"We have been using the 12 to 15 parking spaces beside town hall for Food Truck Fridays, our annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, etc for years and, now, we simply have outgrown the small parking lot." Mayor Jim Bell told the Enquirer-Journal this while explaining why the Town is considering a park next to Town Hall. The Town has described that future Weddington Town Hall Park as the town's "living room," a central gathering place for residents, families and visitors.
This Friday, Nov. 20, the Christmas Tree Lighting runs from 5 to 8 p.m. It is the event the Mayor named, and it takes place beside Town Hall at 1924 Weddington Road. For one evening it does what the park plan describes. Everything that makes it work, from the chairs to the Santa line to the beer tent, gets brought in, set up by volunteers and packed away again.
The Evening, Hour by Hour
The Town's Park and Events Board worked out the program over the fall. Its Oct. 5, 2026 minutes give the plan in more detail than the event page does. Here is how the night was planned:
- 5 p.m. The grounds open with food vendors, the beverage tent and the vendor tables.
- 5:45 p.m. A performance slot for younger groups. The board added it to the entertainment schedule so small children can perform early in the evening.
- Through the evening. A DJ and emcee introduce each performing group.
- 7 p.m. The tree lighting, followed by the Miss Weddington presentation. The minutes describe it as a formal recognition by the Mayor. The recipient is chosen in November, so her name may not be public before the event, and she brings her own crown.
- 8 p.m. The event ends and volunteers start taking down tables and chairs.
If you have young performers in the family, plan to arrive before the 5:45 slot. If you're coming for the tree, 7 p.m. is the moment.
What Will Be on the Grounds
At the Town Council's Oct. 12 meeting, Park and Events Chairman Gayle Butler listed the lineup: Middle James Brewery serving beer and wine, a hot chocolate vendor, a trinket vendor, Mister Softee, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. The board's minutes fill in the details.
- Santa, with a managed line. The board agreed that one or two volunteers dressed as elves should run the queue, and the Chair talked about buying small candy canes for the children who visit Santa.
- A Santa's mailbox from the Rotary Club. Rotary is building a freestanding mailbox for letters to Santa as an annual feature, and it moves indoors for the rest of the holiday season.
- Light-up toys from Flipping Marketplace. The vendor confirmed it would sell Christmas-themed light-up toys and trinkets for children, at a spot it has usually had on the grounds.
- Food vendors. All food vendor permits were in by early October.
- One beverage tent, run by Middle James. Besides beer, Middle James offers Prosecco, alcoholic cider and hard seltzer. The board decided to keep all drinks with one vendor, and by Oct. 12 the lineup included wine.
- An off-duty Union County Sheriff's deputy. Town staff were working with the county to arrange one.
The Town's event banner gets a new date patch every year. All Star Signs, a shop on Post Office Drive in Indian Trail, adds the patch and hangs the banner two to three weeks before the event.
A Living Room With 107 Chairs
The minutes show what the space can offer today. The Town owns 107 chairs and 12 tables for the event, and a map of the layout went to Union County. The county event permit application had to list every parcel number the event covers. Even for one evening, the Town's holiday gathering is pieced together from a permit, a site map and the Town's own stock of folding seating.
Labor works the same way. The board expected help from the Weddington Youth Council, which could bring up to 28 members, plus local Boy Scouts and the DECA chapter at Weddington High School. The Young Men's Service League was held in reserve, to be called closer to the date if needed. The volunteer work is mostly setup and teardown of tables and chairs. The board also worried that extra volunteers with nothing to do would be less likely to come back.
A permanent park beside Town Hall is the Town's answer to that setup, and its size and cost are still being decided.
Where the Park Plan Stands
According to Town Administrator Doug Gailey, Weddington has talked about a park on this site for about 15 to 20 years. This year it moved forward. The Town hired the consultant LaBella to take the property through rezoning. In April the Town held an informal meeting at Town Hall on the proposed plan and a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant. The first visioning session followed on Saturday, Sept. 19, at Weddington Middle School on Deal Road.
In September, after some residents said they were uncomfortable with the plans drawn earlier in 2026, the Town sent LaBella back to design development and public input. A second public engagement meeting took place Oct. 19 at Town Hall and streamed on the Town's YouTube channel.
The money has drawn the most attention, and Gailey laid out the figures in a cost estimate clarification on the Town's website. Engineers produced two estimates of probable cost, one around $10.8 million and one around $1.7 million. The Mayor and Council have said they want to build the park for about $3.4 million and do not plan to raise taxes for its construction or upkeep. The low estimate is about half the stated budget, and the high one is about three times it. Gailey explained that neither concept has Council approval. LaBella has called the drawings a "cartoon of what could be," and both estimates say in small print that they are for "order of magnitude pricing for budget purposes only."
Part of the available money comes from federal recovery funds. The Enquirer-Journal reported that a Town email put the remaining SLFRF/ARPA reimbursement proceeds at about $1.66 million, and that most of the Town's other sources can only be spent on infrastructure or parks.
What Comes Next for the Space
Gailey listed the options once Council sets a direction: build a design as drawn, change it to cut costs, or build it in phases. He also said the LaBella contract covers taking the property through rezoning, not producing a final design, and that no final design will be chosen until rezoning is done. The Council's Nov. 9 agenda listed a public engagement update from LaBella with possible input from Council, along with an update from the Park and Events Committee.
On Friday, the space beside Town Hall gets by with 107 folding chairs, a Rotary mailbox and youth volunteers from the Youth Council, Scouts and DECA, the same arrangement the Mayor says the town has outgrown. Questions about the park go to your Council member or the Mayor, as Gailey's letter suggests.
The same board is already planning the next big event on the calendar. The Camp New Providence commemoration is tentatively set for Oct. 16 and 17, 2027, just before Oct. 20, and a request has gone to Union County to proclaim Oct. 20 Camp New Providence Day.
If you're curious how plans for the space next to Town Hall could change your part of Weddington, Carolina Living & Estates is glad to talk it through, whether that's at the tree lighting or over coffee afterward. Contact Us anytime.
