The Fairgrounds Weekends That Will Shape Wedgewood-Houston's Holiday Season

On Friday, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway opens the 41st All American 400 weekend with three days of racing and championship events. Three weeks earlier, on Oct. 16, the Davidson County Election Commission certified a petition, the Nashville Banner reported, that would put the future of racing at the track before Nashville voters.

That's the political backdrop. For anyone living between Chestnut Street and Wedgewood Avenue, the more immediate news is the calendar. From now through New Year's Eve, the Fairgrounds campus has events booked on most weekends. Nashville SC finished first in the Eastern Conference for the first time in club history, so it has home-field advantage through the Eastern Conference Final. Every possible home playoff window lands on a weekend that already has something scheduled. How busy WeHo's weekends get through December now depends partly on how far the team goes.

Seven Stretches, One Campus

The table puts the campus events next to the GEODIS Park dates. Dates marked "if Nashville advances" are possible playoff windows, not scheduled matches.

The opening weekend is the most crowded weekend that doesn't involve soccer. The Speedway's schedule has a local-racing night on Friday, Nov. 6, qualifying and support races on Saturday, and the ASA STARS National Tour's All American 400 feature on Sunday, Nov. 8. The Middle Tennessee Tattoo Expo runs the same three days. Hours are 2 to 10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Markets for Makers adds a third crowd on Saturday and Sunday, open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

The next weekend starts on a Thursday. Christmas Village runs Nov. 12 to 15. It's open 4 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. That puts its opening night on a Thursday, one of the few events this season that brings traffic into WeHo on a weeknight.

Nov. 22 Is the One Collision Already Confirmed

Nashville SC will play the first match of its best-of-three Round One series at GEODIS Park on Sunday, Nov. 22. Its opponent will be the winner of the Eastern Conference Wild Card match on Wednesday, Nov. 18. As of the club's Oct. 22 announcement, kickoff time had not been set.

The Nashville Flea Market runs that same weekend, Nov. 20 to 22. It's open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Nashville Poke'Fest is on the campus the same three days, with separate public and VIP entry times each day. On Sunday, two crowds will overlap on one campus: flea market shoppers leaving by 4 p.m. and playoff fans arriving for a kickoff that hasn't been scheduled yet.

GEODIS Park hasn't posted closures for Nov. 22 yet. Its posted plan for the Nov. 1 regular-season finale shows the usual match-day pattern:

• Benton Avenue between Bransford Avenue and Coliseum Way closes six hours before kickoff.
• Benton Avenue between Bransford Avenue and Wedgewood closes three hours before kickoff.
• Access to Wedgewood Avenue from Rains Avenue closes three hours before kickoff.
• Wedgewood Avenue reopens at kickoff and stays open until the 75th minute.

That pattern starts at kickoff and works backward. Once the club sets the time, residents can work out when Benton Avenue closes on Nov. 22. A 3 p.m. kickoff, for example, would close the Benton Avenue stretch to Coliseum Way at 9 a.m., while the flea market is open.

December Depends on the Bracket

After Round One, which runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 2, every possible home match lines up with a weekend the Fairgrounds has already booked.

1. Dec. 5 or 6. The Conference Semifinals would share the weekend with Champion Force Cheer, which the Fairgrounds calendar lists for Dec. 5 and 6.
2. Dec. 11 or 12. The Conference Final would line up with Porter Flea. It runs 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. Either possible match date overlaps one day of the market.
3. Dec. 18. MLS Cup is on a Friday, the same day the December Nashville Flea Market opens. The final goes to the highest remaining seed from either conference, so a first-place finish in the East does not guarantee Nashville would host. The Highlands Christmas Market follows on Dec. 19 and 20, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

If Nashville goes out early, December looks like a normal holiday month on the campus, with markets, a cheer competition and a flea market. A long run would add a stadium crowd to each of those weekends. The season ends with BLNK CNVS Presents: To the Future 2026, open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.

The Ballot Question Behind Race Weekend

The Nov. 6–8 race weekend is the only event on the calendar tied to the 2027 vote. In 2011, about 71 percent of voters approved a Metro Charter amendment that protected the Fairgrounds' existing uses, auto racing included. The Nashville Banner has reported that history. According to NewsChannel 5, the new petition seeks to replace "racing" as a charter-protected use of the Fairgrounds.

The petition needed 40,194 signatures. The Election Commission validated 47,679, according to The Tennessean. The paper reported that the referendum is set to go to voters on Aug. 5, the same day as the mayor, council and sheriff races. The vote isn't final yet. The Decline to Sign campaign asked Davidson County Chancery Court to require a formal process for removing signatures from people who later withdrew their consent. A hearing before Chancellor Anne Martin was scheduled for Oct. 27.

Both sides have staked a claim to the rest of the campus. Petition supporters told the Banner that the measure keeps the flea market, the expo events and soccer in place. Racetrack supporters see the speedway as part of Nashville's history and culture. Mayor Freddie O'Connell said he was "not convinced that the language is something we should add to the charter" and would wait to see whether the question reaches the ballot. The Speedway's own announcement for the Nov. 6–8 weekend focuses on the championship races.

The rest of the calendar runs as planned no matter how the vote goes. The flea market, the expos and the playoff dates make up most of the next eight weeks.

Getting Around on the Busy Weekends

GEODIS Park says event parking goes on sale about 10 days before each event and asks visitors to buy a pass before event day. Its designated rideshare pickup and drop-off spot is on Craighead Street. For the Nov. 22 opener, passes should go on sale around Nov. 12, the same day Christmas Village opens. Closures are posted on the GEODIS Park road closures page, and Nashville SC's playoff page will confirm which December dates become actual matches. The Fairgrounds event calendar lists the shows on the campus side.

If you own a home on Benton, Wedgewood or the streets around them and want to know how the event calendar affects your property's value or rental potential, Beth Dodd can walk you through it. Request a Free Valuation & Consultation, and we'll go over your property with this season's Fairgrounds schedule in mind.