the December 5 event, you'll find the refreshments at the MLK Center itself.
If you're setting up a tree in the lower field this year, or you know a neighbor who is, happy decorating. And if the season has you thinking about what your Alcoa home is worth, Robin L Skeen is glad to help. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and call me anytime with questions.
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