A Christmas of Many Colors

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

The Jack Daniel's Barrel Tree will light up Lynchburg on Saturday evening, Dec. 5, and this year, the hometown holiday tradition could have a national honor to celebrate. The towering display is nominated for USA TODAY's Best Holiday Tree Display, giving Moore County a chance to earn some Christmas bragging rights.

Lynchburg's annual Christmas parade returns that afternoon with the Dolly-inspired theme "A Christmas of Many Colors," bringing floats, decorated vehicles, horses, ATVs, and, for the first time, tractors through town before the evening's Barrel Tree lighting.

The parade begins at 4:30 p.m., traveling from the new park on Main Street to Wiseman Park. Participants should arrive for lineup at 3 p.m., with judging at 3:30 p.m.

A Lynchburg original goes national

What started with 140 whiskey barrels in Lynchburg in 2011 has grown into a holiday tradition stretching across the country. Now the hometown Barrel Tree is competing for national recognition of its own.

The first display stood 26 feet tall. By 2024, the Lynchburg tree had grown to nine tiers, 30 feet, and 220 barrels, making it the largest Jack Daniel's had constructed at the time.

As the Observer reported in 2024, building the display requires engineering plans, safety reviews, and a crew that knows how to stack 220 whiskey barrels without sending them rolling into Mulberry Creek.

Jack Daniel's began taking the tradition beyond Lynchburg in 2015, eventually building Barrel Trees in cities from New York to San Francisco. The tradition has traveled the country, but Lynchburg is where it took root.

This year, USA TODAY's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards have nominated the Lynchburg display among the nation's best holiday trees. Voting remains open through Monday, Nov. 30, with the top 10 announced Thursday, Dec. 3. Supporters can vote once daily.

• Vote for Lynchburg's Barrel Tree

The annual lighting has also been connected to Operation Ride Home, the Jack Daniel's program that helps junior-enlisted military personnel and their families travel home for the holidays.

Five categories, plenty of Christmas color

While the Barrel Tree draws national attention, Lynchburg's Christmas parade gives local families, businesses, churches, and community organizations a chance to put their own creativity on display.

Expect Christmas lights wrapped around Jeeps, decorated floats winding through town, horses dressed for the occasion, and perhaps a tractor or two looking more festive than anything headed to the hayfield.

Organizers have added tractors as a new competition category, joining floats, cars and Jeeps, horses, and ATVs. Cash prizes will be awarded in all five divisions.

Anyone interested in participating or seeking more information can contact Brenda Hannah at 931-212-5267 or Amy Kimbrough at 931-224-6782.

Parade first, Barrel Tree after dark

Once the parade finishes its trip through Lynchburg, the celebration shifts to the Jack Daniel Distillery for the annual Barrel Tree lighting.

For families who have watched the tradition grow, the scene is familiar: neighbors gathering near the Visitor Center, children waiting for the lights, and hundreds of whiskey barrels transformed into one of Lynchburg's most recognizable Christmas landmarks.

By the time the parade rolls through Lynchburg, Moore County will know whether its Barrel Tree ranks among America's best. A national honor would be nice, but the lights will come on regardless. After all, Lynchburg was celebrating Christmas with whiskey barrels long before the rest of the country caught on.