Fairview's Christmas Parade Needs the County's Signature Every Year. Neighbors Do Everything Else.

Who signs off on a parade in a place with no mayor? For Fairview, it's the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, writing to the state.

The Fairview Christmas Parade is set for Saturday, December 12, on Charlotte Highway. Getting it there took a public-comment appeal to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, a unanimous vote, and a letter to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. It also follows a pattern that runs through Fairview's whole holiday season. Fairview has no town hall, so its civic life runs through a nonprofit newspaper, a community center, a foundation barn and neighbors who volunteer.

A Rule Written for Places With Town Limits

Charlotte Highway is U.S. 74A, a state road, which puts the parade route under NCDOT. The state's own rule on parades, first effective in 1978 and readopted in 2019, is blunt:

"It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, organization, school, or other group of persons to conduct or participate in a parade on any street or highway of the State Highway System located outside the limits of a municipality."

That language comes from 19A NCAC 02E .0413. Fairview is unincorporated, so it has no municipal limits to be inside. BPR reported that state law separately lets local governments regulate "the use of highways by processions or assemblages." The county's recap of its October 20 meeting says NCDOT has guidelines for "Special Events held by Non-Government Entities not Sponsored by Counties and/or Municipalities," and that commissioners are asked to give NCDOT a formal letter of support as part of that process.

According to Mountain Xpress, NCDOT needs a letter of support from a local government before the event can happen. BPR's coverage of the October 20 meeting describes the same sequence, with local approval coming before NCDOT gives its permission.

How the County's Role Changed in a Year

For the 2025 parade, commissioners passed an ordinance approving the event. This year they used a lighter tool. "This year, we're asking for a letter of support — that means the county takes no liability [for the parade]," Commissioner Jennifer Horton said, as Mountain Xpress reported.

The path to that vote was not automatic. At the commissioners' early October meeting, a group of Fairview residents asked the county to approve this year's parade, and the board heard them without taking action, BPR reported. Residents came back on October 20. "We don't want to be known as the town that the hurricane broke," resident Marissa Pack told the board, according to Mountain Xpress. "We want to be remembered as the town with the loudest Christmas music and the best floats." Leigh Shultis added, "People need something to look forward to." The vote was unanimous, and according to the county's recap, the letter will be delivered to NCDOT.

The county's role is the vote and the letter. In early October, Pack told commissioners that organizers had handled safety, traffic control, law enforcement, insurance and participant organization for last year's parade at no cost to the county, BPR reported.

From a School Parking Lot to the Main Drag

The parade is only two years old. Residents organized the first one in December 2024, less than three months after Helene, to rebuild community spirit after the storm took lives and damaged property across Fairview. That first version stayed off the state road entirely. Mountain Xpress described it as a group of Fairview businesses parading through the A.C. Reynolds High School campus.

In 2025 the parade moved onto Charlotte Highway. Last year's setup is a useful reference point:

• Start: TE Connectivity, 1396 Charlotte Highway
• Finish: Angelo's Family Restaurant, 1226 Charlotte Highway
• Closure: both directions from Sharon Road to Miller Road, 9:45 a.m. to noon
• Lineup: forty businesses, with Santa Claus as guest of honor
• Afterparty: Hickory Nut Gap Farm's free Barn Warmer, which was also the farm's 25th anniversary celebration

Even then, Mountain Xpress reported that pulling off the parade in an unincorporated community meant coordinating with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, public safety partners and fire departments, plus county approval for road closures. Many of those details were finalized in October. The same October timing played out again this year.

The Newspaper That Hosts the Parade

The Fairview Town Crier lists "Hosting the Fairview Christmas Parade" among its jobs this year. The free monthly paper is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its November 2026 issue is Volume 30. The same list includes adding almost 1,000 households in Reynolds to its coverage area, sponsoring movie nights at Spring Mountain Community Center, sponsoring Fairview Farm Friday events at Root Cause Farm, and paying local writers to cover the business community.

According to the November issue, the parade needs volunteers to help organize participants, handle event-day logistics and clean up. Businesses, churches, civic groups, schools and families are invited to plan floats, and sponsorships and donations cover the costs. The Crier says its December issue will carry a fuller guide for participants and spectators.

This month the Crier is also starting Coffee Corner, a drop-in chat with community engagement manager Lisa held on the second Monday of alternating months. The first session is listed for Monday, November 9, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Daymoon Coffee & Books, 381 Old Charlotte Highway. There's no agenda and no RSVP.

One Weekend, Five Organizers

The weekend of November 13 and 14 shows the same model at a smaller scale. Every event is run by a different community group or local business, and none needs a road closure.

According to the Crier, the Gift Fair has plenty of new vendors this year, along with free parking, lunch for purchase and a 50/50 raffle. The Sausage Festival encourages Oktoberfest and fall-themed costumes. Hickory Nut Gap's fall page also lists a hayride on November 14.

All three Saturday events sit along or just off Charlotte Highway, so you can hit the Gift Fair at opening, browse Rusty Dog's crafters by late morning and get to the Big Barn for lunch.

The Weeks Between the Sausage Festival and Santa

The rest of the calendar up to December 12 is run by the same kinds of groups:

Tuesdays at Whistle Hop Brewery. Trivia runs every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 1290 Charlotte Highway, with new topics and prizes. It's free to play.

November 19 at Garren Creek. The Garren Creek Foundation hosts a free Community Dinner and Barn Jam at 6 p.m. in its barn at 1198 Garren Creek Road. The foundation's event calendar also lists the Garren Creek Sunday Market on December 6 at 1 p.m., the first-Sunday market the barn holds each month.

Through December 31, Angels of Fairview. This nonprofit, made up of community members, gets referrals through the counseling departments at Fairview and Cane Creek schools, and its Annual Holiday Meal Drive covers a family's full meal for $70: a 10- to 12-pound turkey, two sides, rolls and dessert. Donations go through a child's FES or CCMS teacher, by check to PO Box 94, Fairview, NC 28730, or online at angelsoffairview.org/donate.

Each of these runs the way the parade does. A group of people decides something should happen in Fairview, finds a barn, a community center or a stretch of Charlotte Highway, and makes it happen. The parade is the one event that also needs a county vote and a letter to NCDOT before it can go ahead.

If you'd like to talk about this community, its land and the stretch of 74A it gathers on, Kim Gentry Justus would be glad to meet you. Connect for a Curated Consultation.