Last year, Fluvanna's holiday events were spread across two weekends. Lake Monticello's Festival of Trees opened the season at Ashlawn Clubhouse on the first weekend of December, and the county's Community of Lights at Pleasant Grove Park came a week later. In 2026 that gap closes. The Lake Monticello Owners' Association calendar puts the Festival of Trees Dinner Dance on Friday, December 11, and Santa & Mrs. Claus at Ashlawn on Saturday, December 12. Those dates fall inside the four nights Fluvanna County Parks & Recreation has set for Community of Lights.
That puts most of the county's holiday calendar on December 10 through 13, with Saturday the 12th the busiest day of the season.
The Festival of Trees Moved Into the Lights Weekend
The Festival of Trees has held the first weekend of December for at least two years. In 2024, LMOA's announcement set the Festival of Trees for December 6 and 7. It opened with a Friday dinner and dancing to Sh'boom at Ashlawn Clubhouse, and on Saturday the trees were open to view for free from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In 2025, the Fluvanna Review reported the same pattern on December 5 and 6. That year dinner-dance tickets cost $65, and the event raised money for the Lake Monticello Community Foundation. Community of Lights ran the following weekend, December 11 through 14.
| Year | Festival of Trees at Ashlawn | Community of Lights at Pleasant Grove |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Dec. 5–6 | Dec. 11–14 |
| 2026 | Dinner Dance Dec. 11, Santa & Mrs. Claus Dec. 12 | Dec. 10–13 |
In past years the festival has been a fundraiser with a lot going on. The 2024 notice described about two dozen trees decorated by local businesses and groups, each raffled off with its decorations, gifts and prizes. Mrs. Claus read holiday stories on Saturday while visitors toured the trees. This year, all of that sits on the same weekend as the county's biggest outdoor holiday event.
Four Nights at Pleasant Grove, One Night at Ashlawn
Community of Lights is the fixed point of the weekend. The county's event page lists it Thursday through Sunday, December 10 to 13, from 5 to 9 p.m. each night at Pleasant Grove Park, 271 Pleasant Grove Drive in Palmyra. It's a free drive-through holiday-lights loop.
Here's how the weekend lines up:
- Thursday, December 10: Community of Lights opens at Pleasant Grove, 5 to 9 p.m.
- Friday, December 11: Community of Lights continues, and the Festival of Trees Dinner Dance takes place at Lake Monticello.
- Saturday, December 12: The day with the most going on. It's covered hour by hour below.
- Sunday, December 13: Last night of Community of Lights, 5 to 9 p.m.
Thursday and Sunday have the lights and nothing else on the calendar. That makes them the simplest nights for a drive through the loop, since nothing else is drawing traffic to the park those evenings.
Saturday, December 12, Hour by Hour
Saturday has five listed events at two locations. Ashlawn Clubhouse at Lake Monticello and Pleasant Grove Park in Palmyra each run their own program, and the times hand off from one to the other through the day.
- 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Ashlawn: The Five-Oh! Club Holiday Market, according to a vendor call in the Fluvanna Review's Oct. 29 to Nov. 4 issue. In 2025, the club's Holiday Arts & Crafts Market had 25 vendors selling handmade items, and most took cash, cards, Venmo and Zelle.
- Also at Ashlawn that day: Santa & Mrs. Claus, listed on LMOA's December calendar.
- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pleasant Grove: The Art in the Park Holiday Market, with local craft vendors, food trucks and a hayride through the Community of Lights grounds.
- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pleasant Grove: The Fluvanna Historical Society opens its Farm Heritage Museum during the market. Entry is free and donations are welcome. Expect children's activities and history-themed gifts for sale, according to the society's events page.
- 5 to 9 p.m., Pleasant Grove: Community of Lights switches on for its third night.
The two markets overlap from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The Pleasant Grove market ends an hour before the lights come on. So you can do the Ashlawn market in the morning, Pleasant Grove at midday and the drive-through after dark, all in one Saturday. Last year the Festival of Trees and the lights were a week apart.
Lake Monticello's own events follow LMOA's guest rules. For the Nov. 7 Beach Bonfire, for example, LMOA asked residents to register guests with the Main Gate ahead of time. If you're bringing friends from outside the community to Ashlawn on the 12th, check with LMOA about the guest process for that day.
The Light Displays Come From Local Volunteers
The county's registration page invites businesses, organizations, groups, clubs, scout troops, churches and families to set up family-friendly displays. Each space is about 15 by 15 feet, and the county supplies the electricity. Registration was free in 2025. This year it closes December 6, and the program allows up to 30 displays.
This year's timing helps groups thinking about a display. A business that decorates a Festival of Trees entry at Ashlawn can also put up a display at Pleasant Grove on the same weekend, and both will be seen by the same holiday crowd. The same applies to vendors. Art in the Park takes applications at [email protected], and the Five-Oh! Club takes vendor inquiries at [email protected]. The club's late-October notice said five vendor spots were left.
The Weeks Before December 10
With the bigger events moved to the second weekend, the first weekend of December now has a smaller lineup. LMOA lists the Young Residents & Families Ugly Sweater & Karaoke Party on Saturday, December 5, the date that would have belonged to the Festival of Trees in 2025.
There are also some dates on the November calendar between now and then:
- Saturday, November 14, 2 to 4 p.m.: Old Stone Jail Museum Days, run by the Fluvanna Historical Society. It's free, with tours, children's activities, refreshments and gifts for sale.
- Through Wednesday, November 18: The All-You-Care-To-Eat Buffet at Lakeside Restaurant in Ashlawn Clubhouse, Sunday through Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. The themes are Chicken Sundays, Italian Mondays, International Tuesdays and Seafood & Fish Fry Wednesdays. LMOA says the buffet won't be open in December.
- Friday, November 20: South Canal Street plays the Ashlawn Clubhouse Lake Room at 6 p.m. A $19.95 soup, salad and baked potato bar starts at 5. The cover is $10 with dinner or $15 for the band only.
- Wednesday, November 25, noon to 4 p.m.: Pickup for Bunker Bistro's Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner To-Go. Orders go to [email protected].
Bunker Bistro's Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., continues on its weekly schedule. With the Lakeside buffet closed in December, the Bistro's brunch and its regular weekday specials are the clubhouse dining options during the run-up to the holiday weekend.
We plan to spend December 12 going back and forth between Ashlawn and Pleasant Grove. If a lake or Fluvanna home is part of your plans for 2027, we're glad to talk it over before the holidays or after. Sunset Properties at Lake Anna is happy to help. Schedule a Free Consultation whenever you're ready.
