On open nights this season, from 6 to 10 p.m., cars on Highway 27 slow down near Soddy Lake and turn back toward a glowing peninsula. NoogaLights owner John Haustein told the Chattanooga Times Free Press last December that he never gets tired of watching those U-turns. He estimated that half of the paying carloads the year before were impulse visitors who spotted the lights from the highway.
The City of Soddy-Daisy is planning its future around that kind of visitor. The light show, the Jamboree trees at Veterans Park and the half-finished work at Holly Park are all part of one plan. The city wants its parks to bring in people who spend money and then go home. December is when that plan works best, and the restroom question on Holly Circle is where it is still being decided.
The light show on the peninsula
NoogaLights is running its Soddy-Daisy drive-through again this year, on select nights from November 6 through January 2. The show isn't new to town. News Channel 9 reported the drive-through at Pine Tree Park in December 2023, back when the city's partnership with NoogaLights centered on a 65-foot tree. The city lists the park at 11750 Dayton Pike and describes it the rest of the year as a place with tall pines, water views and bird watching during migration season. By last year the tree was 90 feet tall. The show also had what Haustein believes is the world's longest tunnel of lights, and the Times Free Press ranked it with Rock City's Enchanted Garden of Lights among the area's top holiday attractions.
Haustein's company began as a window-washing and bridge-cleaning business. It later shifted into residential and municipal holiday lighting, and it ran a show at Chester Frost Park before moving to Soddy-Daisy.
The NoogaLights ticket page lists these details for the 2026/27 season:
- Standard ticket: $22, which includes two loops
- Unlimited-loop nights still ahead: November 20, 21, 23, 24 and 30; December 1, 7, 8 and 28 through 31; January 1 and 2
- Two-loop nights: November 22, November 25 through 29, December 2 through 6, and December 9 through 27
- Season pass: $60.50 for unlimited loops on any open night
- Holidays: open Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
- Vehicle limits: 11 feet maximum height, and no RVs, buses or trailers of any kind
If you live nearby and plan to go more than once, Thanksgiving week works well. The show is open on the holiday, and the following Monday and Tuesday, November 30 and December 1, are both unlimited-loop nights.
Why the city wants those cars
The light show matters to more than holiday traffic, and the reason came up at a city commission meeting this month. According to Chattanoogan.com, Commissioner Steve Everett said Soddy-Daisy is quickly building out the land still available for homes. Right now, property taxes and sales taxes fund city services. Once there's no more residential land for new homes, Everett said, the city will rely on sales taxes to grow its revenue. He described the way forward as bringing people into the city to spend money, and the commissioners have been using good parks to attract them.
Put that next to Haustein's estimate. A drive-through show where half the cars come off the highway on impulse is close to what Everett described: people from out of town stop, spend some money, and leave. It also happens in a park the city already owns. The same Chattanoogan.com report says commissioners see Soddy Lake as a possible host for a fishing tournament, built on the same idea.
The weekend built for people who already live here
The city's own holiday weekend leans the other way. Both events are on Dayton Pike, and both are set up so local businesses, churches, families and groups can take part rather than just watch. The details below come from the city's 2026 Christmas Celebrations page.
| Holly Jolly Jamboree | Soddy-Daisy Christmas Parade | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Friday, December 4, 4 to 9 p.m. | Sunday, December 6, 2 p.m. |
| Where | Veterans Park, 9009 Dayton Pike | Dayton Pike, Harrison Lane to Sequoyah Road |
| What's there | Decorated trees, music, a Christmas market, seasonal treats, photos with Santa | Floats, marching bands, dancers, decorated vehicles, Santa |
| How to take part | Decorate a tree for $75; sponsor the event for $1,000 | Register by Wednesday, November 25 |
| Who benefits | Trees stay on display all December | Fees go to the Christmas for Kids toy drive |
The Jamboree's tree-decorating competition gives Veterans Park a run of December that lasts past the one evening. Businesses, organizations, schools, families and community groups each decorate a tree for $75, and the trees stay up for the rest of the month. Sponsorship questions go to [email protected].
The parade has a new online application this year, and the city asks entrants not to reuse paper forms from earlier years. The first entry costs $25, and each additional vehicle, float or horse costs $5. You can pay by credit card or by check made out to the Soddy-Daisy Firefighters Association, mailed to 9835 Dayton Pike. All registration fees and donations go to the Christmas for Kids Annual Toy Drive, which provides gifts to local children. Families can apply for gifts through the same city page. With registration closing the day before Thanksgiving, anyone planning a float has less than a week left.
The parade starts at 2 p.m. on a Sunday, which lines up with one of the few local coffee shops open that day. Good News Roasters, the small-batch organic roastery at 9710 Dayton Pike, keeps Sunday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is closed Saturdays. Founders Kent and Lisa opened it in 2021.
The lake park on Holly Circle
Farther along Soddy Lake is Holly Park at 11606 Holly Circle, which the city has recently renamed Gene-O Shipley Park. Shipley is Hamilton County's District 1 commissioner, and his district includes Soddy-Daisy. Right now it's a small lake access point. The city's parks page lists a double-wide boat ramp, 16 parking spaces sized for trucks with trailers, picnic tables at the water's edge, and restrooms.
The upgrade is supposed to be the next step in the parks plan. Chattanoogan.com reported that Hamilton County awarded a $250,000 grant to make parks more accessible to everyone, and that Soddy-Daisy commissioners agreed to match it. The combined money will pay for a pavilion near the water, new restrooms, and about 30 new parking spaces so cars can stay off the grass.
Most of the commission's discussion focused on where to put the restrooms. Planners picked a hillside site so the plumbing could work by gravity, and a nearby homeowner raised concerns about how close that site is to the houses on Holly Circle. City Manager Burt Johnson met with the homeowner and is working with Public Works Director Steve Grant to find a spot that won't need pumps and electric power to move water uphill. In the meantime, construction has stopped while new soil tests are done.
Commissioner Travis Beene raised a wider point at the same meeting. In his two years on the commission, he said, the focus has been on bringing people to Soddy-Daisy rather than on the people who live there, and the discussion about these park improvements had been only about boaters. He wants the park to work for everyone, including people who will never own a $100,000 boat. Everett answered that he sympathizes but that development can't wait forever for a new location.
That exchange is the open question in the city's plan: who a lake park built for visitors is also meant to serve. Johnson has suggested a public workshop at the park site with commissioners, nearby residents and anyone else who's interested, to choose a different location. The city says it will advertise the date.
Where residents can weigh in before the year ends
The Holly Park workshop isn't the only chance to comment. The city's Soddy-Daisy 2050 planning process still has a Comprehensive Planning Workshop ahead this year, on Thursday, December 10, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Soddy-Daisy Justice Center, 9835 Dayton Pike. At that meeting, the city will share the recommendations it has been developing and collect feedback. That's four days after the parade, at the same address where parade checks are mailed. Background on the plan is on the city's Soddy-Daisy 2050 page.
Heading out after Thanksgiving
For a daytime outing to go with the light show, Tennessee State Parks has a ranger-led After Thanksgiving Day Hike on Friday, November 27, from 9 a.m. to noon. It's a moderate five-mile hike that meets at 3771 Barker Camp Road in Dunlap, a drive up the plateau from Soddy-Daisy. Closer to home, the Montlake Road entrance at North Chickamauga Creek Gorge is still closed. That closure covers Blue Hole access, Hogskin Loop, Stripmine Falls and part of the Cumberland Trail. The improvement project started March 23 and was expected to last about a year. Planned work includes paving, entrance upgrades, an accessible river-viewing pier and a restroom.
Soddy-Daisy's park decisions this winter, from the lights on the peninsula to the restroom on Holly Circle, are part of how the city plans to grow once its residential land is built out. If you own a home here and want to know where it stands while those plans take shape, Marcus Holt Homes can walk you through it with calm, local context. Request a free home valuation, and Marcus will put together the numbers with you.
