Grapevine's Main Street Stays Car-Free Longer This Christmas. Here's How to Plan Around It.

When can you actually drive down Historic Main Street between now and New Year's? Last year, the answer changed almost every few days. This year, the city's own schedule gives a simpler answer. Main Street will be closed to cars for two long stretches, each a week or more, with a few short weekday windows in between.

The closures cover Main Street from Northwest Highway to Dallas Road. Grapevine's convention and visitors bureau describes the plan as a way "to improve pedestrian safety and give enhanced access to visitors." The bigger change is how long each closure lasts. If you live a few minutes from downtown, that shapes how you'll use the season.

Last year's schedule and this year's

In November 2025, the City of Grapevine's e-news listed six separate closures. Most of them wrapped around a single event or a single weekend. The 2026 Christmas Capital of Texas reference guide has fewer closures, and two of them are much longer.

The table shows two big changes. Last year, Main Street reopened on the Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. This year it stays closed from the Sunday before Carol of Lights until the Monday after the holiday. Last year it also reopened for the four days around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This year it stays closed for ten days straight, Christmas included.

What the walking weeks are built around

The first closure starts at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22. The next evening brings the 38th Annual Carol of Lights, Monday, Nov. 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. It's free and kicks off the season. It includes Jumpin' Junction bounce houses, Santa's Race Track and a three-lane snow hill in the Frozen FunZone. Earlier that morning, Mayor William D. Tate pardons Nash Farm's Tom T. Turkey at 701 S. Main Street. The rest of the week brings the Grapevine Christmas Market in the Historic Cotton Belt Depot District, which opens Friday, Nov. 27. It runs daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. through Dec. 30, closed Dec. 24 and 25. You don't need a North Pole Express ticket to browse the market.

The second weekend is set by the 47th Annual Parade of Lights, Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. This year's theme is "Christmas Miracle on Main Street," with more than 100 lighted floats and marching bands. The drone show has also changed. In 2025, Grapevine held two Merry & Bright shows with 400 drones each. The 6th Annual Merry & Bright Drone Show is a single night, Monday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. It uses 600 drones launched from the Northwest Highway end of Main Street. That's why Main Street closes again for just that evening, from 6 p.m. to midnight.

Some things on the street are new this year. The Town Square Gazebo at 325 S. Main Street has a brand-new Christmas tree with a drum that has a working train inside, along with a sleigh, a carriage and a vintage Dodge truck. Nearby on the walking route:

• Candy Cane Lane, 300 S. Main Street, with the Coca-Cola polar bears
• Toyland at Liberty Park Plaza and the Torian and Bushong Log Cabins, both at 200 S. Main Street
• The Singing Snowmen, performed by The Chili Dawgs at West Worth and Main Street, nightly at 5:30 p.m.
• Hometown Christmas inside the Grapevine Tower Gallery and the Settlement to City Museums, 636 S. Main Street, for $3

The Peace Plaza Ice Rink at 815 S. Main Street opens Saturday, Nov. 21, the day before the first closure. One-hour sessions cost $20 with skate rental. The rink sits under Grapevine's live Christmas tree from the Pacific Northwest.

The weekday gaps when cars return

By the city's schedule, Main Street is open to cars only at these times between Thanksgiving and New Year's:

• Monday, Nov. 30 at 6 a.m. through Thursday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
• Monday, Dec. 7 during the day, until the 6 p.m. drone-show closure
• Tuesday, Dec. 8 through Friday, Dec. 11 at 6 a.m.
• Monday, Dec. 14 at 6 a.m. through Friday, Dec. 18 at 6 a.m.
• From Monday, Dec. 28 at 6 a.m. onward

A good share of Grapevine's smaller, ticketed events fall in these gaps. Classic movies at the Historic Palace Theatre, 300 S. Main Street, are $10. The weekday showings include Meet Me in St. Louis on Tuesday, Dec. 1 and It's A Wonderful Life on Wednesday, Dec. 2 and Thursday, Dec. 10. A Christmas Story plays Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m., and White Christmas plays Wednesday, Dec. 9 and Monday, Dec. 14. The Texas Tenors' Deep in the Heart of Christmas runs Tuesday, Dec. 15 through Thursday, Dec. 17 at the Palace, with $48 tickets.

A Handmade Christmas at Nash Farm, 626 Ball Street, starts Tuesday, Dec. 15. Guests bake old-fashioned cookies by the 1892 wood-burning stove at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Advance tickets are $5. It isn't offered on Mondays or on Dec. 24 and 25. JudyPie, at 520 S. Main Street, runs gingerbread house decorating classes on various dates for $65, with kits, icing, hot chocolate and a cookie included. If you were counting on the adults-only Christmas Wine Trains on Thursdays, Dec. 10 and 17, they're already at capacity for 2026.

Getting downtown when the street is closed

Most of the season's biggest nights fall inside a closure, so parking will shape the evening. Grapevine's published options, roughly from closest to farthest out:

1. Free lots near Main. The city lists free parking at 307 W. Dallas Road, 410 W. Dallas Road and 636 S. Main Street, plus limited free spaces in the Historic Grapevine lots. The Grapevine Main Parking Garage at 255 E. Dallas Road charges a fee.
2. The library lot and shuttle. Park free at the Grapevine Public Library and Convention Center campus, 1201 Municipal Way, and take the free shuttle. It runs as a continuous loop, with no fixed timetable, stopping at Main Station and the Palace Theatre. The Express route generally runs from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Service runs Friday, Nov. 27 through Wednesday, Dec. 30. That means it doesn't run for Carol of Lights on Nov. 23. There's also no shuttle on Dec. 3, the night of the Parade of Lights, or on Dec. 24 and 25, and it starts at 1 p.m. on Dec. 26.
3. TEXRail from DFW Airport North Station. Park at 1867 E. Dallas Road and ride to Grapevine Main Station. The guide lists the round-trip fare at $4, or $2 for seniors. The promo codes CCOT26A for adults and CCOT26R for reduced fares take 25% off a Trinity Metro Day Pass in the GoPass app. Each account can use them up to four times between Nov. 22, 2026 and Jan. 3, 2027. The DART Silver Line also reaches DFW Airport North from eight other stations, including Plano, Richardson, Addison, Carrollton and Coppell. That helps if you're bringing friends from farther east.

TEXRail ends at Main Station, near the North Pole Express, the Christmas Market and the ice rink at the south end of downtown. During the closures, that puts rail riders on the walking route right away.

Away from Main Street on the busy weekends

Some of the season happens well away from downtown, which helps on closure weekends when you'd rather not be in the crowds. Gaylord Texan Resort's season opens Friday, Nov. 13 and runs through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027. This year's ICE! features Harry Potter, carved from more than two million pounds of colored ice. The Coca-Cola Christmas Caravan stops at the resort Dec. 6 through 9 only. Christmas at Dig World, 2200 W. Grapevine Mills Circle, is new this year. Visitors can operate real heavy machinery and get photos with Construction Santa from Friday, Dec. 18 through Thursday, Dec. 24. Day passes start at $30. On the lake, Bad Santa's Boathouse turns Big Daddy's Cantina at Scott's Landing Marina into a holiday pop-up bar, open Tuesdays through Sundays from Nov. 6 to Dec. 26.

Other dates fall inside the closures but are easy to reach on foot from the rail station. The Holly Jolly Pop-Up Bar at Third Rail, inside Harvest Hall at Grapevine Main Station, runs Friday, Nov. 20 through Jan. 3. RTown Gallery at 314 S. Main Street is hosting a new custom candle pop-up with Studio Assemblage on Sunday, Dec. 13, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entry is free, candles start at $28, and you can bring your own vessel. Dr. Sue's Chocolate at 150 W. College Street serves house-made hot chocolate for $5.75 a cup, from 3 to 6 p.m. daily between Nov. 27 and Dec. 23. The visitors bureau notes that all dates, times and prices are subject to change, so check event pages before you head out.

Main Street reopens to cars at 6 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 28. The Palace Theatre's last films of the season, including The Shop Around the Corner at 3 p.m. and Die Hard at 7 p.m., play two days later on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

If you have family coming for the holidays and want to show them Grapevine beyond the Christmas lights, Trisha Atwood is happy to share what she loves about Grapevine and its neighbors in Southlake and Colleyville, from Main Street to the lake. Let's Connect.