Over nine days in early December, Morrisville holds its Christmas Tree Lighting, opens the winter season of the Western Wake Farmers Market and hosts a holiday craft fair. All three happen at the same address, Indian Creek Trailhead at 101 Town Hall Drive. That address sits next to the Town Center construction site, where crews are building the Town Green, a parking deck and the town's first real downtown.
The Town Center's purpose is to give Morrisville a central gathering place. This December, the town's holiday gatherings are already happening there, with the stage, lawn and shops still a year or more away. The construction does change how you get in, where you park and which paths are open.
The holiday calendar, by date
| Date | Event | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Through Thu., Dec. 10 | Toys For Tots drive | 24-hour lobbies of Fire Stations 1, 2 and 3 | Drive closes 11 p.m. Dec. 10 |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Thanksgiving food drive at the farmers market | Indian Creek Trailhead Park | 8 a.m. to noon |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Farmers market closed for Thanksgiving | None | None |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Christmas Tree Lighting | Indian Creek Trailhead | 6 to 8 p.m., tree lit at 7:50 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Winter farmers market begins | Indian Creek Trailhead Park | 9:30 a.m. to noon |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Winter Wonderland Craft Fair and Holiday Food Drive | Indian Creek Trailhead Park | 9:30 a.m. to noon |
| Fri., Dec. 18 | Swim with Santa | Morrisville Aquatics & Fitness Center, 1301 Morrisville Parkway | 4 to 7:30 p.m. |
The first weekend of December is the busiest. On Friday night the Christmas Tree Lighting starts at 6 p.m., with a hot chocolate station, ornament crafts, music and dance performances, Letters to Santa and a visit with Santa. The Town Tree is lit at 7:50 p.m. to close the evening. The next morning, the Western Wake Farmers Market switches to its winter schedule at the same trailhead. The market runs every Saturday year-round, from 8 a.m. to noon April through November and from 9:30 a.m. to noon December through March. If you're used to arriving at 8, the market now opens an hour and a half later.
The Winter Wonderland Craft Fair on December 12 adds craft vendors to the regular market lineup, plus holiday activities. Makers who want a table have until November 28 to register, or until spots fill. The market's Holiday Food Drive runs that same morning.
What the fences next door are building
The farmers market's current home is a temporary setup. As The Line reported in January, the Town Green is going up where the healthy food hub and farmers market used to be. The finished Green is planned to include the Western Wake Farmers Market and its Educational Garden. The market setting up this December at Indian Creek Trailhead Park is operating right beside its future home.
The Town's October 2026 capital projects report splits Phase 1A into two blocks:
- Block A is a mixed-use building and parking deck wrapped around the existing Morrisville Community Library. Multifamily construction is underway, and the concrete parking deck is being built. The Line reported that the residential development is by Singh Development and that its enclosed deck adds 100 parking spaces for Town Center use.
- Block C is the Town Green. Plans call for an outdoor stage, cottage retail buildings, a public restroom, a plaza with sculptures and water features, a playground, and new streetscapes along Town Hall Drive, Foxglove Drive and Carolina Street. As of October, crews were laying foundations for the Support Building, the Restroom Building and the seat walls on either side of the Green.
The Line's reporting adds the scale. The lawn is designed to hold up to 2,500 people. Four buildings will each have two 1,250-square-foot "cottage retail" spaces, for eight storefronts in total, facing the Green and a social district. Singh Development will manage those spaces through a public-private partnership. Town Manager Brandon Zuidema told The Line he hopes the tenants include a bike shop, because the Green sits close to the greenways. He also named a bakery or a brewery as possible tenants. In the same interview he called the Town Center "probably the most significant project the town has undertaken in the last 25 years."
The finished district is meant to tie together things that already exist along this stretch of Town Hall Drive: a historic church, a historic house, the dog park, the library and Indian Creek Trailhead and Park. The Town has hired Merje to create a branding, signage and wayfinding plan that will point people to the Green, the library, the playgrounds, the dog park and the historic landmarks.
Getting to the trailhead around two job sites
The construction is what makes this December different from past years. The Town's own instructions cover most of the logistics:
- For the Tree Lighting, park off-site. Parking is at Cedar Fork Community Center, 1050 B Town Hall Drive, and shuttles run from there to Indian Creek Trailhead for the whole event. Accessible parking is at Town Hall, 100 Town Hall Drive.
- Library visits use a temporary lot. The Town asks Morrisville Community Library patrons to use the temporary lot reached from Carolina Street by way of Church Street, and not to park on Jeremiah Street, where parked cars interfere with traffic lanes.
- Foxglove Drive is closed between Jeremiah Street and Carolina Street.
- The Carolina Street closure remains in effect while underground utilities and conduits go in between Town Hall and Church Street.
Work happens during normal daytime hours, so the Friday-night Tree Lighting falls outside the crews' working hours. For updates, the Town sends Town Center news through its Next Week in Morrisville newsletter and text alerts.
The road crew on the Church Street side
The second job site runs along the trailhead's other edge. NCDOT's Airport Boulevard Extension Phase I is a new 0.44-mile, four-lane divided road from Garden Square Lane to Church Street. It will have a median, streetlights, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and new traffic signals. Carolina Sunrock submitted the low construction bid of $9,867,642. Work started in April 2026, and completion is estimated for November 2028.
The construction has closed part of the Indian Creek Greenway, with a detour in place. The Town's Closings and Delays page, last updated November 6, lists the closure near Garden Square Lane and Councilman Court, just south of Airport Boulevard. The west-side sidewalk on Church Street, across from the school, is also closed, and the Town says it is adding pedestrian safety measures along Town Hall Drive because of the sidewalk closures. The Town has also asked NCDOT to review the road's 45-mph speed limit. NCDOT will do that once the road is finished and a speed study can be run.
If you usually walk or bike to the market on the greenway, the detour applies to your Saturday route as well as to weekday trips.
How long the fences stay up
Both projects will still be under construction well after this holiday season. The Line reported in January that the Town Center's first phase was expected to open in 2027. The project broke ground in September 2025, and the town first adopted the Town Center plan in 2007. The Town's October 2026 report gives an estimated completion date of "2027/2028" for Phase 1A, which began in summer 2024. It lists the latest indicated design and construction cost at $28.8 million. The main challenge it names is "designing the park amenities within the allocated budget." The Airport Boulevard estimate runs to November 2028.
Airport Boulevard's November 2028 estimate falls at the far end of the Town Center's 2027/2028 range. The farmers market's planned move onto the Green would put the Saturday market on the same lawn as the stage, the cottage retail and the social district.
If you own near Town Hall Drive and want to know how the finished Town Center could change your street, or how buyers might weigh it, Irene Higginson and Higginson Realty Group keep track of each phase as it moves from foundation work to opening. Let's Connect.
