"Santa lights the tree at 7:30 PM!" That line from Tanger Outlets Savannah's event page is the first holiday date on Pooler's calendar this year. The outlet center's celebration on Saturday, November 7, comes a full week before the City of Pooler lights its own tree.
The season starts at a shopping center off Pooler Parkway and moves to a memorial garden at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. Then it goes to a ball field on Preston Stokes Drive. In December the City's main holiday event isn't held at a venue. It comes to neighborhood streets on a fire truck. If you know which address hosts which night, you can catch all of it without missing a date.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 7, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Tanger Savannah Tree Lighting Celebration | 200 Tanger Outlets Blvd. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Veterans Day Celebration & Touch-a-Truck | 200 Tanger Outlets Blvd. |
| Wed., Nov. 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Veterans Day at the Mighty Eighth, bells at 11 a.m. | 175 Bourne Ave. |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 4 to 7:30 p.m. | City of Pooler Tree Lighting & Movie Night | 200 Preston Stokes Dr. |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 2 p.m. | Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day | 175 Bourne Ave. |
| December, 6 to 9 p.m. | Santa Visits Pooler | City streets |
Saturday, November 7: The Outlet Center Goes First
Tanger Outlets Savannah has a full evening planned around its tree. From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., the center plans to have Santa and his reindeer, Anna and Elsa, cookie decorating, face painting and what it calls winter wonderland activities throughout the property. Santa lights the tree at 7:30 p.m. Tanger asks guests to RSVP through the link on its event page.
Visit Pooler also lists a Veterans Day Celebration & Touch-a-Truck at the outlet center on the same date. The listing promises military vehicle displays, hands-on activities for children and live entertainment. It doesn't give hours, so check before you plan the day around it.
Putting a tree lighting and a military vehicle display on the same weekend fits Pooler's November, which mixes holiday lights with remembrance. It also lines up with another early-season date. The City lists the Home Depot Christmas Tree Sale at 190 Pooler Parkway from November 6 to December 6, during regular store hours. So the first weekend you can buy a tree in Pooler is also the first weekend you can watch one being lit.
Wednesday, November 11: Bells in the Memorial Garden
Four days later, the season moves to Bourne Avenue. The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, at 175 Bourne Avenue, is open on Veterans Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free for veterans. At 11 a.m., the museum holds a Ringing of the Bells ceremony in the Memorial Garden near the Chapel.
The museum's calendar keeps this theme going right through the holidays. That's why it belongs in a holiday guide, even though nothing on its schedule involves a tree:
- Wednesday, November 18, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: History Headquarters: Remembering the Fallen. Admission is $8 per participant or free for members, and registration is required.
- Wednesday, December 2, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: a History Headquarters youth program about Pearl Harbor, at the same price and with the same registration requirement.
- Sunday, December 6, 2 p.m.: a free, public Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day program sponsored by the Savannah Navy League Council. It includes a keynote, readings, music, a Two-Bell Ceremony and a wreath tribute.
The museum also lists Mighty Talks on November 3 and 19, and a History Headquarters session on November 4. Its youth club combines hands-on learning, STEM and literature, which makes it a weekday option once school breaks start piling up.
The two youth sessions are $8 each, so a family with two kids would pay $32 to attend both. The December 6 program costs nothing.
Saturday, November 14: The City's Turn at the Recreation Complex
The City of Pooler's Tree Lighting & Movie Night takes over the field at the Pooler Recreation Complex, 200 Preston Stokes Drive, on Saturday, November 14. Gates open at 4 p.m. The tree is lit around sunset, and an outdoor showing of The Grinch starts at 6 p.m. The event wraps up at 7:30 p.m., and the rain date is Sunday, November 15.
The City's own event page, updated October 15, is the one to check if the weather looks uncertain that week.
The Tanger event is spread across a shopping center. The City's event is set up for an afternoon on the grass. The City lists:
- Face painting
- Food trucks
- Train rides
- S'mores fire pits
- Inflatables
- Bubble snow
Seating is up to you. The City asks guests to bring a lawn chair or blanket for the field. With gates at 4 and the movie at 6, the first two hours are the time to claim a spot and get through the s'mores line before dark.
Both Saturdays have Santa, face painting and a tree, a week apart. The difference is the setting. Tanger puts the activities throughout the outlet center. The City puts everything on one field and ends with a movie. If you want to go to both, you have two free Saturday evenings that don't overlap.
December: The City Brings the Event to Your Street
After the tree lighting, the City's holiday calendar leaves the venues behind. The City's 2026 events calendar lists Santa Visits Pooler in December, from 6 to 9 p.m., with the location given as "All streets." Santa rides on a fire truck.
Last year's version shows how it runs. For December 2025, the City sent Santa to a different area of the city each night and launched a Santa Tracker at glympse.com/!poolersanta, which residents could follow live from 6 to 9 p.m. on scheduled evenings. The first route ran on Sunday, November 30, through the Berwick Lakes and Hampton Place subdivisions. WSAV covered the visits that season and linked the same tracker.
The 2025 schedule ran mostly on weekends, with one week added at the end because of weather:
- Sunday, November 30
- Friday through Sunday, December 5 to 7
- Friday through Sunday, December 12 to 14
- Friday and Saturday, December 19 and 20
- Sunday through Tuesday, December 21 to 23, added as make-up nights
The make-up nights were needed because inclement weather postponed the December 5 and 6 visits. The City rescheduled the December 5, 6 and 7 routes to December 21, 22 and 23, which pushed the last stops to one day before Christmas Eve.
In 2025, routes were assigned by neighborhood and by night, so the date that matters for your household is the night your subdivision is on the list. Weather can also move a route by more than two weeks. When the City publishes the 2026 schedule, your street's date is the one to put on the fridge, along with the tracker link.
Your Season, by Weekend
Here's how the dates fall for a Pooler household that wants to catch everything. This Saturday, November 7, is Tanger's tree and the Touch-a-Truck. Wednesday, November 11, is the 11 a.m. bells at the Mighty Eighth. Saturday, November 14, is the City's tree and The Grinch on Preston Stokes Drive. Sunday, December 6, at 2 p.m. is the museum's Pearl Harbor program. Then the December evenings depend on when the fire truck reaches your neighborhood, with the tree sale on Pooler Parkway open until December 6.
If you have family coming to Pooler for the holidays and want to plan their visit around the dates on this calendar, the Teresa Cowart Team is happy to help you figure out which nights fit, from the Tanger tree to the night Santa reaches your street. Let's Connect.
