The time on the city's notice is 12:10 p.m., and the date is December 10. This year Mayfield marks five years since the 2021 tornado at Fire Station 1, 115 Kings Drive. The station was rebuilt after the storm and reopened in April.
Four Decembers came before this one. This is the first in which the town's public business has moved back into new buildings on the sites it used before. Mayfield Electric and Water Systems opened its rebuilt headquarters on East Broadway in October. City hall and the police station are going up across the street. The rest of the season, from the parade to Breakfast with Santa, happens around those buildings. Some events are downtown, and many are at churches, the library and the extension office.
The anniversary is set up to report on progress as well as to remember
The City of Mayfield calls the event "Mayfield/Graves County: Remembering and Recovering," and describes it as "A Community Gathering of Remembrance, Reflection, and Resilience." According to the city's announcement, the gathering will remember those who were lost, reflect on the community's strength and "share updates on Mayfield's ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts." It is open to the public.
That third purpose fits the place. Fire Station 1 is one of the recovery projects the updates will cover. Fire Chief Jeremy Creason told WPSD Local 6 that Station 1 "celebrated its grand reopening from the December 2021 tornado in April this year."
The details for your calendar:
- What: Mayfield/Graves County: Remembering and Recovering
- When: Thursday, December 10, 2026, 12:10 p.m.
- Where: Fire Station 1, 115 Kings Drive, Mayfield
- Who: Open to the public
The gathering falls on a weekday at lunchtime, and the hour and minute match the month and day.
On East Broadway, the utility came back to its old address
Mayfield Electric and Water Systems held the grand opening of its rebuilt main office at 301 East Broadway in October. It stands on the same lot where the old office was built in 1955. According to the WPSD Local 6 report by Mayfield Messenger reporter Will Spencer, construction began in fall 2024 with an estimated cost of $13.3 million.
General Superintendent Marty Ivy described the scale of what the utility lost in that same report:
"We lost 400-plus homes and 137 businesses in three minutes. We lost nine of our facilities — [including] this building, our water plant, our wastewater plant, our electric warehouse, our internet warehouse. The 600,000-gallon water tank was also destroyed."
Ivy told WPSD the utility has two facilities left to rebuild, a water plant warehouse and a wastewater plant warehouse. He said the main office was paid for with insurance and state funds, "so we didn't have to borrow a dime." The new building has a second-floor balcony overlooking downtown and a community event space on the second floor.
The new city hall and police station across the street are tentatively set to open in May 2027, according to the same report. This December, that block has one rebuilt building open and a second under construction.
The Chamber set the season's start for mid-November
The Mayfield-Graves County Chamber of Commerce scheduled its Holiday Open House Weekend for November 13 through 15 as the kickoff to the shopping season, with more than 35 retail stores and restaurants listed as participants. The Chamber set the date to avoid a conflict with Murray. Chamber community outreach coordinator Kerri Beth Sutla told the Mayfield Messenger, "Murray is doing their open house the first weekend of November, so we didn't want to compete with surrounding areas."
Sutla framed the weekend as a show of support for businesses still recovering from the tornado. "Mayfield has been through it, so we really hope that people show Mayfield love next weekend," she told the paper. "These are our friends and neighbors." The events listed from here through mid-December are hosted by the same kinds of community organizations.
The calendar, Saturday by Saturday
Most of the season falls on weekends, and the venues are spread around town and the county. All listings below come from the Mayfield-Graves County Tourism Commission calendar.
| Date | Event | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Holiday Farmers Market | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Trace Creek Baptist Church, 3577 KY-131 |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Mayfield Lions Club Holly Dolly Christmas Parade | 5 to 6 p.m. | Downtown Mayfield |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Cartwright Grove Country Christmas, opening night | 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Cartwright Grove |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Walk Through Bethlehem | 6 to 8 p.m. | First Church of the Nazarene, 1200 West Broadway |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Christmas Bazaar at the Winery | 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Fancy Farm Vineyard & Winery, 115 Hayden St., Fancy Farm |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Cozy Christmas at the Library | 3 to 5 p.m. | Graves County Public Library, 601 North 17th Street |
| Thu., Dec. 10 | Remembering and Recovering | 12:10 p.m. | Fire Station 1, 115 Kings Drive |
| Fri., Dec. 11 | Disney's Frozen: The Broadway Musical | See listing | Purchase Players Community Performing Arts Center, 302 West Water Street |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Breakfast with Santa | 8 to 11 a.m. | Graves County Extension Office, 4200 State Route 45 North |
| Thu., Dec. 17 | Holiday Craft Bazaar | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Mayfield-Graves County Senior Citizens Center, 901 N. 15th St. |
A few details are useful when you plan:
- The parade is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Lions Club picked "Holly Dolly Christmas" as this year's theme, and the hour-long parade starts at 5 p.m.
- December 4 has two evening events. Cartwright Grove's opening night runs 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Walk Through Bethlehem runs 6 to 8 p.m. on West Broadway. Cartwright Grove's listing says the Country Christmas runs for "three weekends in December," so you can save it for a later weekend if the first is full.
- December 5 runs from Fancy Farm back to town. The winery bazaar ends at 3 p.m., and the library's all-ages Cozy Christmas starts at 3.
- Breakfast with Santa supports 4-H. Tickets are $10 per person, and the proceeds go to Graves County 4-H. Breakfast is served from 8 to 10 a.m. Santa letters, a coffee truck, a silent auction, the Elf-Made Workshop and the Mistletoe Market continue until 11.
- The craft bazaar is on a Thursday morning. The Senior Citizens Center's Holiday Craft Bazaar runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on December 17, and admission is free.
Why so much of the season happens away from the square
Only one event on that list, the parade, is set on downtown streets. The rest take place at a Baptist church on KY-131, a Nazarene church on West Broadway, the public library on North 17th, the extension office on Route 45, the senior center on North 15th and a winery in Fancy Farm.
Downtown's roads are still waiting on their own rebuild. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Rebuild Mayfield project will modernize about two and a half miles of downtown roadways, including the Seventh and Eighth Street corridor. According to WPSD Local 6, utility work is expected to start in spring or summer 2027. Most of the roundabout and infrastructure work is planned for 2028 and 2029, and completion will "most likely" come in 2030. That puts at least three more Decembers between now and a finished downtown street grid.
Ivy sees the civic buildings as the first step in that sequence. "It brings hope and newness to town," he told WPSD. "With the state highway project of the Seventh and Eighth Street corridor, it can get businesses to see that the heartbeat of Mayfield is coming back — the courthouse, city hall, police department, fire department. They'll want to invest in Mayfield."
Homes are coming back too
Rebuilding also reached housing this fall. Commonwealth Court, a 66-unit affordable apartment development led by the nonprofit Spirit of Christmas All Year Round, began opening on October 30. Nineteen families moved into the first building that day, according to WPSD Local 6.
Put together, the fifth anniversary takes place in a fire station that reopened this spring. A block of East Broadway has a new utility headquarters and a city hall under construction. Nineteen families spent their first fall in new apartments. The Lions Club parade comes downtown on November 28, twelve days before the city meets on Kings Drive at 12:10 p.m.
Whether you're watching the parade on November 28 or heading to Kings Drive on December 10, I'm always glad to talk about what all this rebuilding means for your own corner of Mayfield. If you've wondered what your home is worth five years on, start with a quick, no-pressure look through Gracie Youngblood and Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
