Downtown Inman has four holiday-season dates on the calendar this year, and all four happen on the same short stretch of Mill Street and North Main Street. Two of them fall on back-to-back days in mid-November and look like one long weekend. They aren't. Most of the newer storefronts are open on the Saturday. Several of them are closed on the Sunday.
That gap comes from the businesses themselves. Many of the shops and restaurants that make a downtown Inman afternoon worth the drive are new, and each sets its own week. Before you mark a date, it helps to know which doors will be open.
The Downtown the Holidays Now Land In
In its 2026 mid-year report, the City of Inman said it welcomed 13 businesses in the first half of 2026. Not all of them are downtown. A good share of the ones you would actually stop at on a holiday afternoon sit within a few street numbers of each other:
- Maker's Market & Overflow Coffee, 15 Mill Street, pairs a coffee shop with creative classes, handcrafted gifts and retail. The menu runs from espresso drinks and lattes to chai, matcha, lemonade and seasonal drinks.
- Old Town Pizza, 33 Mill Street, is a family-and-friends-owned Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant, according to Main Street Inman. Its own site highlights pepperoni, chicken-garlic and meat-lovers pizzas.
- Café on Main, 15 North Main Street, is run by Mike and Deana Okun. Post and Courier Spartanburg reported its plans for breakfast, lunch and specialty coffee, with a target opening of mid-December 2025. It's now on the City's list of new businesses and on Main Street Inman's list of places to eat.
- Big Head Barkery, 25 North Main Street, sells handmade dog treats, pet products and toys, and it has a self-serve dog wash.
- The Label Co. Boutique, 29 North Main Street, sells women's clothing in sizes S through 4X, plus children's clothing, accessories, gifts and custom apparel.
The newest storefront on the block opened this fall. Upstate Business Journal reported on September 30 that Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. & Provisions opened its first storefront at 14 Mill Street, with a café and wine bar. It also sells charcuterie boxes, trays and platters.
So the downtown that hosts this year's holiday events has more places to stop than it did a year ago, and more schedules to plan around.
The Week, Business by Business
Here is how the published hours line up across a week. Holiday hours can shift, so call before a special trip, especially to anywhere without posted hours.
| Business | Address | Listed hours |
|---|---|---|
| Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. & Provisions | 14 Mill St. | Thursday–Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Maker's Market & Overflow Coffee | 15 Mill St. | Monday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; closed Sunday |
| Café on Main | 15 N. Main St. | Monday and Wednesday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5–8 p.m.; closed Tuesday and Sunday |
| Big Head Barkery | 25 N. Main St. | Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday |
All four are open on Saturday. None of the four list Sunday hours. That one fact sorts out the November weekend.
Saturday, November 14: The Day for the Shops
Downtown Inman Second Saturdays run 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 14. Main Street Inman frames the day as a time to shop, dine and support local businesses, with "No road closures, just a great Saturday downtown!"
No road closures means the event is just the storefronts doing what they do, with extra people around. That makes it the better day for the shops you already know. If your holiday list includes a boutique gift from The Label Co., a bag of treats from Big Head Barkery or something handmade from Maker's Market, all three are on North Main or Mill within a few doors of each other, and the Barkery and Maker's Market both post Saturday hours that cover the full 11-to-4 window.
Food is easy that Saturday too. Café on Main lists a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daytime service. Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. opens at 11:30 a.m., which makes it the stop for anyone who wants a board and a glass of wine when the afternoon winds down.
Sunday, November 15: The Day for the Vendors
The next day has a different cast. Market on Mill runs noon to 4 p.m. on November 15, on Mill Street itself. Main Street Inman calls it "one of the most loved community vendor markets in Downtown Inman," bringing together "shopping, local makers, food, and small businesses right in the heart of Mill Street," and lists it as a City-supported community event.
It's a Sunday, though, and by their listed hours Maker's Market, Café on Main, Big Head Barkery and Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. are all closed on Sundays. The market brings the makers to the street on a day when much of the street's own retail is dark.
Sunday is when the vendor market fills Mill Street. Saturday is when the storefronts are open. If you want both for your holiday shopping, plan the November weekend as two separate trips, because one trip on either day only gets you half of it.
Friday, November 13: The Deadline That Comes First
Anyone hoping to be in the parade has to act before either November date. The 2026 Light Up Inman Christmas Parade invites local businesses, organizations, churches, schools and community groups to take part. Registration closes Friday, November 13, at 3 p.m. The entry fee is $30, and the parade is capped at 65 entries.
For a reader on the Thursday this goes live, that leaves about two weeks. With a hard cap of 65, a group still deciding whether to build a float has less time than the calendar suggests. The entry form and parade rules are posted on the Light Up Inman event page.
Saturday, December 5: Light Up Inman Runs Into Dinner
Light Up Inman is the main event of the season. It runs 5:15 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, centered on Downtown Inman at 26 Mill Street. Main Street Inman describes it as an evening with a parade, festive lights, family fun and a visit from Santa to kick off the Christmas season.
The timing works in your favor here. Light Up Inman falls on a Saturday evening, and Saturday is the one night several downtown kitchens are set up for. Café on Main lists a 5 to 8 p.m. evening service Thursday through Saturday. Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. stays open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, the same minute the event ends.
An evening built around those hours might look like this:
- Arrive before 5:15 p.m. so you're downtown when the event opens.
- Watch the parade and the lights along Mill Street.
- Have dinner at Café on Main before its kitchen closes at 8, or at Old Town Pizza on Mill Street. Call Old Town ahead of the evening to confirm its hours.
- Finish at Spartanburg Charcuterie Co. at 14 Mill Street, which stays open until 9.
The daytime shops are a different story. Maker's Market lists a 5:30 p.m. close and Big Head Barkery a 6 p.m. close, so on December 5 their hours barely overlap the event. Anyone who wants to shop those two that day needs to come in the afternoon and stay into the evening.
Saturday, December 12: The Quieter Repeat
One week after the parade, Downtown Inman Second Saturdays comes back on December 12 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It works the same way as November 14: no road closures, the storefronts open, the street running at its normal pace with more foot traffic.
For last-minute gifts, it's the last date on the downtown calendar this season. It also has the same advantage as the November Saturday. Maker's Market, Big Head Barkery, The Label Co. and Café on Main all sit on Mill and North Main, and the listed hours put most of them open for the full Second Saturday window. A December gift run that starts with coffee at 15 Mill and ends at 29 North Main covers most of downtown in a few blocks.
Planning a December on Mill Street often gets people thinking about how close their own front door is to all of this. If you've been wondering what that closeness to downtown Inman is worth for your home, Team Inglee is happy to walk through it with you. Pres and Jess can put real numbers behind it, no pressure and no strings. Request Your Free Home Valuation, then go enjoy the parade.
