We’ve been to many Christmas parades, villages and festivals over the years. This one was a little hokey. It was cute, yes, very small-scale, hometown-feel type of thing, but definitely not worth the traffic headache! We battled 485 traffic coming in, walked 30 minutes to the parade, waited 45 minutes and then it was literally a horse-drawn carriage, a small band, and a trailer full of kids followed by a large number of people “pulling” the Yule log on a sled. It was over in about 8 minutes and it was VERY crowded! The town is cute, yes. We walked around an area where cars weren’t allowed. Most of the places you can’t see as well from a car, or at least the best places weren’t accessible by car anyways. It was a “check it off the list” visit, but will not likely return. Too much hype for such a little ordeal.

Amazing, amazing, amazing! Like in movies! Every house, every single tree is wrapped in lights! Be aware of traffic and drive through. Nice view from car, but I would suggest to go early, park the car, and walk on each street to enjoy a lot of fabulous ornaments and lights which are not visible from car. Hot chocolate at fire stations! Downside: only two locations for portable restrooms, which are full and dirty and smell horrible inside!

The fact that the whole neighborhood participates is wonderful and the decor is tastefully done, the people at the church welcomed the visitors with hot chocolate, cookies and a prayer tree. Me and my granddaughters enjoyed the scenery. Everyone present was thoughtful and respectful of the pedestrians and the ones driving through. Absolutely worth the hour and forty-five minutes drive

A great experience that only costs the amount of gas you spend going there. Lucky enough to find a parking spot while in line. There was plenty of people but enough space to enjoy the walk and take pictures without blocking the way. A great plan to do, totally worth it.

What an incredible experience. No words or pictures can give justice to this experience.We went on a Monday evening and arrived right after dusk.Wevhad a short wait maybe 10 minutes before we got into town. The whole town is decorated beyond belief. It is an experience that you should not miss. I can't recommend this trip highly enough

OK. I'll be as detailed as I can. Truth is, I liked it. But you have to be prepared to be on traffic between 30 minutes to an hour on line to get in the neighborhood. You have two options: 1) there's a burger King across the street where you see the line to going in to Xmas town. Park your car on the burger king and go walking, you'll enjoy the ride more walking over there. 2) you will see places to park your car if you going in, but you will have to wait about an hour in the line. If you don't want to walk that's OK, you will enjoy the ride anyway, but not as much as you walking.

We showed up early at 2pm. I recommended this time and walking all throughout town. Parking and walking is truly best os you are able. We absolutely loved it! The firefighters were even serving hot cocoa in the heart of the neighborhood with all the lit up houses. This was a wonderful holiday weekend and experience. We will be doing this yearly.

GO VISIT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!! 🎄🎄🎄 We went three days after and over 50% of the houses already had their lights turned off at nighttime. Was really surprised. But a few really great houses still had em turned on. 😁

We got there early around 5:15, parked by the lake and waited until 5:30 to drive the route. We were very glad we went early because it got very busy afterwards. The lights were spectacular.

Very small town with not much to eat. But very pretty to walk all around and enjoy a cup of warm cider from the local brewery. We parked at 4:30PM to avoid the large crowds.

Fantastic place to visit during Christmas season. Nearly all houses, especially in the Main Street, are lit up with very festive and very good Christmas light. The trees are beautifully decorated, the houses are beautifully lit up, very great place to visit! What is great is that it is absolutely free to visit. No tickets are needed, just drive there and enjoy the lights. During weekend it may be busy and the traffic will crawl slowly, but that way you can enjoy the light better! The best way to enjoy is not through your car but by walking. Park somewhere, and then walk around. Some streets are blocked for cars but pedestrians are allowed. Great place to enjoy Christmas season!

This is where you should start your Christmas holidays , bright vibrant lights everywhere , if you can tolerate a bit of traffic , and winter , this is a fun place to hang around with free coffee, hot chocolate/cocoa etc Parking will be limited , and traffic changes are there , some times maps shows an alternative way.that is blocked by police , so go with initial route

This is a great place to see Christmas lights in Charlotte! The traffic might be horrible so be be prepared. I would recommend parking in a church or the elementary school parking lot and then walking around to see Christmas lights. There is an ice cream shop called Two Scoops on Main Street.

It was hard trying to figure out how to get there there was no signs tell you how to get at the starting of this place I had never been there before but I have all ways wanted to go so some of my close friends drove there and they had never been there before too. I hope to maybe come back again some times to see more it was raining and was cold it was the first night of Dec. But the police had the road blocked .the way our GPS told us to go in but they told us to go down another road but it did not tell us what way and there where no signs telling us where to turn .and no one to tell us we turned around 3 times and then we saw a lot of people walking so we just turned and watched where they was walking from and Finley got in the middle of town and we saw half of it and we drove from Greensboro that was a long trip to only see part of it. We turned around at this church that was so nice they gave us a cup of hot chocolate that helped some what they was very nice to us and I would say they made us feel so welcome that made us like the people there. But they need to put signs up telling people where to begin and tell people how to go that would help a lot of more to figure out how to get there. It was fun anyway an one more thing marked off my Bucket list

Super fun attraction! I love that it's totally free. We ended up walking it rather than driving due to the heavy traffic. Once we got into town it was super crowded, as in lines out the door for every shop, so I'd recommend doing your shopping and eating elsewhere. Belmont is just a 10 minute drive away and has a couple restaurants and a cute main street if you're looking for something to do before you see the lights.

Delectable experience of holiday spirit in this quaint neighborhood. Strolling can be by walk or by car and it’s absolutely free. The firemen served free hot cocoa during the holidays which is a lovely gesture.

It was a pleasant enough experience walking through someone else's neighborhood enjoying their Christmas lights! I was surprised to see so many people doing this. People were stopping to take pictures in front of other people's homes and admiring the scenery. I saw one cafe that was apparently it filled up quickly! I think they are missing out on a business opportunity here 🤔.

Beautiful lights. Difficult to navigate traffic and find parking. Be prepared to wait in traffic lines or get your steps in to walk it

My wife and I parked at Food Lion and walked all the way back into the center of the town past the lake and the fire department. It was all very pretty and we took a lot of very nice photos. They were giving away hot chocolate at a couple of locations. They had several restaurants in coffee shops open and a holiday gift store. It did not take that long to the entire distance. We even walked up the side road and saw houses we haven't seen before.

Nice place, beautiful everywhere you see, highly recommended park and walk around.

Used to be nice but now all you tourists have completely wrecked it. If you are the driver, please understand that you are not allowed to look at the lights... just keep yourself focused on driving and not rubbernecking. You'll either cause an accident or beco ne another holdup idiot.

Not as charming as the old days with multicolored lights on company-owned homes with holiday electric bills paid for mill owners, before being discovered and over-standardized and over-visited - but still an impressive view. Best experienced by walking through town, parking in a nearby lots at edge of town. More homey, less aggravating than the slow crawl of auto traffic. And in the bustle on the street you see in your neighbors the real joy of the season: their smiles reflecting a glow as nice as the many white lights and decorations. BTW this is NOT in Belmont. McAdenville is a separate mill village, now town, on the South Fork of the Catawba River.

One of our to do items every Christmas. We love to walk the town instead of drive through- you can see more of the homes and it's just nicer. We put the kids in our wagon to keep them safe from all the cars driving around and people walking. We like to stop by the fire station for some hot chocolate too.

It's a beautiful town, very walkable and welcoming to tourists during the peak season for Christmas lights. Throughout the year, McAdenville also has great access for kayaks, canoes, and floats along the South Fork River. The main street businesses are another great attraction for McAdenville year-round, but especially during the Christmas lights display.