At 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26, Highway 30A closes to all traffic at East Water Street in Rosemary Beach. It stays closed west to Bridge Lane, just east of The Big Chill, until 10:30 a.m. Watersound Parkway closes too, from its intersection with 30A north to the Camp Creek Inn entrance, because the 5K uses it.
That three-and-a-half-hour window is the fixed point of the town's holiday calendar. Almost everything Rosemary Beach puts on for the season falls in about two weeks, from Monday, Nov. 23 through Saturday, Dec. 5, and most of it is packed around Thanksgiving. If you plan around the closure and the afternoon before it, the rest of the season fits easily.
The Highway Belongs to the Runners Until 10:30
The 30A 10K Thanksgiving Day Races start and finish in Rosemary Beach. The race site says the event was voted one of the top 10 turkey trots in the South by Southern Living, and it is the RRCA Florida State Championship 10K for 2026. Thursday morning runs like this:
- 7:00 a.m. 30A closes between East Water Street and Bridge Lane, and Watersound Parkway closes north to the Camp Creek Inn entrance.
- 7:30 a.m. The 10K starts.
- 7:35 a.m. The one-mile fun run starts.
- 9:30 a.m. The 5K starts.
- 10:30 a.m. 30A reopens.
- After the races Awards and a post-race party in Barrett Square.
The schedule is the practical part. If you have guests flying in, a turkey to collect from the other end of 30A, or relatives coming from Panama City Beach, Thursday's driving should wait until after 10:30 a.m. or happen before 7:00. The 5K starts at 9:30, so Watersound Parkway is closed for the race's later stretch as well.
If you'd rather be on the course, registration is $115 for the 10K or the 5K and $45 for the one-mile fun run. Online registration closes Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 11:59 p.m. CST. There is no race-day packet pickup, which brings everything back to Wednesday.
Wednesday, Nov. 25 Is the Real Holiday Deadline
Race packets go out Wednesday, Nov. 25, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Big Chill. The town's two main take-home Thanksgiving options also have their pickups that afternoon. That means Wednesday, more than Thursday, is when the holiday's errands come due.
| What | Where | Wednesday pickup | Deadline and price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward's Thanksgiving take-home | Edward's, 66 Main St. | 2–5 p.m., time set when you order | Order by 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, or while supplies last |
| Gallion's heat-and-serve package | 104 North Barrett Square, Unit C | Nov. 25 | Prepaid, from $475, serves six |
| 30A 10K race packet | The Big Chill | 11 a.m.–6 p.m. | No race-day pickup |
Edward's sells à la carte, so you can buy the main course and make the rest yourself. You order by calling 850-231-0550 or stopping by the restaurant. The 2026 menu lists sliced oven-roasted turkey breast at $25 a pound and sliced honey-baked ham at $20 a pound. Sides are $50 or $25, rolls are $12 a dozen and pies are $50. The sides and pies each feed six to eight. For a table of eight, that pricing works well if the turkey is the only thing you don't want to cook.
Gallion's offers the opposite: a complete prepaid package booked through Tock. It starts at $475 for six people, and you can add more turkey, sides, gravy, rolls and desserts. Either way, the food is in your kitchen by Wednesday evening, and Thursday's road closure no longer affects dinner.
If nobody is cooking, Havana Beach Bar & Grill serves a Thanksgiving Day buffet on Nov. 26 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It costs $85++ for adults and $45++ for children 12 and under, plus a 22% gratuity, and reservations are required. The buffet opens at 11 a.m., half an hour after 30A reopens, so a morning at the race and a midday meal fit in the same day.
The Week Before and After, Square by Square
The town calendar starts filling up on Monday of Thanksgiving week, and most of it happens in North and South Barrett Square and on the Western Green. Day by day, it looks like this:
- Monday, Nov. 23, 8–11 a.m. The Custom Belt Bag Bar in North Barrett Square is for kids and teens only, with 150 bags available.
- Tuesday, Nov. 24, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Festive Face Painting in South Barrett Square.
- Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2–3 p.m. The Pittman Magic Holiday Spectacular in North Barrett Square. Chairs and blankets are welcome.
- Wednesday, Nov. 25, 6–8 p.m. Moonlight & Movies screens "Elf" on the Western Green.
- Friday, Nov. 27, 6 p.m. The Tree Lighting Ceremony & Merchant Open House in South Barrett Square, organized by the Rosemary Beach Merchants Association, with shops staying open into the evening.
- Saturday, Nov. 28, 8–10 a.m. Breakfast with Santa at Town Hall, 48 S Barrett Square. The cost is $20, and the Merchants Association organizes it.
- Sunday, Nov. 29, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. The 30A Farmers' Market keeps its regular year-round Sunday hours.
"Elf" on the Western Green comes the same Wednesday evening as the pickups, an hour after Edward's closes its pickup window. If you have a turkey in the car and children in the back seat, you can do both in one trip.
Friday is when the season officially starts. The town's own listing says South Barrett Square fills on the night after Thanksgiving "for the moment the tree lights up," and the shops stay open late. The merchants run the event, and that is why it doubles as an open house. Saturday's Breakfast with Santa is the same organizers' follow-up the next morning, at Town Hall on South Barrett Square.
Dec. 5 Belongs to the Tour of Homes
A week after the Thanksgiving events, the season ends with the 8th Annual Rosemary Beach Holiday Tour of Homes on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a self-guided walk through six homes decorated for the holidays, starting at North Barrett Square. The Rosemary Beach Foundation hosts it with local partners. 30A.com's event listing says the homes are "new, uniquely curated homes chosen just for this year's tour."
Tickets are sold through Eventbrite starting at $28.52. Everyone 5 and older needs a ticket, all tickets are non-refundable, and space is limited. The first 550 adult ticket holders get a commemorative 2026 cup. The raffle prizes are holiday decor and other items from local merchants, and you don't need to be there to win.
The 30A.com listing says 100% of proceeds go to the two 2026 charitable partners, Alaqua Animal Refuge in Freeport and Caring & Sharing of South Walton. According to the Eventbrite page, Caring & Sharing has served Walton County residents for 30 years and helps an average of 850 local families each month with financial assistance, food, counseling and case management. That puts a ticket price near $30 against a monthly need of hundreds of households.
VIE Magazine covered the fifth annual tour in 2023, and 2026 is the eighth. Since space is limited and refunds aren't offered, buy tickets early and decide your plans for that Saturday first.
After the Tour, the Calendar Moves to the Dining Room
After Dec. 5, the town calendar is mostly empty for the rest of December, and the holidays move into restaurants. Havana Beach has Christmas Eve seatings from 4 to 8 p.m. and Christmas Day seatings from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., both with a three-course prix fixe menu, and it strongly recommends reservations. On New Year's Eve it serves dinner with live entertainment from 5 p.m. to midnight. The prix fixe dinner runs 5 to 10 p.m., the bar stays open until midnight, and two-hour table reservations are strongly recommended. The restaurant says its events may change, so check before you book.
For a quieter December evening, there's Blue By Night, the wine bar in the Rosemary Beach Inn's lobby. It opened in May 2026 with hours of 5 to 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. The innkeeper calls it the reopening of a family business that first opened in 2001. The Sunday farmers' market keeps its 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. hours all season, so a Sunday morning in Barrett Square stays the same through the holidays.
So the season's busiest stretch runs from Monday, Nov. 23 through Saturday, Nov. 28. The key times are the Sunday order deadline, Wednesday's pickup window and Thursday's closed highway, with the Tour of Homes a week later as the last big event.
At Live Love 30A, we spend our holidays in these same squares, and we're glad to help you plan a Rosemary Beach Thanksgiving, whether that means timing guest arrivals around the 30A closure or finding a family-sized place for next year's tree lighting. Work With Us.
