Smyrna's Holiday Season Fits in Six Days. StillFire and Old South Bar-B-Q Hold the Weeks Around It.

The gravel lot at 601 Burbank Circle SE sits a few blocks off South Cobb Drive. At the barbecue counter at the end of it, the order to know is a chopped pork sandwich and a cup of Brunswick stew, with sauce you can buy by the bottle. Old South Bar-B-Q has served Smyrna since 1968, and it is still open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Across town, a two-story, 25,000-square-foot brewery is heading into its first holiday season. Apart from a Veterans Day ceremony in November, Smyrna's own holiday events all happen in six days, December 1 through 6. Most of what fills the other weeks of November and December depends on StillFire Brewing's event calendar and on the hours of a restaurant that has never changed its schedule for the season.

The city's season runs December 1 through 6

The City of Smyrna's calendar for the rest of the year is short and centered downtown. Only the Veterans Day ceremony falls outside the first week of December:

• Veterans Day Ceremony, Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. The city's November calendar does not list a venue.
• Home for the Holidays, Tuesday, Dec. 1, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Market Village. School choirs perform around the village, Santa lights the tree and stays for photos, and the Kris Kringle Market sells gifts and treats.
• Smyrna Holiday Market, at Brawner Hall and the Reed House, 3180 Atlanta Road, on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The city calls Home for the Holidays its annual kickoff to the season. On the calendar, it also serves as the main event. Once the Holiday Market closes on Sunday afternoon, December 6, the city has nothing else listed for the holidays. That leaves the four weekends before the tree lighting and the three after the Reed House market.

StillFire's first winter covers the other weeks

StillFire Brewing opened its Smyrna taproom at 2725 King St. SE on March 13, 2026. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a big crowd for the opening. The project had been coming for a while. Smyrna Local reported that construction started in February 2025, was slowed by inflation and rising costs, and was planned for a downtown site near the Smyrna Community Center.

Line up its posted holiday events with the city's dates and the weeks fill in:

Two dates stand out. StillFire's Santa photo session on November 20 comes 11 days before Santa lights the city's tree at Market Village. That gives families an earlier, shorter option before the busy Tuesday night. And the Turkey Eve Party on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving fills the night many people spend home from college or in town for the holiday, a night the city calendar leaves empty.

Regular weekly nights continue alongside the holiday events: team trivia on Wednesdays and Soundcheck Music Bingo on Thursdays.

The building is designed for cold-weather visits

The taproom's layout makes a December visit practical. StillFire's Smyrna page lists several patios, the Jonquil Beer Garden, a private event space and a rooftop SkyDeck with skyline views. The 78 taps pour craft beer, cocktails, wine and non-alcoholic options, and the brewery describes the space as family- and dog-friendly. With that much indoor room plus a rooftop, one place can host a holiday party, a stroller crowd on a Saturday afternoon and the Wednesday trivia regulars.

The posted taproom hours run from 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 3 to 11 p.m. Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Beto's Tacos is the on-site food vendor. Its kitchen opens at 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday and 11:30 a.m. on weekends, and rotating food trucks are scheduled through November 22. The early renderings promised an on-site pizza kitchen. The current food schedule is tacos.

Those weekday hours matter for the city's biggest night. Home for the Holidays falls on a Tuesday, when the taproom opens at 3 p.m., two hours before the choirs begin at Market Village.

Old South keeps the same four days

StillFire built its season around special events. Old South Bar-B-Q works the other way and keeps the same hours all year. Its posted schedule is Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The only scheduled closures are Easter Sunday, Christmas and a summer vacation break in July.

On this year's calendar, that has some consequences. The Tuesday tree lighting falls on a day Old South's posted hours don't cover. Saturday, December 5, the opening day of the Holiday Market on Atlanta Road, is a regular Old South day. Christmas lands on a Friday this year, so the counter will be closed on a day it would normally be open.

The restaurant is also listed for sale. Smyrna Local reported in July that the restaurant and its standalone building had gone on the market as a package. The paper called it widely considered Smyrna's oldest restaurant, opened in 1968 and run by the same family ever since. The listing says the seller is retiring. No closing date or sale has been announced, and as the same Smyrna Local piece noted, a listing only means the owner is open to offers. For now, the restaurant's website still lists its regular hours and phone number.

Two newer names on Concord and Spring Roads

Two other spots fill out the season's food options, and they are in different stages.

Zoya Kitchen at 1061 Concord Road SE was announced for a May 2026 opening. It is now taking dinner reservations on Resy. That makes it a sit-down option for holiday dinners with visiting family, which neither a taproom nor a barbecue counter offers.

Kupcakerie is preparing a bakery-café at 2517 Spring Road SE, Suite 102. Smyrna Local reported that a late-August target had slipped and that no grand-opening date had been announced as of Sept. 1. On September 5, the Cobb County Courier reported a late-September target after more buildout, a date that has since passed. Holiday cupcake orders from the Spring Road shop depend on when it opens its doors.

Building a weekend around the city's six days

The city's events are fixed, so plans can work around them. For the week of December 1, here is one way to put the pieces together:

1. Tuesday, Dec. 1. Get to Market Village before 5 p.m. for the choirs and the tree lighting, and shop the Kris Kringle Market before it closes at 9. StillFire is open until 10 p.m. on Tuesdays if your group wants to keep going.
2. Wednesday, Dec. 2. Old South opens again at 11 a.m. A cup of Brunswick stew makes a good lunch the day after a cold night outdoors, and Wednesday trivia at StillFire starts once the taproom opens at 3.
3. Saturday, Dec. 5. The Holiday Market opens at 10 a.m. at Brawner Hall and the Reed House, Old South opens at 11, and StillFire opens at 11:30 with Beto's Tacos serving from the same hour.
4. Sunday, Dec. 6. The market's second day runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. That's the city's last listed holiday event. After that, the calendar shifts to StillFire's December lineup, starting with Dinner with Giants on Friday, December 11.

The Debbie Leonard Group follows calendars like this one across the neighborhoods we serve, because the timing of a tree lighting or a new taproom's event schedule is part of what a place is like to live in. If you're hosting family in Smyrna this season and want suggestions that fit around these dates, or you'd like a local perspective on what downtown's newest gathering places mean for the blocks around them, Debbie Leonard and our team would be glad to talk. Schedule Your Concierge Consultation.