Gallatin's Square Has a Full Holiday Calendar and an Unsettled Question Next Door
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
On Friday, Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m., the Gallatin Rotary Club opens the Palace Theater at 146 North Water Avenue for a free family movie. That kicks off seven weeks of holiday programming downtown, and nearly every date is already printed. The plans for the two city-owned blocks beside the Square are in a different state. On those blocks, City Hall and Fire Hall #1 sit at the center of a proposal called Project Phoenix, and its next step depends on a single number: what a new City Hall would cost to build. When WKRN reported on the September council meeting, that number had not been made public.
Historic Downtown Gallatin posts its calendar months ahead, and the 2026 holiday stretch is filled in. These are the dates as printed on the downtown calendar, along with the Chamber's parade listing:
Three of these dates matter more than the rest.
The Nov. 14 show has a purpose. It is Music Amplifies' annual #AMPUP4KIDS Night. Nashville performers will cover Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn's solo hits and duets, and the evening is meant to help Music Amplifies provide Christmas assistance to local children. The organization says it served 1,391 children last year and expects to reach more this year. Music Amplifies is a 501(c)(3) working across Sumner, Robertson and northern Davidson counties, and tickets are sold through its ticketing page.
The parade follows a rule. The Gallatin Area Chamber of Commerce holds it on the second Saturday in December, just as it did in 2025. That put last year's parade on Dec. 13 and puts this year's on Saturday, Dec. 12.
The market comes early. The Christmas Market on Dec. 5 runs only four hours. The listing promises curated holiday shopping, hot chocolate, live carolers, and Santa photos from 10 to 11 a.m. If you have small children, aim for the first hour.
The Christmas tree lighting is missing from this list. The City's 2025 listing put last year's lighting on Dec. 5, so check the City's calendar for the 2026 date.
Look at who is behind each date. The Rotary Club runs the movie nights. A children's charity puts on the November show. Historic Downtown Gallatin produces the market and the Palace film series, and the Chamber organizes the parade. Volunteers and civic groups carry the whole season, and it all centers on a 1913 theater. When WKRN toured downtown in August, Amy Nixon, executive director of Historic Downtown Gallatin, described the Palace this way:
"I feel like the Palace Theater is really a staple of our downtown. It's sort of an anchor."
In the same WKRN piece, Bill Roth is credited with building the theater for his daughter, and it is called the oldest standing silent movie theater in Tennessee. After restoration, many of the original seats are still in place. Sumner County Museum Executive Director Ryan Baker told the station that the Square was once where residents went for "anything that you needed," whether entertainment or supplies.
This season was built on small, local organizations. The proposal for the blocks next door works at a much larger scale.
According to Sumner County Source's October report, the City is working with Boyle Investment Company to study the costs and feasibility of redeveloping the two city-owned blocks where City Hall now stands. The concept includes a new City Hall, a flagship hotel, residential units, open green space, and new retail, commercial and restaurant space. It is meant to match downtown's architectural scale and protect the historic character of the Square next to it. The City describes it as "not a done deal."
The project would also address needs that most visitors never see. It would cover capital improvements for City Hall and Fire Hall #1, plus a headquarters and training space for the Fire Department. The same report notes that today's City Hall handles administrative work and also offers affordable event space and a marquee that residents rent for private events.
The City has made a case for housing near the Square. The Sumner County Source article cites WKRN reporting that Mayor Paige Brown said she was "convinced that the creation of housing close to our square supports a thriving environment." The context is Gallatin's growth. The same article counts about 10,000 new residences in the city that are either under construction or planned.
Most conversations about Phoenix start with the City's large figures. An independent economic impact assessment, cited on the City's Project Phoenix page, projects $66.3 million a year in direct and indirect taxes and wages, nearly $40 million in new property tax revenue over 20 years, more than 400 permanent jobs, and over $260 million in private spending during construction. These are forecasts of what the project could generate. None of them is a construction budget.
The City has also said that renovating the current City Hall would cost nearly the same as building a new one. Its argument is that the costs match but the outcomes don't: only the new-build option comes with tax revenue, green space and foot traffic. That comparison was published without dollar amounts, which is why the missing figure matters so much. The case for Phoenix assumes the two options cost about the same, and the public hasn't seen either total.
The City's published timeline shows how the project got here:
WKRN reported what happened at that September meeting. Project leaders had just received the construction cost for the new City Hall, and the partners said they needed more time to prepare a financial plan. The Council postponed the memorandum for one month, pending a review of that cost. WKRN noted that the figure "has not yet been revealed."
The month has passed. Project Phoenix didn't appear in the listed business on the City Council agenda packets for Oct. 6 or Oct. 20. Upcoming meetings are posted on the City's agenda center.
WKRN also covered the public response. Residents have raised concerns about transparency on cost and about possible effects on downtown businesses, and a petition asking for more transparency gathered more than 100 signatures. Some residents want the project put to a public vote, which council members said is not an option. Vice Mayor Craig Hayes and Mayor Brown both told the station that the City has been open about everything it knows so far. Sumner County Source reports that Vice Mayor Hayes says no decision has been made and that work continues on costs, design concepts, viability, and the expected return on tax dollars.
These two schedules move at very different speeds. The Palace film series has a date for every Friday through Dec. 23, plus one Wednesday. The redevelopment beside it has a list of past meetings and no posted next step. If you come downtown for the parade on Dec. 12, you'll be standing next to blocks whose future depends on a cost figure that had not been made public as of WKRN's September report. If that figure comes out, it will show whether renovating and rebuilding really cost about the same, and that is the claim the whole proposal is built on.
The Rotary movie on Nov. 6 is free, the Conway and Loretta show on Nov. 14 supports Music Amplifies' Christmas assistance for children, and the market opens at 10 a.m. on Dec. 5.
If you own near downtown Gallatin and want to understand how a proposal like Project Phoenix could affect your plans over the next few years, Angela Peach can walk you through it as the City's process moves forward. Request a private consultation, and we'll keep track of the details for you.
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