I'll be home for Christmas — Christmas at the Mill I'll be home for Christmas — Christmas at the 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.

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Gibson Mill · 325 & 329 McGill Ave NW · Concord, NC · November & December 2026
97th Concord Christmas Parade · Nov 21 Christmas Market · Nov 28 Carols, Candles & Coffee · Nov 28 Pictures with Santa · Nov 29 Festival & Tree Lighting · Dec 5–6 Candlelight Services · Dec 11 & 13 Christmas Eve Candlelight · Dec 24 97th Concord Christmas Parade · Nov 21 Christmas Market · Nov 28 Carols, Candles & Coffee · Nov 28 Pictures with Santa · Nov 29 Festival & Tree Lighting · Dec 5–6 Candlelight Services · Dec 11 & 13 Christmas Eve Candlelight · Dec 24
A word from Pastor Corey

Come home.

Ninety seconds on what we're doing this Christmas, why we're doing it, and why we'd love to have you in the room for it.

Pastor Corey Alley speaking at SOJO Church
Video dropping this week
Saturday, November 21 · The 97th Concord Christmas Parade

Find us in the parade.

Two miles down Church, Buffalo and Union — and somewhere in the middle of it, a float our people build on cold Tuesday nights in a parking lot. Look for us. We'll be the ones waving at your kids.

The SOJO float rolling in the Concord Christmas Parade
Last year's float on the route. This year we're building the house.

This year: Home Alone

Kevin McCallister spends that whole movie left behind at Christmas while his family tears across the country trying to get back to him. That's the joke, and it's also the ache — and it's why this float fits the rest of our season. Nobody in Concord ought to be home alone at Christmas. Find us on the route and enter to win Cookies with Mr. & Mrs. Claus.

Walk with us Help build the float
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, but something ancient, practiced, and true, handed to us by people who did it first.

  • Gibson Mill · 325 McGill Ave NW, Suite 148
  • 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.
Save your seat
Candles held in a dark room at SOJO
A family having their picture made with Santa at SOJO
Sunday, November 29 · 9:00 & 11:00 AM
Santa at

SOJO.

Free pictures with Santa, sent straight to your phone.

The real deal — velvet suit, white gloves, actual beard. He sets up both Sunday mornings and our team runs the line, so you're not standing in it for forty minutes with a toddler who lost interest nineteen minutes ago.

No sitting fee. No photo package. Nobody trying to sell you an 8x10 in a cardboard frame. We take the picture, we text it to you, you go eat lunch.

  • Both services — 9:00 and 11:00 AM
  • Free, and the photo hits your phone the same day
  • SOJO Kids running as normal, newborn through 5th grade
  • Come for a service, or just come for the picture. Both are fine.
Tell us you're coming
The whole room holding candles at a SOJO candlelight service
December 11 & 13 · and Christmas Eve
Candles, carols,

& the oldest story.

We turn the lights off, hand everybody a candle, and tell it straight.

Carolers in the atrium when you walk in. A dark room that slowly fills with light, one candle at a time, until you can see every face in it. The Christmas story told the way it actually happened — to a teenager nobody believed, in a town nobody respected, on a night nobody was watching.

Bring your parents. Bring the kid who won't sit still. Bring the friend who hasn't been inside a church since they were twelve. Nobody here is keeping score.

  • Friday, December 116:30 PM
  • Sunday, December 139:00 & 11:00 AM
  • Christmas Eve · December 246:00 PM
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A woman holding a lit candle on Christmas Eve at SOJO
Thursday, December 24 · 6:00 PM
Christmas Eve

at the mill.

One service. Candles, carols, and you're home before the night is over.

This is the one people bring family to. The in-laws who are in town. The brother who only comes at Christmas. The neighbor who has been meaning to for three years. Nobody here is counting how long it's been.

We start at six, hand everybody a candle, sing the songs you already know, and tell the story the way it actually happened — and you're back in your own living room with the evening still ahead of you.

  • One service, 6:00 PM, about an hour
  • A candle for every person who walks in
  • Kids stay with you — this one is for the whole family
  • Come as you are. Nobody dresses up for this.
Save your seat
Never been here before?

Just a regular Sunday.

Not everybody wants to start at a Christmas service, and that's fine. Come on an ordinary Sunday and see what this is the other fifty-one weeks of the year. Tell us you're coming and somebody will be watching for you.

The room on a Sunday morning at SOJO, hands raised and kids up front
Every Sunday · 9:00 & 11:00 AM

A regular Sunday

Come see what a normal week looks like before the season gets loud. Coffee in your hand, kids checked in, out by about 10:15 or 12:15.

Plan your visit
Gibson Mill · 325 McGill Ave NW, Suite 148

Where we are.

Gibson Mill is big, and the first time you pull in it can feel like you're in the wrong place. You're not. Here's exactly where to turn, where to park, and which door is ours.

Parking map of Gibson Mill showing the A, B, C and volunteer lots off McGill Ave and the SOJO Church entrance
  • A LotFirst-time guests, parents with young kids, and anyone with mobility needs. First on your left as you come in.
  • B LotThe grass field. Everybody else.
  • C LotOverflow, just past the B Lot.
  • Volunteer LotOur team parks on the far side so the close spots stay open for guests.
  1. Enter from McGill Ave. If your map app gets confused, search "Gibson Mill Concord" and head for the main entrance.
  2. Look for the vests. Our parking team is outside waving people in. Tell them it's your first time.
  3. Our door is beside the City Club entrance, under the large SOJO Church sign mounted at the top of the building.
  4. Walk the hallway to the end. Guest Services is waiting there, and they'll take it from there.
  5. Kids check in on the way. Nursery is off the café on your left; first-time families check in at the guest station outside the SOJO Kids entrance.
Heads up

On Market day (Nov 28) and Festival weekend (Dec 5–6) the whole Mill is packed and the lots fill early. Give yourself an extra fifteen minutes, or park in the B Lot and walk.

Open in Maps What to expect →
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
The City

97th Concord Christmas Parade

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

Text FLOAT
Nov
28Saturday
The Mill

Christmas Market

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

Market details ↗
Nov
28Evening
SOJO

Carols, Candles & Coffee

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.

What is this? ↓
Nov
29Sunday
SOJO

Pictures with Santa

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

Text SANTA
Dec
5–6Sat · Sun
The Mill · 10–8

Christmas Festival & Tree Lighting

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.

Text LIGHTS
Dec
11&13Fri · Sun
SOJO · Fri 6:30 · Sun 9:00 & 11:00

Candlelight Christmas Services

Carolers in the atrium, candles in a dark room, and the oldest story we know told plainly. Three services — take the one that fits your weekend, and bring everybody.

Save your seat
Dec
24Thursday
SOJO · 6:00 PM

Christmas Eve Candlelight

One service on Christmas Eve. Candles, carols, and the story told straight — and you're back home with your people before the night is over.

Save your seat
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
The one thing that actually works

Invite somebody.

Nobody walks into a church because of a billboard. They walk in because somebody they trust asked them to come. Pick a service, and we'll write the text for you.

Text it Email it

Opens your own messages app with it already typed. Change anything you want before you hit send.

For the SOJO family

Make it happen.

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

Not sure where you fit?

Fill out one interest form and we'll find you a spot that matches how God actually wired you — not whatever hole we're trying to plug this week. Every team runs a background check, and we start it the day you sign up.

Volunteer interest form
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 11 & 13

Candlelight services

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

Sign up
Dec 24

Christmas Eve

The last one of the year, and the one most people bring family to. Candles, doors, parking, and a warm room.

Sign up
Open now

SOJO Volunteer Night

One night, everything explained, every team in the room. If you're new to serving, start here.

Sign up