Cookeville events, November 2026 to February 2027

Cookeville's winter calendar opens and closes with the Bryan Symphony, with a run of holiday traditions in between. Most of what follows is downtown, within a few blocks of Broad Street, and several events are free. Every date here comes from the organizers and the city calendar; the sources list where to check details before you go.

November: the symphony and the first carols

• Bryan Symphony Orchestra: Global Connections, Sunday, November 15. The Tennessee Tech-affiliated orchestra, in its 63rd season, plays music by Richard Wagner, Lili Boulanger, Samuel Barber and William Dawson at Derryberry Hall on the Tech campus.
• Holiday Cookeville Community Band Concert, Sunday, November 29. The city's community band opens the season with holiday music at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center on East Broad. Admission is free.

December: the holidays downtown

• Christmas Forest, late November 2026 through Saturday, January 2, 2027. For the seventh year, the Cookeville History Museum fills its galleries with more than 30 Christmas trees, each decorated by a local club or organization, and visitors can learn about the groups behind them. It is free during the museum's regular Tuesday-to-Saturday hours.
• Cookeville Depot Christmas Open House, Saturday, December 5. The Cookeville Depot Museum on West Broad, in the 1909 railroad station, hosts caroling, games and model trains, and Santa stops by.
• Dogwood Park Christmas Tree Lighting, Sunday, December 6. The city lights the nearly 40-foot tree in Dogwood Park with a Christmas concert and other activities, followed by a 15-minute light show set to holiday music. After opening night the light show repeats every evening on the hour through the holiday season, and holiday displays fill the park. Admission is free.
• Mastersingers: Behold A Star, Sunday, December 13. The community choir Mastersingers presents its Christmas concert, featuring John Trotta's Gloria, on the Tennessee Tech campus. Tickets are sold online and at the door, and Tech students with a university ID get in free at will call.
• Train Tales, Fridays. Every Friday morning through December, the Depot Museum holds Train Tales, a free storytime for preschoolers. It is an easy way to see the decorated depot on a weekday.

February: Valentine's at the symphony

• Bryan Symphony Orchestra: Love Connections, Sunday, February 14, 2027. The orchestra spends Valentine's Day afternoon on love and romance: music director Dan Allcott conducts Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, the winner of the 2026 Joan Derryberry Memorial Concerto Competition performs, and soprano Katy Wolfe sings. Check the orchestra's site for the venue and start time closer to the date.

Before you go

A few things are worth knowing about this season's calendar.

The History Museum and Depot Museum are both run by the City of Cookeville's Leisure Services department and are open Tuesday through Saturday. City offices close for Thanksgiving on November 26 and 27, so check the city's calendar before planning a museum visit that week. The city's events page and calendar carry the latest details for every Leisure Services event, including the tree lighting and the Christmas Forest.

The two symphony afternoons and the Mastersingers concert are run by independent arts groups tied to Tennessee Tech. Tickets for the Bryan Symphony and Mastersingers are sold through each organization's own website, and each lists its programs there.

Between events, the WestSide makes an easy afternoon. Plenty Downtown Bookshop, the nonprofit bookshop on West Broad, is a good stop for gifts, and Dream Country Brewing on South Walnut Avenue brews with ingredients grown and foraged around Cookeville.

Downtown parking is also changing. The Putnam County Library, next to the History Museum on East Broad, is in the middle of an expansion that has closed its parking lot, so plan on a short walk from another lot if you are visiting the museums or Dogwood Park.

Several other winter events are announced later in the season, including the city's Backstage Series of plays at the Performing Arts Center and its Father-Daughter Date Night in February. Their 2027 dates had not been published when this guide was written; watch the city's events page for them.

With a free forest of trees, a light show every night and two afternoons with the symphony, it is a good winter to stay close to home in Cookeville.