Rocket Around the Christmas Tree has a new organizer for 2026. On July 28, the Rotary Club of North Jefferson Foundation announced that it is now the sponsoring organization for the trail of decorated trees on the Gardendale Civic Center lawn. In that announcement, the club called the trail "a treasured part of Gardendale's celebration," and it is putting its name on that tradition just as the town's busiest holiday week gets close.
Local businesses, organizations and families build the trail, one sponsored tree at a time. This year the new organizer is judging the trees, so the trail is the part of the season that starts now, in late October, weeks before it lights up.
How a 72-tree lawn became a Main Street fixture
The trail is young. Bham Now covered its first season in 2021, when the City of Gardendale switched on the lights December 2, held a ribbon cutting December 5, and kept 72 decorated trees up on the Civic Center lawn through January 2, 2022. Money raised went to the Dick Lee Memorial Scholarship Fund for Gardendale High School seniors. The fund is named for Dick Lee, who spent 32 years at Regions Bank in Gardendale in executive roles and was active at Gardendale First Baptist Church and with civic and charitable groups around town.
By 2024 the trail had spread off the lawn and onto Main Street. A Birmingham Christian Family listing for that year advertised 105 trees, a December 5 to 27 run, a Free Cookie Night on opening evening, and the Dick Lee Memorial Scholarship team as presenter. In 2025, Bham Now's roundup of area tree lightings called it "Gardendale's biggest, most festive event" and listed more than 100 trees, a 4 p.m. lighting on Thursday, December 4, and a trail open through December 28.
That puts the trail at roughly 45 percent more trees in three seasons, from 72 to 105. The cost of the entry tier, meanwhile, has stayed where it began. WVTM 13 reported a $150 sponsorship in 2021, and the Rotary's lowest 2026 tier is still $150.
What the Rotary changes, and what it keeps
The Rotary says the Dick Lee Memorial Scholarship Fund stays part of the mission. Trail proceeds will also go toward the club's own scholarships and its local and international service projects. The club already has local history here. Its list of past work includes five $1,000 scholarships to North Jefferson area seniors in 2026, plus a remodel of the Troop 100 Boy Scout Hut and a butterfly garden on Fieldstone Road in Gardendale. The club also meets at the Civic Center, in the Dogwood Room on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, so the new organizer works out of the same building whose lawn holds the trees.
The trees will be judged in 2026. According to the Rotary's September 29 sponsor call, every tree decorated by the deadline will be judged, and winners will get ribbons on their trees plus recognition on social media. The club says it will announce the decorating deadline later. Until then, the date to watch is that deadline, not opening night.
The sponsorship tiers, as the Rotary lists them:
| Tier | Cost | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | $150 | Undecorated tree set up with your name on a sponsor sign; name or logo on social media |
| Level 2 | $250 | Everything in Level 1, plus name or logo on advertisement signs and 2 trail T-shirts |
| Level 3 | $500 | Everything in Level 2, with 4 T-shirts |
| Level 4 | $1,000 | Larger-print name or logo on advertisement signs, name or logo on the main entrance sign to the trail, and 6 T-shirts |
Every tier comes with an undecorated tree. The decorating is up to the sponsor. The Rotary invites businesses, organizations and families to sponsor, and you can reach the club at [email protected] or through the payment links in its September 29 sponsor announcement.
Three traditions, one early-December stretch of town
The trail matters because of what sits around it. Two holiday traditions already have dates in the first week of December, and in past years the trail has opened that same week.
- Tuesday, December 1: Bill Noble's Holiday Nights opens. Bill Noble Park holds opening night on the first Tuesday in December every year, which this year is December 1. The park describes Christmas music, lights strung over a vendor village, and a possible visit from Santa.
- Thursday, December 3: the Gardendale Christmas Parade. The Gardendale Chamber of Commerce lists a 5 p.m. call time for floats in the back parking lot of Gardendale High School at 800 Main Street, a 6 p.m. start, and a 7:30 p.m. finish. This year's theme is "Christmas Through the Decades." The parade is free and open to the public, sponsored by the Gardendale Civic Center, Cumulus Media, the City of Gardendale and Cardinal Accounting.
- The trail lights up. The Rotary has not posted 2026 trail dates yet. In each year with a published date, the trail opened in the first week of December: December 2 in 2021, December 5 in 2024, and December 4 in 2025. All three of those dates fell on a Thursday. The first Thursday this year is December 3, the same day as the parade, though no one has announced that the two will share a night.
The Chamber's main calendar preview shows the parade as Saturday at 4 p.m., which doesn't match its own detail page. December 3, 2026 is a Thursday, so the detail page's Thursday at 6 p.m. is the version that fits the calendar. It's still worth checking with the Chamber before you claim a curb spot.
For the route itself, the most recent street-by-street version on record is from 2019. That year the parade left Gardendale High School, went north on Mt. Olive Road, turned right on Fieldstown Road, left on Grubbs Avenue, cut through the Village Green Shopping Center lot, then turned right onto Main Street back to the school. This year's Chamber listing says only "Gardendale Christmas Parade Route," so the 2019 path is a past route, not a confirmed 2026 map.
Why the trail is the anchor of the week
The parade and Holiday Nights each run on a single headline evening. The trail is the one you can come back to. In 2024 it stayed open for more than three weeks, day or night, and in 2025 it ran from December 4 to December 28. It sits at the Civic Center, 857 Main Street, a short way up the same street where parade floats line up at 800 Main. That puts it in a good position to be the walk you take before or after anything else on the calendar that month.
Bill Noble Park adds a second hub across town at 5895 Bill Noble Drive. Last year its Christmas Village on Tuesday, December 2, ran from 5 to 9 p.m. with a kids' scavenger hunt, a gift-wrapping contest, Santa photos, vendors and food trucks. Those are 2025 details, and the park hasn't published a 2026 schedule beyond the first-Tuesday opening rule. Still, they show how much the park packs into one evening.
Bill Noble Park opens on Tuesday, December 1, and the parade fills Main Street on Thursday, December 3. If the trail follows its past pattern, it will light up that same week and stay lit for most of the month. Of the three, only the trail is built from scratch by people who live and work here, and in 2026 it adds ribbons for the best-decorated trees.
If you want a tree on the lawn this year
For a business, a church group, a ballteam or a family, the practical sequence is short:
- Pick a tier from the table above and pay through the Rotary's links or by emailing [email protected].
- Watch for the Rotary's decorating deadline, which is the cutoff for judging.
- Plan decorations sized for an outdoor tree that will stand for weeks, since past trails have run from early December almost to New Year's.
- Mark December 3 for the parade and December 1 for Holiday Nights' opening, and confirm times with the Chamber and Bill Noble Park as the dates get closer.
Families who sponsor get their name on a sign next to a tree they decorated themselves, on the Civic Center lawn in the middle of town.
If your family is putting up a tree on the trail this year, or you'd just like to talk through what December looks like in Gardendale before a move, I'd be glad to hear from you. Visit Adam Ray to schedule a consultation, and I'll see you on Main Street.
