The tree at Main and Pine lights up on Saturday, Nov. 28. Main Street's own holiday work starts on Sunday, Nov. 15, when Main Street Zionsville asks people to bring rakes and leaf blowers downtown for its fall cleanup. Over the 13 days in between, the brick street hosts a talk about what the Village should look like, an art opening, a Thanksgiving morning race and then the parade.
Read week by week, November in Zionsville is when the Village gets cleaned up, talked about and run through before Christmas in the Village begins.
The month at a glance
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thu.–Sat., Nov. 5–7 | Fivethirty Home holiday open house | Fivethirty Home |
| Sat., Nov. 7, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. | Smashin' Pumpkins | Mulberry Fields |
| Sun., Nov. 15, 2 p.m. | Main Street Zionsville fall cleanup | Downtown Zionsville |
| Wed., Nov. 18, 7 p.m. | Village design talk with Todd Rottman | SullivanMunce Cultural Center, 225 W. Hawthorne St. |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 8 a.m. | Zionsville Half Marathon and 5K | Lions Park |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 1–6 p.m. | Dr. Seuss exhibit opening reception | CV Art and Frame, 110 S. Main St. |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 5 p.m. | Campfire and walk | Carpenter Nature Preserve |
| Thu., Nov. 26, 8:30 a.m. | Gravy Chase | Main and Cedar |
| Sat., Nov. 28, 5 p.m. | Christmas in the Village parade and tree lighting | Eagle Elementary to Main and Pine |
The dates come from Current in Zionsville's November events roundup and the Zionsville Chamber's parade listing.
The first week of November, fall closes out
The holiday shopping season starts first. Fivethirty Home's annual holiday open house runs Thursday, Nov. 5, through Saturday, Nov. 7, with games, giveaways and sales across all three days, according to Current.
On Saturday, Nov. 7, Zionsville Parks & Recreation clears out Halloween at Smashin' Pumpkins, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Mulberry Fields. Bring your pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns and smash them, then watch the Zionsville Fire Department do a pumpkin drop. Food trucks and kids' activities fill out the morning. The parks department collects the pumpkin mess as compost and uses it in the town's parks, so this year's porch decorations go back into Zionsville's own parks.
Mid-month, the Village gets raked and talked about
The first downtown event of the month is a work session. Main Street Zionsville holds its fall cleanup at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, and asks participants to bring a rake or leaf blower. The cleanup comes 13 days before the parade, so the leaves cleared that afternoon are the ones that won't be on the street when the crowd lines up for the tree lighting.
Three days later, the conversation turns from the street to the buildings. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, SullivanMunce Cultural Center hosts a free lecture by Todd Rottman, a local architect and Zionsville resident. He'll talk about thoughtful design, historic preservation and how adaptive reuse can preserve the Village's character, and the talk is meant to start a discussion about balancing new development with historic features. No registration is required, and SullivanMunce is at 225 W. Hawthorne St.
The timing fits. The brick storefronts and old commercial buildings that frame the parade route are the same ones Rottman's talk is about, and a lot of the holiday season's evening events happen in front of them.
If you'd rather start with the archive than the architecture, SullivanMunce also hosts a free genealogy lock-in from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at its Genealogy Library. Bring a laptop or reserve one of the library's computers.
Saturday, Nov. 21 fills the whole day
The busiest Saturday before the parade covers morning, afternoon and evening, and each part is in a different spot.
- 8 a.m. The Zionsville Half Marathon and 5K start at Lions Park. Finishers get medals and T-shirts if they sign up by Nov. 12. Proceeds go to the Zionsville Community High School cross-country program, an Indiana food bank and Fountains of Hope.
- 1 to 6 p.m. CV Art and Frame at 110 S. Main St. holds the opening reception for a 70th anniversary Dr. Seuss exhibit with rare work, early studies and iconic imagery. RSVP by email to [email protected]. The show stays up through Dec. 5, so it's still on the walls during the first week of the holiday season.
- 5 p.m. Carpenter Nature Preserve hosts a campfire and walk. It costs $5 for residents and $7 for nonresidents, and registration is required.
All three are in Current's roundup.
The Seuss show is the one with the clearest tie to Christmas in the Village. A Main Street gallery opening an exhibit a week before the parade, and keeping it open through early December, means anyone walking the brick street on parade night or the weekend after can go see it.
Thanksgiving morning and the Saturday after
The last week of November uses Main Street twice.
On Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 26, the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County runs the Gravy Chase along Main Street in historic downtown. It starts at 8:30 a.m., with a short course of about two miles and a four-mile course, according to the club's event page. The start is listed at Main and Cedar on the race registration page. If you ran it last year, the course has changed. The long course no longer uses the Elm Street Green loop near the end, and the short course comes back along Elm Street itself rather than through the park, according to the posted course notes. All proceeds go to the club, and a second Gravy Chase runs in Lebanon at the same time.
Two days later comes the night the month has been building toward. The Zionsville Chamber presents the Christmas in the Village parade and tree lighting on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., with support from the Town of Zionsville. The parade starts at Eagle Elementary and ends near Old National Bank on South Main Street around 6 p.m. The tree lighting follows right after. The tree is at Main and Pine, and the night opens the Christmas in the Village season, according to a local Zionsville event guide. Selfies with Santa follow the tree lighting.
Parking that night, according to the same guide:
- The largest public lot is at the northwest corner of Main and Sycamore, with access from First Street.
- Lions Park is among the other public parking options.
- The lot at the southwest corner of Main and Pine is closed for the tree lighting.
The time and route match last year's. The Chamber's 2025 listing had the same 5 p.m. start and the same route from Eagle Elementary to Old National Bank.
A late stop off the Main Street loop
After the tree lighting there's a new place to go. Stella's Ice Cream opened at 11100 U.S. 421, Suite 120, with a grand opening on Oct. 24, Current reported. It's open noon to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, so it's still serving long after the 6:30 p.m. close of the parade window.
Owner Sowjanya "Sowji" Panchumarthy is a Zionsville resident who spent more than 10 years in information technology before opening the franchise. She told Current she wants to donate part of the store's proceeds to local schools. The shop makes its ice cream, baked goods and waffle cones in-house without dyes. The best seller is Eagles Nest, a chocolate base with cookies and brownies named after the Zionsville Community Schools mascot. Other local flavors include Speedway Sparkle and Hoosier Creamsicle, and the menu has eight dairy-free options plus dog treats.
December moves to Thursday nights
After the parade, the Christmas in the Village calendar shifts to weeknights on Main Street:
- Sunday, Nov. 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Santa photos, which continue on Saturdays and Sundays in December.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, 5 to 9 p.m. The Chamber's Ladies' Night on Main Street.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Santa House Selfies at Cedar and Main.
- Thursday, Dec. 17, 5 to 9 p.m. The Christmas Crawl, a 21-and-over event on Main Street with an ugly-sweater contest at 8 p.m.
These December nights are what the November cleanup, talk and races lead up to. Santa House Selfies on Dec. 12 happen at Cedar and Main, the same corner the Gravy Chase starts from on Thanksgiving morning.
If you're heading to the parade, or thinking about what Main Street looks like from your own front porch, JPG Realty Services knows the Village from parade night through every season after it. Schedule your free neighborhood consultation, and we'll talk through Zionsville block by block.
