Downtown Christmas Windows and Lights 2023: Old City

As we enjoyed the Christmas lights around the city this year, I was reminded at how much a group effort goes into making the city so festive each year. Businesses adorn their windows with lights, trees, and displays. The city does a great job lining trees on Summit, in Krutch Park, and in the south end of Market Square. They add wreaths and bows and candy cane lights through the Old City. Residents also play a part, either through decorating lobbies of buildings or simple displays in windows along the street. If you don’t look up, you’ll miss some of those.

We started this walk at the Visitor Center and the 300 building on the edge of uptown. Visit Knoxville filled its windows with cheer, while the view into the 300 building lobby yielded a beautiful start to our trek. The building also features decorations on the balconies overlooking the white lights lining the trees on Summit Hill. Every year I wish those lights would stay.

We both love the candy canes along Jackson and Central. The Old City has come so far in recent years with restaurants and shops opening on the regular and they make the streets look all the more lively. The 100 block of south Central is one of my favorites in the city.

As with the previous article, this doesn’t cover everything, but these are the photos that turned out the best. I expanded my favorite dozen, but there are more below and they are just a click away from being larger, so have fun. And come down if you can while the lovely lights still sparkle.