At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1, the Mid-Lothian Mines Park parking lot on North Woolridge Road will hand out hot cocoa and cookies. Midlothian District Supervisor Dr. Mark Miller will then light the tree. The event is scheduled for one hour. It's free, and the openings are unlimited. Before it, Clover Hill has its own lighting a week earlier. After it, Ettrick and Beulah hold theirs on the next two nights.
Chesterfield now holds four short weeknight tree lightings in different parts of the county, each run by Parks and Recreation and most hosted by the supervisor who represents that area. The series grew one location at a time, so the county's opening holiday event is now likely to be close to home for most households.
A Series Built One District at a Time
The county's own event pages show how the series grew. This year's Beulah Recreation Center lighting is billed as the "fourth annual," and the Ettrick Park lighting as the "third annual." The 2026 listings for Mid-Lothian Mines Park and The Park at River City Sportsplex both say "second annual." Counting back, Beulah started in 2023, Ettrick joined in 2024, and the two Midlothian-area lightings were added in 2025.
The Midlothian description on the county's registration site reads:
"Join your community for the second annual tree lighting at Mid-Lothian Mines Park! Enjoy hot cocoa and cookies and soak up the holiday spirit! Then join Midlothian District Supervisor, Dr. Mark Miller, as he kicks off the holiday season with the lighting of the tree."
The event is held in the park's parking lot and lasts an hour, starting at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.
Dates for the newer lightings have moved before. Last year's Midlothian lighting ended up on a "Revised Rescheduled Date" and was held on Sunday, December 14, 2025, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the same park. The 2026 date is Tuesday, December 1. Check the county calendar that afternoon before you go.
Four Nights, Four Venues
The county's November and December 2026 calendars list four tree lightings. All four run from 6 to 7 p.m. on a weeknight.
| Date | District lighting | Location | Who lights the tree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, Nov. 24 | Clover Hill | The Park at River City Sportsplex, 13030 Genito Road, Midlothian | Clover Hill District Supervisor Jessica Schneider |
| Tuesday, Dec. 1 | Midlothian | Mid-Lothian Mines Park, 13301 N. Woolridge Road, Midlothian | Midlothian District Supervisor Dr. Mark Miller |
| Wednesday, Dec. 2 | Ettrick | Ettrick Park, 20621 Woodpecker Road, South Chesterfield | Matoaca District Supervisor Kevin Carroll, with Santa |
| Thursday, Dec. 3 | Beulah | Beulah Recreation Center, 6901 Hopkins Road, North Chesterfield | Santa, with Mrs. Claus also on hand |
Two of the four are in Midlothian. The Clover Hill lighting at the Sportsplex off Genito Road comes first, two days before Thanksgiving. The Midlothian lighting at the old mines park on Woolridge Road follows the next Tuesday. If you live between the two, you can go to both, a week apart. The Ettrick and Beulah lightings follow on Wednesday and Thursday, and those are the two events with Santa on the program. At Clover Hill and Midlothian, the program is the cocoa, the cookies and the supervisor lighting the tree.
All four pages list the events as free. The registration system says online registration isn't available for these programs, and the descriptions don't mention any sign-up requirement. The Sportsplex event uses two of the complex's parking lots. The Midlothian event is in the Mid-Lothian Mines parking lot itself. Questions go to Parks and Recreation at (804) 748-1623 on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
What to Bring Besides a Coat
Every lighting is also a collection point for the Chesterfield Food Bank Outreach Center. The county asks people to bring unopened, non-perishable food to help neighbors in need.
Since the lightings run on four nights in four parts of the county, the food drive does too. A family in Clover Hill can drop off cans at the Sportsplex on November 24, and a family in Ettrick can do the same at Ettrick Park on December 2. Both donations go to the same food bank. The county spread the drive out the same way it spread out the lightings.
The Weekends Belong to the Historic Sites
Once the four weeknights are over, the county's public holiday calendar moves to Saturdays and Sundays. Most of what's left is held at Chesterfield's historic properties, close to the county complex on Iron Bridge Road.
- Magnolia Grange Christmas Open House, Saturday, Dec. 5, 1 to 4 p.m. The house at 10020 Iron Bridge Road will be decorated for the season, with live music, crafts, refreshments, Santa, and Victorian-era toys and games. The Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia lists it as free, with no registration needed.
- Christmas Through the Centuries at Castlewood, Saturday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Christmas displays from several historical periods will be set up inside and outside the house.
- Yarn Doll Day at the County Museum, Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to noon. Participants learn to make an old-fashioned yarn doll and take one home. Since it's on the same Saturday as the Castlewood event, you can fit both into one trip.
- Chester Kiwanis Christmas Parade, Sunday, Dec. 13, starting at 2 p.m. The listing from the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society says more details will be posted later.
Magnolia Grange is one of the county's own historic properties. The house was built in 1822. In 1984 the Board of Supervisors approved buying it for $180,000, and the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia operates it today, according to the county's facility page. Like the tree lightings, the open house is free and run by local institutions, but it's a longer afternoon event at a single historic site.
Planning the Season Around the Closest Event
Put the dates together and Chesterfield's public holiday calendar runs for about three weeks:
- Nov. 24 to Dec. 3: four free weeknight lightings, one hour each, in Clover Hill, Midlothian, Ettrick and Beulah, with a food drive at every stop.
- Dec. 5: the Magnolia Grange open house on Iron Bridge Road.
- Dec. 12: Castlewood and the County Museum on the same Saturday.
- Dec. 13: the Chester parade, scheduled for 2 p.m.
For most of the county, at least one of the four lightings is a short drive away. The weekend events are mostly in one area, around Iron Bridge Road and Chester.
If you want something bigger, the regional light shows are outside the county. Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden runs November 23 through January 3, and the garden recommends buying tickets in advance and says parking is limited. The Illuminate Light Show at Meadow Event Park in Doswell runs from November 20, 2026, through January 2, 2027.
Rick Cox Realty Group is based in Midlothian, a short drive from the Mid-Lothian Mines Park lighting on December 1. We follow the county calendar along with the housing market. If a question about your home comes up this holiday season, Contact Us and our team will get back to you quickly.
