Cortney Shrum puts a Christmas tree in every room of her Glendale home. She told The News-Enterprise that her house is usually decorated before the turkey reaches the Thanksgiving table. On a past home tour night she had as many as 75 people come through. Visitors at her house get hot cider, cocoa and cookies. Carolers are not part of her stop.
Glendale's holiday season works the same way. It is made of spaces that already belong to someone: merchants' storefronts, the old East Hardin school building on College Street, and then, for three hours on a Saturday night, private homes. When the Glendale Lions Club brought the home tour back, the price of getting through those front doors went to the Glendale Fire Department.
One Saturday, Handed Off at Five O'Clock
Kentucky Historic Travels published Glendale's 2026 calendar in September, and it puts the two biggest pieces of the season on the same day.
| Date | Event | Hours | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, November 21 | Glendale's 2nd Annual Indoor Holiday Market | See event page | Old East Hardin School, 129 College Street |
| Saturday, December 5 | Christmas in the Country | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Downtown shops along Main Street |
| Saturday, December 5 | Glendale Home Tours | 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. | Private homes around town |
The same listing sends readers to the Historic Glendale Kentucky Facebook page for more event details, so check it as each date gets closer.
So the downtown shops close for the day at about the time the first houses open. The afternoon and the evening are run by different people. The arrangement behind each one is worth knowing before you plan the day.
The Afternoon Shift Is Lit by the Merchants
Christmas in the Country belongs to the downtown business owners. The News-Enterprise's preview of a past year described how the merchants get ready. All 13 of them put lights on the posts outside their businesses, decorated their shops and decorated the gazebo. That article quoted Sheree Vance, owner of Side Track Shops and treasurer of the Glendale Merchants Association. She had run her shop for almost 46 years at the time.
In that year, the day included:
- Free carriage rides around Glendale from noon to 2 p.m.
- Free photos with Santa at The Whistle Stop from noon to 3 p.m.
- The Grinch and a few elves walking in and out of the shops
- Christmas carolers, with refreshments at most shops
- Every merchant open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with some opening earlier or staying later
The weekend was bigger than the Saturday. A live nativity from the Knight family of Upton was set for the Friday evening before, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the community park. On Sunday, Glendale's churches held a joint program called Carols in the Country at 6 p.m. at Glendale Christian Church. Vance also said the event had changed over the years. It once opened with a Christmas parade, and that parade no longer starts the day.
That history explains the shape of the day. Christmas in the Country works as a downtown open house, and the decorating is done by the people whose names are on the shop doors. When Kentucky Historic Travels walked the district with Shannon, President of the Historic Downtown Glendale Merchants Association, the writer noted that every owner she met was a woman. All of them knew the history of their own buildings well.
Some of those buildings are part of the holiday stop on their own. The Cabin at Glendale is made from two barns and a late-1800s log cabin that Sonny Hatfield moved and joined together for his wife, Marcella. It still has tin ceiling tiles from the original Glendale train depot. Mountain Mike's Coffee House is in a historic house in the district, with community photos on the walls and a puzzle in progress on the table.
At Five, the Open Doors Belong to Houses
The home tour is the part of the season that depends most on residents. According to The News-Enterprise's recap of its revival, the tour stopped during the pandemic. Members of the Lions Club proposed bringing it back and giving the money to Glendale's volunteer fire department. Homeowner Regina Williams told the paper that was the first year the tour ran that way.
Williams also described what the tour is:
"The home tours is just going in people's homes here locally and getting to see how they decorate and their style."
The sponsor has been in town a long time. The Glendale Kentucky Lions Club's club page says it has served the community since 1946.
For the revived tour, Shrum served as organizer and seven homeowners, including her, opened their houses. Tickets were $10 per person, and children 13 and younger got in free. All proceeds went to the Glendale Fire Department. Tickets were sold at Small Biz Market at 211 East Main Street, and each buyer got a brochure and a wristband. Shrum said visitors are usually Glendale residents.
The shop at that address now goes by Mary's Market on Main. Its website lists Small Biz Market as a former name. The store carries products from more than 50 small American brands, and its second-anniversary celebration was on the September 2026 calendar.
The recap gives a sense of what was behind those doors. One home on College Street had a tree hung with hundreds of ornaments, and another had a European Christmas village. At a home on Glendale-Hodgenville Road West, a nativity set was displayed in a cake dish. Former resident Carolyn Todd, who drove over from Radcliff, said her favorite was the Edwards residence on Glendale-Hodgenville Road West, a home the Edwards family also uses for weddings. Two visitors from Shepherdsville who usually tour Christmas homes in Louisville came after seeing a Facebook post two weeks before the event.
Where the Route Splits
Shrum gave clear advice on the route, and it is the most useful planning detail from the past tour. Downtown and the far stops are two separate legs:
- Start downtown on foot. If you begin downtown, the first three homes are an easy walk.
- Drive past the churches. The other four homes are past the churches on Glendale-Hodgenville Road. Shrum said not to walk to them because the lighting is limited and there are no sidewalks.
- Park at each house. She said driving to those homes and parking there is the safest way to go.
On December 5 the tour runs from 5 to 8 p.m., which means most of it happens after dark. If you are coming straight from the Christmas in the Country shops, it makes sense to walk the in-town homes first and get the car for the Glendale-Hodgenville Road stretch.
The Season Opens Two Weeks Earlier, Inside the Old School
The Holiday Market runs on the same idea as the rest of the season, using a building Glendale already has. The first one, on November 15, 2025, was held at the old East Hardin Middle School at 129 College Street. According to the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce listing, it was presented by Southern Heart & Home and had more than 50 vendors plus food and beverage trucks. Santa photos cost $5, and all of that money went to the Elizabethtown Police Department's Shop with a Cop program.
The second annual market is Saturday, November 21, 2026, in the same building, two weeks before the December 5 Saturday.
Planning Backward From December 5
- November 21: the Holiday Market at 129 College Street. Event details are on the Historic Glendale Kentucky Facebook page.
- Before December 5: watch the same page for home tour details. In the revived year, tickets were sold in person downtown.
- December 5, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Christmas in the Country downtown. In past years The Whistle Stop hosted Santa photos.
- December 5, 5 to 8 p.m.: the home tour. Walk to the downtown homes and drive to the stops on Glendale-Hodgenville Road.
At Olive + Oak, we notice when neighbors decorate a house for strangers, and Glendale's tour turns that hospitality into support for the firefighters who protect those same streets. If you're thinking about how your own home would show, whether for a holiday tour or a future sale, Olive + Oak Realty would love to walk through it with you. Request your free Home Strategy Session.
