Spring Starts Here
Lynchburg’s 2026 events calendar is full, local, and unmistakably its own
10:00 a.m. April 2, 2026
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
Spring has a way of arriving all at once in Lynchburg.
It shows up in rows of handmade goods, in flats of plants and flowers waiting for a garden bed, and in the easy drift of families moving from booth to booth. It shows up in children streaked with color at the finish line, in the lift of a bidder’s hand, in a rubber duck floating toward the end of a race, in the sound of live music drifting across the crowd, and in the smell of chili rising from a first-year cookoff that already feels like it belongs.
That is Spring in the Hollow, set for Saturday, April 25 – a day built the way Lynchburg tends to build its best Saturdays, with something going on in every direction.
This year’s event will feature local crafters, a plant sale, live music, and a birdhouse auction, along with LES PTO’s Vibin’ in the Hollow 5K and 1-mile color run sponsored by Lake Life Nutrition, the MHS Band silent auction, a Lucky Duck race, and the inaugural Chili Cook Off.
If one day on Lynchburg’s calendar puts spring into motion, it is this one.
It is part festival, part fundraiser, and fully Lynchburg. One corner belongs to shoppers browsing handmade goods and spring plants. Another belongs to runners crossing the line in a burst of color and laughter. Nearby, someone is eyeing a birdhouse up for auction. Someone else is keeping an eye on a pot of chili. Live music is carried across the Square. A child is waiting to see whose duck reaches the finish first.
On paper, it is a schedule. In practice, it is Lynchburg showing up. Schools are in it. Students are in it. Local makers are in it. So are runners, musicians, bidders, cooks, and families glad to be outside again now that winter has finally backed off.
One More Good Cause
This year, the day also makes room for another local effort.
From April 1 through April 30, Friends of Animals is holding a shoe drive, with every donated pair helping support animals here at home. For anyone with gently used or new shoes they no longer need, the message is simple: Do not throw them away – donate them.
Each pair helps support dogs and cats still waiting for care, comfort, and forever homes.
Pairs should be tied or rubber-banded together and dropped off at FOA, Woodards Market & Deli, First Community Bank, Jack Daniel’s Credit Union, Lynchburg Veterinary Hospital, Harley-Davidson on the Square, IBIS, and Oak Barrel check-in on Saturday.
It fits the day because that is how Lynchburg works: When a crowd gathers, somebody usually finds a way to turn it into help.
A Calendar That Keeps Moving
And in Lynchburg, Spring in the Hollow does not stand alone.
The spring run begins with the Oak Barrel Half Marathon on Saturday, when runners once again will take on Moore County’s hills and finish in one of Tennessee’s most distinctive race settings.
The night before Spring in the Hollow, the Wyooter Hunt on Friday, April 24, adds another familiar tradition to the calendar’s opening stretch.
From there, Lynchburg barely lets the calendar breathe.
On Saturday, May 2, Lynchburg will host Fire Brigade & First Responder Appreciation Day, honoring the people the town counts on when the worst part of somebody else’s day arrives. In Moore County, that kind of gratitude usually comes with names and faces attached.
June brings two weekends that put families, fundraising, and the Square back to work. Touch-A-Truck & Cruise ’N the Park is set for Saturday, June 6, in Wiseman Park, offering the kind of hands-on attraction that sends children straight toward the biggest tires, loudest engines, and brightest chrome in sight. A week later, on Saturday, June 13, United Way of South Central TN – United In Spirits adds a charitable note to the season.
Then comes one of Lynchburg’s signature summer weekends: Frontier Days & Steak Cookoff on Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27. It is a Lynchburg kind of weekend – smoke in the air, a crowd on the square, and a town that knows exactly how to wear both.
Through Summer, Into Fall
By late summer, the calendar shifts again. The 2nd Annual Poker Run & Bike Night on Saturday, Aug. 22, brings another jolt of energy before September turns solemn, service-minded, and full.
September carries more weight than usual in 2026.
The 9/11 25th Anniversary Memorial Concert on Friday, Sept. 11, anchors a stretch that also includes Bike To Jack & Back from Friday, Sept. 11, through Sunday, Sept. 13, the Tunnel To Towers 5K on Saturday, Sept. 12, and the Walk To End Alzheimer’s on Saturday, Sept. 19. Together, those events make that September stretch heavier – part memorial, part fundraiser, part test of endurance.
By October, the calendar is running at full tilt.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, Lynchburg hosts Whiskey Runners’ Cruisin’ the Hollow, followed the next weekend by The Jack BBQ on Friday, Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 10 – one of the town’s marquee events and one of the clearest reminders that Lynchburg knows how to turn smoke, music, and foot traffic into a destination weekend. Then, on Saturday, Oct. 31, Halloween in the Hollow gives the season its last hometown turn.
The year closes the way Lynchburg closes many things best – with tradition, ceremony, and a little warmth against the cold. Christmas in Lynchburg & Barrel Tree Lighting is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5, followed by Wreaths Across America and the Angel Tree distribution on Saturday, Dec. 19.
More Than a List of Dates
The calendar makes the point plainly enough. Lynchburg does not stake its year on one oversized weekend. It builds momentum the older way – one fundraiser, one footrace, one cookoff, one memorial, one square-full of people at a time.
Still, Spring in the Hollow feels like the right place to begin.
The crafters matter. The plant sale matters. So does the live music. The birdhouse auction matters. The PTO race matters. The band fundraiser matters. So do the duck race and the shoe drive. Even the first chili cookoff matters, because in a town like this, a new contest is not just one more item on the calendar. It is proof that the calendar still has room to grow.
That is the year ahead in Lynchburg: not a stack of dates, but a running record of how a town keeps itself stitched together – through races, fundraisers, cook-offs, memorials, music, smoke, lights, and one more Saturday after another.
Spring in the Hollow is where the year first sounds like itself.
Mark Your calendar
April
• April 1-30 – FOA Shoe Drive
• Saturday, April 4 – Oak Barrel Half Marathon
• Saturday, April 25 – Spring in the Hollow
May
• Saturday, May 2 – Fire Brigade & First Responder Appreciation Day
June
• Saturday, June 6 – Touch-A-Truck and Cruise ’N the Park
• Saturday, June 13 – United Way of South Central TN – United In Spirits
• Friday-Saturday, June 26-27 – Frontier Days and Steak Cookoff
August
• Saturday, Aug. 22 – 2nd Annual Poker Run and Bike Night
September
• Friday-Sunday, Sept. 11-13 – Bike To Jack and Back
• Friday, Sept. 11 – 9/11 25th Anniversary Memorial Concert
• Saturday, Sept. 12 – Tunnel to Towers 5K
• Saturday, Sept. 12 – Walk To End Alzheimer’s
October
• Saturday, Oct. 3 – Whiskey Runners’ Cruisin’ the Hollow
• Friday-Saturday, Oct. 10-11 – The Jack BBQ
• Saturday, Oct. 31 – Halloween in the Hollow
December
• Saturday, Dec. 5 – Christmas in Lynchburg & Barrel Tree Lighting
• Saturday, Dec. 19 – Wreaths Across America and the Angel Tree distribution
