Downtown McKinney's Holiday Season Is Working Around Its Own Courthouse This Year

This year, the old Collin County Courthouse in the middle of the McKinney square is the one landmark that won't be ready for the holidays. The city now estimates the renovation will be done in mid-to-late December. That means Home for the Holidays happens around a closed building, and the 20th annual A Christmas Carol plays at a church on Central Expressway.

A spring target that slipped by about a month caused that split. It also explains why the 2026 calendar looks the way it does, starting with the busiest Saturday of the season.

A Mid-November Finish Became Mid-to-Late December

The building has been closed since early February. Community Impact reported that the last public performance was Jan. 17 and the McKinney Performing Arts Center shut its doors Feb. 1. Fort Worth-based Byrne Construction is running the work, and Architexas did the engineering and design. Both firms also worked on the 2000s renovation that turned the courthouse into a performing arts center.

The schedule has changed in public:

1. February 2026. City Council approved $9.2 million for the project, which Community Impact describes as a $10 million renovation overall.
2. Feb. 2, 2026. Construction started, according to the City of McKinney's project page. Community Impact's timeline gives the date as Feb. 4.
3. April 28. At a city meeting, the project was described as on track to finish by mid-November, and the goal was to stage A Christmas Carol back in the theater in December.
4. Aug. 27. Cultural District Director Andrew Jones updated the McKinney Community Development Corporation board. He said substantial completion is now estimated for mid-to-late December.

Those few weeks are the whole story. A mid-November finish would have reopened the building before the tree lighting. A late-December finish puts it after nearly everything on the holiday calendar.

At that August meeting Jones also shared the building's new name. "We are reopening as the Courthouse Theater," he told the board, as recorded in the city's meeting video. His slides covered restoration of the clock and the stained-glass panels behind it, plaster repair throughout, and a theater floor leveled so the back rows have one accessible path in place of four thresholds. The old judge's bench is being rebuilt as a bar. The courtroom railing is becoming the front edge of a permanent stage.

Home for the Holidays, With the Building Fenced

The city has said annual downtown events will go on as scheduled during construction. Public access to the building and its restrooms is restricted, and parking on Tennessee Street is affected. Home for the Holidays runs Nov. 27 through 29 at 111 N. Tennessee St., right next to the job site.

• Hours. Friday and Saturday run 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday runs noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Only some rides and attractions charge.
• Tree lighting. Friday at 6:15 p.m.
• Parking. With Tennessee Street parking already cut back by construction, the free shuttle matters more this year. It leaves from First McKinney Baptist Church, 1615 W. Louisiana St., about every 15 minutes, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It does not run Sunday.
• Restrooms. The courthouse restrooms are off-limits. Earlier this year the city put temporary restrooms on South Kentucky Street, one block from the square. At the August meeting Jones said the city had added more public restrooms around the area for other festivals held during the closure.
• Drinks. Downtown is part of the Cultural District. A drink bought from a licensed downtown business or an authorized festival vendor can go with you as you walk. That doesn't apply in city-owned garages or posted areas.

Saturday, Nov. 28, is also Small Business Saturday. McKinney Main Street counts more than 180 locally owned shops and restaurants downtown. A few are new since last year's festival. Grace+Emma opened Sept. 1 at 101 E. Louisiana St., Suite 100, selling women's apparel and accessories. A few blocks east, Cafe LaFaye opened this summer inside the McKinney Flour Mill at 407 E. Louisiana St., serving coffee, tea and beignets, Community Impact reported.

The full vendor list and the 2026 festival map, with stages and shuttle stops marked, will be posted closer to the weekend.

Where the Courtroom's Programming Went

McKinney Repertory Theatre has a deep claim on that courtroom. Executive Director Davina Gazo Stampfel told Community Impact that MRT was the first group to perform there in 2006, opening with To Kill a Mockingbird. This December, for the first time in its 20-year run, MRT's A Christmas Carol will play off the square, at Covenant Church North Campus, 975 S. Central Expressway.

The production is Dr. Andrew Harris's one-hour adaptation, written for MRT. These are the performances listed on MRT's ticket page:

• Friday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 12, at 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 19, at 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. The 4:30 show has an ASL interpreter, with designated seats you pick when buying tickets.

Other events have moved too. On Nov. 7, MRT and the Heard-Craig Center for the Arts host a Regency-era masquerade ball, with live music from the English country dance band Mad Robin. It's at GATHER, the McKinney Chamber of Commerce venue on the square. The city has also moved its own festival operations to First United Methodist Church, with the Church Street Auditorium as the main base during the closure, Jones told the board. Even the building's theater organ, which took up about three and a half rooms, has left town. Jones said it found a new home at the Texas Theater in McGregor.

Saturday, Dec. 12, Has Three Big Events in Two Places

Because the theater moved, one Saturday now pulls in two directions. On Dec. 12, three big events overlap:

Rotary's 2 to 9 p.m. window covers the whole event, not the parade itself. The procession start time and spectator route haven't been posted yet. One rule from Rotary's 2026 guidelines matters for families heading to the curb: nothing may be thrown or handed out from floats, vehicles or walkers. That includes candy.

In past years the square and the courtroom were a short walk apart. This year, a household planning a wine walk afternoon, a 4:30 Carol and the parade is planning two trips: out to Central Expressway and back into downtown. The 1:30 matinee fits most easily with an evening on the square. The 7:30 show will likely overlap the parade.

The Rest of the Season Stays Close to the Square

The courthouse closure doesn't touch the other traditions, since none of them were ever held inside it:

• Avara Holiday Pop-up Shop, Nov. 4 through 8, free, at The Bingham Estate, 800 S. Chestnut St.
• Chestnut Square's 53rd Holiday Tour of Homes, Dec. 5 and 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Historic Downtown McKinney.
• Holiday Tea & Luncheon at the Heard-Craig Main Museum, 205 W. Hunt St., Sunday, Dec. 6, 2 to 4 p.m.
• Chestnut Square Farmers Market, Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon at 315 S. Chestnut St. through December. It skips the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which this year is Nov. 28, the Saturday of Home for the Holidays, and the Saturday after Christmas.

When the Courthouse Theater Reopens

Even the reopening is planned to be quiet. At the April meeting, city staff said there were no firm plans for a reopening celebration. They expected a low-key opening this year and said a larger event would probably come in early 2027, possibly January or February. No reopening date has been announced. The city's latest public estimate is still December 2026.

When it opens, the Texas Historical Commission-approved design will bring back the green exterior paint that Architexas found in its historic finish analysis, a color dating to the 1930s. Inside, the courtroom gets back its original yellow. Jones said the city hopes to increase the "quality and quantity" of shows there once it reopens, Community Impact reported. If the estimate holds, the first holiday season with the building open is 2027.

If you live near the square and are thinking about when to list, a reopened Courthouse Theater and a busier 2027 calendar can change how buyers see a home within walking distance. The team at ProMoves Team watches these downtown changes closely and can show you what they mean for your home's value. Start your move by requesting a free home valuation.