November Events 2025: What’s happening in Raleigh this month?

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Just when you thought things would begin quietening down in Raleigh after the busy September/October Fall months closing out the warm weather, November arrives and begins the Holiday Season!

I am both excited and overwhelmed by all the fun events happening this month in Raleigh, most with some kind of Christmas or Holiday season vibe. There are many concerts and theater productions with a Christmas theme, big sporting matches on (a few college rival clashes) and a marathon!

Family of four in front of a Christmas tree in Raleigh, North Carolina
Downtown Raleigh tree lighting

We do have a separate post on Christmas and Holiday events in Raleigh which we will be updating over the next couple of days.

If you have an event you want to submit? Check our submission guidelines and options here. 

Table Of Contents
  1. WEEK 1: November 1 – 2, 2025
  2. Week 2: November 3 – 9 2025
  3. Week 3: November 10 – 16, 2025
  4. Week 4: November 17 – 23, 2025
  5. Week 5: November 24 – 30, 2025 (Thanksgiving week)
  6. Hotels in Downtown Raleigh

WEEK 1: November 1 – 2, 2025

Witch, Nov 1 & 2, & 6 – 9, 2025

  • Where: Raleigh Little Theatre
  • Time: 8pm Sat; 3pm Sun
  • Cost: $33+
  • Tickets

A charming devil arrives in the quiet village of Edmonton to bargain for the souls of its residents in exchange for their darkest wishes. n inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama, this sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by.

Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon, Nov 2, 2025

  • Where: Downtown Raleigh
  • Time: 7am
  • Cost: $60+
  • Website 

Tour the City of Oaks on foot and enjoy a post-race party equipped with live music, free beer, and much more! You can run full or half marathon or a 10K or 5K.

The race takes runners on an out-and-back loop course through the city, starting near the northern edge of the North Carolina State University campus, along Hillsborough Street. Those running the full continue north along the trail that parallels I-440, while those running the 13.1-mile race make a turn toward the south. Good luck! I’ll join you in the next life!

Taste of China, Nov 2, 2025

  • Where: Downtown Cary Park
  • Time: 11am – 5pm
  • Cost: Free
  • Website 

The 5th Annual Taste of China – Chinese Food and Culture Festival us an opportunity to experience the best of Chinese culinary delights, traditional performances, and cultural exhibits.

Whether you’re a food enthusiast, culture aficionado, or just looking for a fun day out with family and friends, there’s something for everyone to enjoy!

ACC Women’s Soccer Championship Finals, Nov 2 & 5, 2025

Soccer fans watching a game
  • Where: WakeMed Soccer Park
  • Time: 5:30pm Semi-finals (Nov 2) and 8pm Championship game (Nov 5)
  • Cost: $10 semifinals | $15 finals
  • Website:

Celebrate women’s college soccer with the ACC soccer championship finals played at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary! Let’s hope we have a local college team in it. We normally do! See our complete guide to the WakeMed Soccer Park.

Sports & Concerts this week

Week 2: November 3 – 9 2025

First Friday, Nov 7, 2025

woman taking photo of raleigh times first friday markets
Raleigh Times markets
  • Where: Various locations downtown
  • Time: 5pm onwards
  • Cost: Free.
  • Website

Support Raleigh’s great artisan community on the First Friday of every month. Art galleries and studios are open late with rotating exhibits and artist talks. We love wandering around the Artspace studios in the City Market area. Read our guide to First Friday in Raleigh.

Moonlight in the Garden, Nov 7-8, 14-1, 21-22! 2025

Young girl getting a photo in front of garden lights.
Moonlight in the Garden
  • Where: JC Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University
  • Time: 5:30-9:30 p.m.
  • Dates: Nov 7-8, 14-15 and 21-22!
  • Cost: Members, $20; Nonmembers, $30; Children, $5 (in advance) $40 at door
  • Tickets: – they sell out fast!

What better way to see one of Raleigh’s best gardens than illuminated at night with magical art and light installations. With this event you can stroll through illuminated gardens, listen to a live band, grab a bite to eat from a food truck, roast a marshmallow or two at the fire pits, and sip a cup of hot apple cider.

Moonlight in the Garden helps us raise the funds necessary to keep our gates open and our admission free 365 days a year. This is your only chance to see the garden at night. 

Video JC Raulston Arboretum

See how beautiful these Raleigh gardens are on a normal day! Read our guide to the JC Raulston Arboretum

Skate the Square Fenton, Nov 7 – Feb 8, 2026

woman and daughter on ice skating rink with christmas tree behind
Fenton Skate the Square
  • Where: Fenton
  • Time: 12pm – 12am
  • Cost: $18 includes rental or a season pass for $90
  • Website Check for deals and special events

We love Skate the Square at Fenton. It has a truly magical Christmas feel about it, similar to how Christmas in New York feels. Our tip is to go early to beat the crowds, and right at dusk so you can enjoy a day and night skate. Make it extra magical, by reserving your photos with Santa in his igloo! Cheapskate Day is every Monday – $15.00.

BBQ Blues & Brews Festival, Nov 8, 2025

  • Where: Fuquay-Varina
  • Time: noon-4pm
  • Cost: Free
  • Website

Sample and judge BBQ from the region’s top pitmasters, enjoy live blues music, and sip on locally brewed craft beverages. You’ll also have the chance to explore local businesses, meet talented artisans at our vendor’s market, and connect with community groups. This family-friendly event has something for everyone.

Person Street Plaza Block Party, Nov 8, 2025

  • Where: Person St Plaza
  • Time: 11am-4pm
  • Cost: Free
  • Website

Enjoy his street party at one of our favorite districts – North Person St. There’ll be pop up markets, arts and crafts, live music, live tours of Raleigh City Farm, and food from local establishments

Sports & Concerts this week

Week 3: November 10 – 16, 2025

ACC Men’s Soccer Championship Finals, Nov 13 & 16, 2025

Soccer fans watching a game of soccer
WakeMed Soccer
  • Where: WakeMed Soccer Park
  • Time: 5:30pm Semi-finals (Nov 13) and 8pm Championship game (Nov 16)
  • Cost: $10 semifinals | $15 finals
  • Website:

We celebrated the women’s finals, now time to support the Men’s soccer championship with the finals played at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary! Let’s hope we have a local college team in it.

Celebrate NC Artists + Art at Art Bash, Nov 15, 2025

  • Where: Artspace, City Market
  • Time: 6-11pm
  • Cost: $175
  • Tickets

To celebrate the breadth of art and artists in North Carolina. Artspace is hosting their inaugural Art Bash. Art Bash 2025 includes gallery exhibitions, private and live collecting opportunities, art experiences, and gourmet bites, and a curated live art bid. Dress is colorful creative cocktail! Ticket price includes all of the above, including beverages and proceeds support Artspace’s programming and artists!

Magic and Mischief Festival, Nov 15, 2025

girl and witch holding wands up to window Universal Orlando
Getting our Witch on at Universal Orlando Resort
  • Where: Fred Fletcher Park
  • Time: 10am-3pm
  • Cost: Free
  • Website: 

Shop for tasty treats while you explore a wizard’s alley for magical wands and other trinkets from whimsical vendors. Encounter fantastic beasts and practice charms with professors from a famous wizarding academy. Wear your house colors to show your pride and view family-friendly stage performances. Solemnly swear that you’re up to no good and join the fun! 

North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival, Nov 15, 2025 -Jan 11, 2026

mother and children walking through tunnel of illuminated chinese lanterns
Chinese Lanternn Festival 2023
  • Where: Koka Booth Amphitheatre
  • Time: Mon.-Sun., 6-10pm; performances: 7pm, 8pm and 9pm, nightly
  • Cost: Start at $16.74
  • Website: BoothAmpitheatre.com

The Chinese Lantern Festival has exploded in popularity over recent years. Plan well and buy your tickets in advance. The festival has hundreds of larger-than-life lanterns on display creating an incredible, colorful adventure for you to walk through during the holiday season. This year they are celebrating a decade of dazzling displays.

More than 15,000 LED lights make up 40 distinct displays, including a 200-foot-long, 21-foot-tall mythical creature that sits on Symphony Lake. We finally attended last year and were very impressed. It’s a unique Raleigh festival worth attending at least once! Read our guide to the festival, and our guide to Koka Booth.

Sports & Concerts this week

Week 4: November 17 – 23, 2025

A Christmas Carol Cocktail Experience, Nov 19 – 22, 2025

  • Where: Burning Coal Theatre Company
  • Time: Various (pm)
  • Cost: $55
  • Tickets

This reimagined performance transports you to the heart of Victorian London, following Ebenezer Scrooge on his spirited encounters. Along the way, savor four holiday-inspired cocktails, each thoughtfully paired with the evening’s chilling moments. Bah, Humbug! Don’t miss this limited run of a captivating, spirited adventure through a timeless classic. 

Downtown Raleigh Tree Lighting Celebration, Nov 21, 2025

Family of four getting a photo taken in front of a Christmas tree.
The Tree in front of the Performing Arts Center.
  • Where: Moore Square
  • Time: 5:30-8pm
  • Cost: Free
  • Website

A great way to kick-off the holiday season is the 17th Annual Tree Lighting and Holiday Market—this year, in a new location at historic Moore Square!

The tree will be surrounded by a holiday market and a stage with live performances. You can do some Christmas shopping, have photos with Santa, and dance to a few Christmas tunes. 

Check your local municipality for their annual tree lighting celebration as well. North Hills and Cary have popular ones (you can of course visit them all). We share more in our holidays in Releigh post.

81st Annual Raleigh Christmas Parade, Nov 22, 2025

A Christmas parade in a city street with a giant floating bear dressed in red and green.
Downtown Raleigh
  • Where: Hillsborough to Fayetteville St, downtown
  • Time: 9:30am
  • Cost: Free
  • Website: GRMA.org

We were quite impressed with Raleigh’s Christmas Parade, the largest Christmas Parade between Washington, DC and Atlanta. It has been a much-loved community event since it began in 1939.

It’s incredible to see the extent people go to present their businesses or creative ideas on dozens of floats that include marching bands, twirlers, elaborately costumed Mexican dancers, cowboys and cowgirls riding through, and of course, Mr. and Mrs. Claus. 

The parade covers 1.4 miles beginning at Hillsborough Street at the intersection of St. Mary’s Street and ending at the bottom of Fayetteville St. 

People on a float waving during a Christmas parade.
Arrive early to get a good view.

If you live in one of the smaller Wake County communities, check to see what your municipality is offering by way of Christmas parades. We know Cary and Apex both have a fun filled Christmas parade event. 

If you don’t want to deal with the cold and crowds (60,000+), you can watch from home starting at 9:30 AM by tuning in to channel 11, or online at ABC11.com. READ: Our complete Guide to the Raleigh Christmas Parade

Video of Raleigh Christmas Parade 2021

Holiday Shop & Stroll, Nov 22, 2025

flyer
  • Where: North Hills
  • Time: 12pm – 4pm
  • Website

Enjoy the sights and sounds of the holiday season while you shop for everyone on your list. Spend $150 and receive a FREE $25 North Hills Gift Card – one per person, while supplies last. Use our North Hills gift guide to help.

Once you’ve finished your shopping, stroll on over to the ….

Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Event, North Hills, Nov 23, 2025

People gathered around a Christmas tree.
North Hills
  • Where: Common Area of North Hills
  • Time: 4-7 p.m. | Santa 6 p.m.
  • Cost: FREE
  • Website:

Keep the Christmas North Hills celebration going as we kick off the Holiday Season at North Hills with their beloved tradition – the lighting of the 41-foot Christmas Tree.

This year’s tree lighting event will feature a live Christmas band, kids’ crafts and activities, face painting, food trucks, a vendor village and live music. Combined with the above Holiday & Shop and the fun atmosphere on the streets and in the North Hills restaurants, I found this North Hills Christmas experience to be quite magical. Here’s our guide on how to enjoy Christmas in North Hills.

27th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration, Nov 22, 2025

  • Where: North Carolina Museum of Art
  • When: 11am-4pm
  • Cost: FREE
  • Website: 

Time to honor our Indigenous Peoples. This annual event has been held in honor of American Indian Heritage Month in North Carolina for over 25 years.

The festival includes multiple demonstrations, presentations, and performances highlight the traditional and contemporary artistic, scientific, historic, and cultural contributions of American Indians in North Carolina for over 14,000 years. This year the celebration will be held in the NC Museum of Art due to the temporary closure of the history museum.

Ice skating at THE RINK at Red Hat, Nov 22, 2025 – Jan 4 2026

woman posing in front of red hat ice skating rink
Red Hat Ice skating rink
  • Where: Red Hat Amphitheater
  • Time: Various days and times
  • Cost: $15 includes skate rental | $6 for non-skaters
  • Get your tickets here.

The Winter Wonderland returns to downtown Raleigh with The Rink, an annual holiday tradition in Raleigh. The rink is quite small, so time your session to beat the crowds.

It’s a lovely ambiance with the Christmas music and chill out areas surrounding the rink with comfy chairs, fire pits, a 20ft Christmas tree, Decoration stations for a holiday photo opt, including a 6ft lighted bulb display, giant jenga and cornhole games and snacks and beverages. There are themed nights, special events, and igloos for rent!

Read our guide to the Rink in Downtown Cary for this year.

Lindsey Stirling: The Snow White Waltz Tour, Nov 22, 2025

  • Where: DPAC
  • Time: 8pm
  • Cost: $96.60+
  • Tickets

Known for her extraordinary talents as an electronic violinist, dancer and performer, Lindsey’s spectacular live show tours with stunning frequency and continually sells out iconic venues around the globe.

Sports & Concerts this week

Week 5: November 24 – 30, 2025 (Thanksgiving week)

Eat Turkey. Drink Wine. Maybe some Beer. Watch Football. Spend time with loved ones. Is that all your focusing on during this Thanksgiving week? Are you brave enough to travel during what is the busiest travel week of the year – for flights anyway. Here are places to eat for Thanksgiving in Raleigh if you don’t want to cook!

Be sure to read our Holiday travel tips and you can see our lovely Thanksgiving getaway to Boone two years ago for some of your own ideas! Consider Western North Carolina for your holiday travel – we love Boone, Bryson City, and the Biltmore Estate for the Holidays!

Merry and Bright: An Enchanted Holiday Evening for Grownups, Nov 29, 2025

  • Where: Pullen Park
  • When: November 29th; 7pm – 10pm
  • Cost: $40
  • Website 

Stroll around the shimmering lake and take in the dazzling lights. Dance under the stars to live music from Sidecar Social Club on the event lawn. Ride the carousel (we’ve got a reindeer!). Take a lap on the holiday train. Play some reindeer games. Make and mail holiday postcards. Visit the North Pole and more! Beer, wine, and food will be available for purchase from the Pullen Café, along with local food trucks and breweries.

Great Raleigh Trolley Holiday Tours, Nov 29 – Dec 23, 2025

  • Where: Tap Yard, Mordecai
  • When: November 29th through December 23rd
  • Cost: It depends on the tour option, see below
  • Website (tickets on sale Nov 1 for newsletter subscribers/ Nov 4 general public)

Another hugely popular thing to do in Raleigh for Christmas is to enjoy a themed ride on the historical Great Raleigh Trolley. This year there are five Holiday tour options for all ages to satisfy your Christmas cheer.

Sporting Events & Concerts this Week

Stay Connected to Raleigh

We have a holiday bucket list with many more ideas for ways to enjoy the festive season in Raleigh. It’s available to all members of our email community. It’s free and I regularly share free checklists, guides, insider tips, personal stories, fun finds and the best events in Raleigh you don’t want to miss. Join below 👇

Hotels in Downtown Raleigh

Man and woman standing in front of a portrait of a man with a beard and the word Raleigh.
Casso Hotel

If you visit Raleigh from out of town for any November events, here are our recommendations for accommodation in Downtown Raleigh.

If you are visiting from out of town and have a few extra days, here are some guides to help you plan out your days exploring Raleigh:

What events in Raleigh do you have planned for November? Leave a comment if we’ve missed something you know of!

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Stay Connected to Raleigh

Join our free email community to receive free checklists, guides, insider tips, personal stories, fun finds, and the best events in Raleigh each week. We'll show you how to stay connected to Raleigh and love where you live! Join Below 👇

“Your weekly newsletter is a lifesaver for me. Yesterday we didn’t know what to do, I just check your list of events for the weekend, and we ended up in Cary at the Carolina Circus Festival. We had a great time so thanks a lot for all your good work 😊 we really appreciate you” Subscriber

2 thoughts on “November Events 2025: What’s happening in Raleigh this month?”

  1. Barb

    Two active seniors. Looking to start a new Thanksgiving tradition.
    Ideally we would like to find a place for our Thanksgiving meal within 2 hours drive of Raleigh. And would love a place with “atmosphere.”
    Any ideas?
    Thank you for all your hard work and all of the great ideas.
    Raleigh residents since 1987

    Reply

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