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Christmas at Gibson Mill.

Bring everybody.

A parade, a market, a tree lighting, Santa, carols by candlelight, and warm bread in your hands. All of it happening in one old cotton mill on McGill Avenue — and all of it for you.

Gibson Mill · 325 & 329 McGill Ave NW · Concord, NC · November & December 2026
The whole season

Everything
happening.

Some of this is ours. Some of it belongs to the Mill and the city. We put it all in one place because it's all one Christmas.

Nov
21Saturday

97th Concord Christmas Parade The City

Two miles down Church, Buffalo, and Union. Look for the SOJO float — and enter to win Cookies with Mr. & Mrs. Claus.

Nov
28Saturday

Christmas Market The Mill

Dozens of Christmas vendor booths fill the Mill. Shop local, eat well, and start the season right where you live.

Nov
28Saturday evening

Carols, Candles & Coffee SOJO

When the Market winds down, come upstairs. Candles, carols, hot coffee, and warm bread in your hands. Thirty minutes, no offering, no sermon. Just the oldest songs we know, sung together.

Nov
29Sunday

Pictures with Santa SOJO

Free pictures with Santa, sent straight to your phone. Bring the kids, bring the grandparents, bring the dog if he behaves.

Dec
5–6Sat · Sun · 10–8

Christmas Festival & Tree Lighting The Mill

The whole Mill lights up. Pics with Santa, the Tree Lighting, live music, the Lake Norman Big Band, and a Kids Play Zone. Find the SOJO booth and say hello.

Dec
19–20Sat · Sun

Candlelight Christmas Services SOJO

Carolers in the atrium, candles in a dark room, and the oldest story we know told plainly. Four services across the weekend. Bring everybody.

November 28 · Saturday evening

Carols,
candles
& coffee.

An old tradition, ninety minutes up the road.

Since the 1700s, Moravians in North Carolina have gathered in December for something simple: candles, a sweet roll, coffee, and singing. No performance. No offering. Nobody asking you for anything.

Just people in a dark room holding small lights, eating warm bread, and singing songs older than this country about a baby who changed everything.

We want to give Concord that. Not a program we invented last year — something ancient, practiced, and true, handed to us by people who did it first.

Come hungry. Come tired.
Come exactly as you are.

You are invited

Saturday
Nov 28

Gibson Mill · 325 McGill Ave NW, Suite 210
  • Warm bread and hot coffee, free
  • A candle for every person who walks in
  • Carols everybody already knows
  • About thirty minutes, start to finish
  • No offering. No sign-up. No catch.
  • Come straight up from the Christmas Market
Text CAROLS and we'll remind you
For the Mill

One mill.
One Christmas.

Gibson Mill is full of people who build things, brew things, cook things, and sell things. Christmas is better when we do it together instead of on eleven separate calendars.

Cabarrus Brewing Co. High Branch Brewing Gianni's Trattoria Gibson Mill Market The Depot Antique Mall The Depot Deli City Club at Gibson Mill Auto Barn Classic Cars Iron Axe Society Luck Factory Games The Paper Theater Studio SOJO Church

Are you a Mill business?

If you're doing something for Christmas, we'll put it on this page. Free, no strings, no logo swap required. This page belongs to the Mill, not to us — we just built it.

Text MILL to be listed
For the SOJO family

Make it happen.

Pick a date. Grab a spot.

Somebody has to bake the bread, light the candles, hold the door, and hand a kid a candy cane. That somebody could be you.

Nov · build week

Parade float — build team

Several nights and Saturdays before the parade. Cut, paint, wire, haul. Come to one or come to them all.

Sign up
Nov 21

Parade day-of team

Stage the float, ride it, walk alongside handing out invites, tear it down. Kids welcome on the float.

Sign up
Nov 28

Carols, Candles & Coffee

Sing, pour coffee, pass out candles and warm bread, and welcome everyone who wanders up from the Market.

Sign up
Nov 29

Pictures with Santa

Greeters, photo line, check-in table, and the elves who keep a room full of kids happy.

Sign up
Dec 5–6

Tree Lighting booth

Work our booth in the middle of the festival. Meet people, hand out invites, point them back here.

Sign up
Dec 19–20

Candlelight services

Carolers, candle handlers, door greeters, and parking. Four services, all hands.

Sign up