The Highlands are getting ready to glow again. The 41st annual Bardstown Road Aglow returns to Louisville on Saturday, December 5, 2026, bringing holiday lights, live music, local shopping and dining specials to the neighborhood’s main strip — along with free transit and parking options for anyone looking to skip the car hassle entirely.
Louisville’s mass transit system, TARC, announced it will offer fare-free rides on Route 1 during the event, according to a TARC
post shared Wednesday. Route 1 runs between Douglass Loop and Broadway, giving attendees a car-free way to move up and down the corridor from 4 to 10 p.m. TARC’s post also touts free parking at Douglass Boulevard Christian Church for anyone who’d rather drive in and then hop on the bus from there.
There’s a bit of a scheduling wrinkle worth flagging before you head out the door. The official event website, bardstownroadaglow.org, lists Aglow running from noon until 10 p.m. on December 5, while TARC’s own promotion invites attendees to join “on Saturday, December 5, from 4–10 p.m.” The two sources don’t line up, so it may be worth double-checking directly with organizers before planning your arrival time.
Free Rides, Free Parking and Commemorative Tickets
To ride free, attendees can collect a commemorative TARC ticket at Douglass Boulevard Christian Church or at participating businesses along the route. Once in hand, those tickets let holders hop on and off Route 1 buses from 4 to 10 p.m., making it easy to bounce between shops, restaurants and the tree lighting without worrying about parking twice.
Businesses serving as ticket pick-up points include Purrfect Day Café, The Sweet Spot Candy Shoppe, Clay & Cotton, Carmichael’s Bookstore, Ditto’s Grill, Baes Baekery and PG&J’s Dog Park Bar, per the TARC announcement. The planned holiday bus route, according to the event’s official site, runs along Douglass Loop to Bardstown Road, then Baxter Avenue to Broadway — the same general corridor the event has used for years. Green District Salads is also listed among this year’s participating businesses.
Tree Lighting Caps Off the Evening
The Highland Commerce Guild, which organizes Bardstown Road Aglow, will hold its annual tree lighting at the corner of Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive. Festivities there are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m., with the lighting itself set for 6 p.m., according to gotolouisville.com. Free hot chocolate will be on hand during the tree-lighting activities, per the event’s own site.
A Highlands Tradition Since 1985
Bardstown Road Aglow has landed on the first Saturday in December every year since 1985, making this the 41st time the Highlands has rolled out its holiday welcome mat. Last year’s 40th annual event ran on December 6, 2025, from noon to 10 p.m. and offered free trolley rides along the same Douglass Loop-to-Baxter Avenue stretch, courtesy of Trolley de ’Ville, according to do502.com. This year, TARC’s Route 1 buses are taking on that same free-ride role.
Whether the gates open at noon or 4 p.m., the formula stays familiar: holiday lights strung along Bardstown Road, live music drawing crowds onto the sidewalks, and local shops and restaurants rolling out dining and shopping specials for the occasion. For Highlands regulars, it’s simply the neighborhood’s unofficial kickoff to the holiday season.
