Centerville GA Fall Events: Your 2026 Center Park Guide

In 2022, Centerville's leaders said they wanted Center Park to anchor a bigger town center, with restaurants, shops and other places to gather. Four years later, 13WMAZ reported that none of those additions have opened. The park at 103 E. Church St. still hosts the city's gatherings, though. The City of Centerville fills it by putting events on its own calendar, and this fall that calendar runs nearly every week from now through early December.

Week by week, this season shows Centerville running a downtown without the storefronts. It also explains why the city's next big project is an amphitheater at the park.

A park that opened ahead of its neighbors

Center Park opened in 2020. The 2022 plan treated it as the first piece of a district, with dining and retail to follow. The park arrived and the district has not, at least so far.

Even in 2026, local food spots have been moving around. Krave Eatery & Dessert Shop, which used to sit off North Houston Lake Boulevard in Centerville, has moved to a free-standing location at 713 Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins, as the Houston Home Journal reported in August. Without a cluster of businesses beside the lawn, the city has made the park busy itself, mostly by running events.

This fall's schedule shows how much of that work the city has taken on. The City scheduled its first-ever Harvest Melody Arts & Music Fall Festival at Center Park for Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and set Oct. 17 as the rain date. The festival listing promised vendors, live entertainment, face painting, a balloon artist and yard games. A brand-new festival in a city this size is the kind of thing a downtown merchants' group usually runs. In Centerville, City Hall puts it on the calendar.

The rest of the fall, on one page

As of Thursday, Oct. 22, this is what's left on the city's public calendar through the end of the parade season.

The City lists Family Movie Night for Oct. 24 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. The listing says "Park" and doesn't name a movie. The Trunk or Treat lands on Halloween itself, Saturday, Oct. 31. The Centerville Police Department is still taking applications from citizens and businesses who want to host a trunk. The time, location and other details are on the information sheet and interest form linked from the City of Centerville homepage.

The Friday market is the backbone, and it changes in 2027

Among everything on that table, the farmers market does the most to make Center Park feel like a town square. A festival happens once. The market is there every week.

The City's latest listing for the Center Park Farmers Market shows it every Friday from 1 to 6 p.m., repeating until Nov. 20, 2026. Earlier 2026 listings showed a morning slot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., so check the City calendar before you head over. Counting from this week, that leaves five market Fridays: Oct. 23, Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. The last one falls the Friday before Thanksgiving.

Next year looks different. The 2027 vendor application, which the City is already accepting, describes a season held "every 2nd and 4th Friday of the Month," May through October, with no markets in August. Hours stay at 1 to 6 p.m. The application lists these dates:

• May 14 and 28
• June 11 and 25
• July 9 and 23
• September 10 and 24
• October 8 and 22

That's 10 market days for 2027. This year's listing alone, running from Sept. 11 to Nov. 20, covers 11 Fridays. If you've built a Friday afternoon habit around Center Park this fall, the next few weeks are the last stretch of a weekly schedule. In 2027 you'll need to plan around specific Fridays.

The parade closes the season and opens it to everyone

The Lighted Christmas Parade on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. is the biggest night on Centerville's fall calendar. It's also the one residents can join instead of just watching. This year's theme is "America's 250th Birthday Celebration." For a church group, a youth team, a small business or a neighborhood that wants a float, the 2026 Christmas Parade application lays out the timeline:

1. Submit the application by Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.
2. Attend the required safety meeting on Monday, Nov. 30, at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 300 E. Church St.
3. On Saturday, Dec. 5, have your entry and all participants in line and ready by 5:30 p.m. Floats can start arriving at 4 p.m., and the parade steps off at 7 p.m.

The Nov. 13 deadline falls on a market Friday, so you could turn in the paperwork and stop by the market the same afternoon.

What the amphitheater money is meant to fix

The city's next step builds on everything above. According to 13WMAZ, Mayor J. Michael Evans said Centerville has budgeted money to design and build an amphitheater at Center Park. The city also plans a community center on Gunn Road next to the library.

Both projects will be paid for with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue. Evans told the station that city leaders held off on some projects because they didn't want to raise the millage rate, and waited for SPLOST revenue from the county sales tax instead. "The SPLOST money is making a big difference," he said.

An amphitheater matters for a park that already does a downtown's job. Concerts, movie nights and festivals now happen on an open lawn. A permanent stage gives them a fixed home and makes outdoor programming easier to put on. The city plans to start both projects with design work and public-input meetings, and Evans said he hopes residents can see both finished by 2028.

The missing pieces from the 2022 plan still come up. One resident who walks the park regularly told 13WMAZ he'd welcome restaurants and coffee shops within walking distance:

"I would love to be able to just come take my walk, go to a coffee shop, sit down, get a bottle of water, write some notes as far as establishing my day that would be phenomenal to have that at my doorstep."

For now, the public meetings for the amphitheater are where residents get a say in what Center Park becomes. The next three weekends show what the park already does, between the Friday markets, Family Movie Night on Oct. 24 and the police Trunk or Treat on Halloween night.

If you're planning a float for Dec. 5, setting up a trunk on Oct. 31 or just mapping out your fall Fridays around Center Park, Margie Stachurski and our team are always happy to talk about Centerville and what's happening around town. Reach out anytime. We'd love to see you at the park this season.