What's on around Baton Rouge in November 2026

Government Street in Mid City closes down for the art hop on the third Friday of the month, and the Friday after Thanksgiving the holiday lights come on at Burden and at the zoo on the same night. Before either of them, polls open on the first Tuesday with ten constitutional amendments on the Louisiana ballot, five of them about property taxes. November 2026 around Baton Rouge turns on four dates: the election on the 3rd, Alabama in Tiger Stadium on the 7th, White Light Night on the 20th, and the lights opening on the 27th.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in Louisiana through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work from Bluffton, South Carolina, and I have not been to any of these myself. Every date below comes from the organizer, the venue, the parish, the state or the team that runs it, as each one has published it for 2026. Anything I could only find on a previous year's listing was left out of the dated list, and I say so further down. I checked all of it on October 26, 2026. If you are looking at homes anywhere from downtown out to Prairieville or Denham Springs this fall, the Baton Rouge area buyer guide covers the ten parishes here and the places inside them. It also covers what the homestead exemption does to a Louisiana tax bill after a home sells.

The election on the 3rd, and the five amendments about property taxes

Election day is Tuesday, November 3, and polls are open from seven in the morning to eight at night. The Secretary of State publishes the full ballot language for all ten proposed amendments, and the Louisiana House posts its own plain summaries of the same ten.

PAR Louisiana, which is the state's nonpartisan research council, published its own guide to the fall amendments earlier this month.

Five of the ten would change something about property taxes, which is why I am naming them on a mortgage page rather than leaving the whole ballot to the news. Amendment 1 would let a surviving spouse who holds the additional disabled-veteran exemption move it one time to a new primary residence. Amendment 2 is about what a local taxing body may do with its millage rate after a reassessment. Amendment 6 would let parishes and municipalities raise the exemption for owner-occupied homes of residents 65 and older, stepping up with age, effective in 2028. A parish or city could only put it in place if its own voters approved it at a separate election. Amendment 9 would raise the income limit for the special assessment level, which is the assessment freeze. Amendment 10 covers exemptions for blighted property that has been rehabilitated.

The one local item on the East Baton Rouge ballot is the mosquito abatement and rodent control renewal. WAFB reported the details on October 20: a ten-year renewal of a 0.50 mill property tax that raises about $3.1 million a year, at half the rate voters approved ten years ago. A mill is a dollar of tax for every thousand dollars of assessed value, and a Louisiana tax bill is a stack of them from the parish, the city and the special districts. The parish library's own millage was settled back in June rather than on this ballot.

If you are closing on a Louisiana home this fall, filing for the homestead exemption after closing is the one piece of paperwork that has to happen in your own name rather than the seller's. And if you are buying at 65 or older, the seller's assessment freeze and whether it transfers to you is the question Amendments 6 and 9 are both circling.

The state fair closes out on the 1st, and so does Cap City Beer Fest

The Greater Baton Rouge State Fair started on October 22, and Visit Baton Rouge lists it through Sunday, November 1 at the Airline Highway fairgrounds, five in the evening to ten. Two listings give different street numbers for the same fairgrounds, so you'll want to check the gate address on the fair's own page before you drive out.

This is also the fair's last year on that property. WAFB reported in May that the fair expects to move for 2027 ahead of planned construction at the site, with a Baker location among the possibilities and nothing settled yet.

Cap City Beer Fest is the same Sunday, downtown, and it is the one that benefits Companion Animal Alliance. Visit Baton Rouge lists it for November 1. The exact block moves around from year to year, so the organizer posts the corner closer to the day.

Two of the biggest home games of the year land in the same stretch

LSU is home twice, and the schedule LSU Athletics released has Alabama on Saturday the 7th and Texas on Saturday the 14th. Texas in Tiger Stadium is the first meeting between the two there since 1953. Kickoff times were not announced when I checked, and conference kickoffs get set a couple of weeks out, so the time you plan around should come off the athletics site. The road games either side are Tennessee on the 21st and Arkansas on the 28th.

Both of those are home games at a stadium that holds more than 100,000, in the middle of the city. If you are looking at homes in the Southdowns and Perkins Road area in the first half of the month, you'll want to pick a Sunday for it.

Southern is home on the same two Saturdays out at A.W. Mumford Stadium, with Bethune-Cookman on the 7th and Alcorn State on the 14th at two in the afternoon. The season closes with the Bayou Classic against Grambling in New Orleans at the end of the month, and the published dates for it disagree across listings, so that one belongs on the team's own page rather than here.

Basketball starts at the Maravich Center the day the polls open

The men open at home on Tuesday, November 3 against LSU New Orleans, which is what the old University of New Orleans has been called since it rejoined the LSU system in July. Then they host Texas Southern on Friday the 6th, the night before the Alabama game, and Queens of Charlotte on the 21st. Two more home dates show up in local coverage without appearing in the release I read, Louisiana Tech on the 9th and the University of Louisiana at Monroe on the 18th. Those two are worth a look at the schedule page before you buy a ticket.

The women play seven home games in the month. The release LSU Athletics put out in August has Southeastern Louisiana on the 2nd, Texas Southern on the 5th and McNeese on the 10th. After that come Denver on the 13th, Troy on the 16th, Fairleigh Dickinson on the 19th and Belmont on the 23rd. They finish the month at a tournament in Fort Myers.

Hockey comes back to the River Center

The Kingfish are new this season, playing in the Federal Prospects Hockey League, and the River Center arena is their home. The league's own schedule has two home dates this month, both Fridays at 7:05 in the evening: Monroe on the 20th and the Mid-South Monarchs on the 27th. The rest of November is on the road in Fresno, Binghamton, Monroe and Southaven.

The theatres, the symphony and a mariachi Day of the Dead show

The Manship's coming-soon calendar has Mariachi Herencia de México on Friday the 6th at 7:30, with a school matinee that morning that is already sold out. The River City Jazz Masters series marks its 20th anniversary on Wednesday the 11th at 7:30 with Wendell Brunious and The New Orleans Legends. Fastball plays the 13th at 7:30 by the venue's own listing, and one ticketing site says seven o'clock instead, so the Manship's page is the one to go by.

The same calendar has a Michalopoulos exhibit reception on Saturday the 14th from 3:30 to 5:30, with an artist question-and-answer session and a documentary. Then come The Story of Me and My Dad on Sunday the 15th at three, Candlelight Celtic Christmas on Wednesday the 18th, and the Okee Dokee Brothers on Friday the 20th at 10:30 in the morning. The listings carry two different times for the Candlelight show, which is the kind of thing the box office settles in one phone call.

The Baton Rouge Symphony's own calendar puts Tchaikovsky's Fifth at the River Center Theatre on Thursday the 12th at 7:30, and Bach to the Beatles on Thursday the 19th at 6:30. The symphony's homepage and its season page name two different venues for that second one, the Arts Council and the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center. Those are the same organization at its own building, so either way it is the St. Ferdinand Street address. The Louisiana Youth Orchestras play their fall concert on Sunday the 8th at five, out at Jefferson Baptist Church, and the youth schedule says its dates can still move.

Swine Palace runs A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Reilly Theatre on campus from the 12th through the 22nd, by the LSU School of Theatre and Film season page. Federales Fest is at Live Oak at Cedar Lodge on Friday the 6th with Pecos and The Rooftops on the bill, and Christian Youth Theater stages The Wizard of Oz from the 5th to the 7th at Abundant Life Church. Both of those come off Visit Baton Rouge's event listings.

White Light Night takes over Government Street on the 20th

Mid City Merchants lists White Light Night for Friday, November 20, and Visit Baton Rouge gives the hours as six to ten in the evening along Government Street. It is free, it is the biggest art market Mid City does all year, and past editions have run a couple of hundred makers through the corridor. One downtown listing shows a six-to-seven window for the same date, and it does not match the merchants' own hours.

You'll want to plan the parking ahead of time. In past years free parking opened up in lots along the route, and the organizers asked anybody coming to carpool or walk in. Whether a shuttle runs has changed from year to year, and the merchants' page is where that gets posted.

The farmers market, the historic site and a food and wine weekend

The Saturday market downtown runs year-round, eight in the morning to noon at 5th and Main, rain or shine, and BREADA runs a Thursday market on the same hours. November Saturdays fall on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Nothing I read says whether the Thanksgiving-weekend market keeps normal hours, so you'll want to check BREADA's page that week.

Up in West Feliciana Parish, the Audubon State Historic Site has a program every Saturday in November. Pumpkin carving comes first on the 7th, then The Old Ways on the 14th, seasonal cooking on the 21st and Black, White and Read All Over on the 28th.

The St. Francisville Food and Wine Festival runs Friday the 13th through Sunday the 15th, about thirty-five minutes north of Baton Rouge on the bluffs. The weekend is built out of separate ticketed events. A visiting-chef dinner runs at Restaurant 1796 on the Friday, then a jazz brunch at the St. Francisville Inn and Bubbles and BBQ at North Commerce on the Saturday, and the grand tastings at The Myrtles on the Sunday.

Thanksgiving morning downtown, and the lights come on the day after

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The Baton Rouge Turkey Trot starts the one-mile fun run and walk at 7:30 that morning from 368 Convention Street downtown, with the 5K behind it at eight. Packet pickup is the day before at Dick's House of Sport on Bluebonnet. The race benefits March of Dimes, and the registration page carries the fees and the cutoff dates. Some of the text on the race's own site still refers to an older year, while the registration page is kept current.

Louisiana Lights at Burden opens the night after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 27, and runs to December 30. It is a walk through lit garden rooms and along the lake, entry is timed every thirty minutes with the first session at 5:30 and the last at 8:30, and the opening weekend is priced as a peak night. Tickets went on sale September 1 and the Burden events page carries the link. That page also lists a separate 21-and-over Poinsettias and Prosecco evening at Louisiana Lights on Thursday the 19th from six to nine, which falls ahead of the public opening.

Zoo Lights opens the same Friday. The zoo's own calendar runs it from November 27 to December 30 from 5:30 to eight in the evening, closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Older pages give a November 28 start, and those belong to last season.

The downtown Festival of Lights, which is the big tree lighting with the parade and the fireworks, is just outside this month. Visit Baton Rouge has it on Saturday, December 5 from noon to seven, so it will land in next month's post.

Events I could not confirm for this year

Five things that turn up on November lists around Baton Rouge are not in the dated list above, because this year's date was not published anywhere I could read it on October 26.

The Lighting of Old City Hall in Denham Springs, which starts Christmas in the Village, is the one I most wanted to give you. A community calendar puts it on Friday, November 27, while the city's own event page still describes the 2025 run, so the city is where the 2026 date will land. For the Gonzales tree lighting, the only date I could find belongs to last year and falls in December anyway. Zachary has nothing posted for a 2026 parade or lighting. The Mid City Makers Market closed in 2022, came back for a one-night December market in 2024, and has no 2026 schedule I could find. Last is A Celtic Christmas, listed at the River Center Theatre on November 19. It shows up on resale and aggregator sites while the venue's own calendar does not carry it, which usually means a mislabeled listing for the Candlelight show at the Manship the night before.

There is no 2026 Veterans Day parade announced for Baton Rouge that I could find. Veterans Day is Wednesday the 11th. The USS Kidd, where the capital-region parade has ended in past years, is still out of the water. The Advocate reported that low river levels pushed the ship's return, and the museum's latest word puts it in the spring of 2027. If you are buying here with your VA benefit, VA loans in Louisiana covers how the entitlement works across the state, and Amendment 1 on this ballot is the disabled-veteran exemption question.

New around the area this year

The I-10 widening moved onto the bridge approaches this year. The project's own site says the crews started widening the westbound I-10 ramp where it crosses over I-110 in the second quarter of this year, and that stretch of ramp work runs about a year. They are also building the new bridge that carries I-10 over City Park Lake, west of Perkins Road. Three lanes stay open each way through all of it. The state Department of Transportation and Development put the start of the ramp work at April 10, and the department expects the stage that widens the main highway lanes to be done in 2027. If you ruled out a home on the wrong side of that corridor because of the drive, the finish line on it is next year rather than this one.

The new Mississippi River bridge is down to three possible crossings, all in Iberville Parish. Engineers cut thirty-two candidate sites to three, each connecting LA 1 and LA 30. The project's own overview says the soonest a new bridge could open to traffic is 2033, and about $400 million of a roughly $2 billion cost is in hand. The department expected to present the preferred location in an environmental assessment by December, so the named route should be public this winter.

The Comite River Diversion Canal is about two-thirds built and the flood maps have not moved yet. The Army Corps now puts full completion at the end of 2028, the diversion structure itself at around 35 percent, and the final cost at $819 million. New floodplain maps are expected in the spring of 2027. Until the control structures are finished the canal does not lower anybody's flood risk, and FEMA has not redrawn anything. So a flood zone on an address you are looking at today is the flood zone that prices your insurance today. That matters here because flood insurance is a large monthly line in this metro, and so is wind coverage. What a FORTIFIED roof does to the insurance inside a Louisiana payment walks through the discount side of it.

The Scotlandville branch library reopened in August after an $8.8 million renovation. The parish library's own page for the branch puts it at just over 24,000 square feet, about 6,000 more than the 2001 building. Inside it are a bigger children's room, teen study rooms, a makerspace, a meeting room that holds 120, and a dedicated Black Heritage area with a mural based on work by Randell Henry.

Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana Steel broke ground near Donaldsonville on September 4 and started posting jobs this month. Roughly forty openings went up in mid-October, and the company has said it wants about 1,300 people in place before the $5.8 billion mill starts producing in 2029, with a training center going in alongside River Parishes Community College. The Advocate covered the hiring runway, and reporting also notes the plant still needs its final air permit from the state before heavy construction can go ahead. If a job in Ascension Parish is what is bringing you here, the documents we will need depend on how you are paid. For a salaried position, we will need your offer letter and your pay stubs covering the last 30 days, please. If you will be working for yourself, we will need your complete income tax returns, all pages and schedules, for the past two years, for you personally and for any business that you may have an interest in, please. Getting pre-approved in Louisiana covers what gets reviewed before anybody writes a letter, and self-employed mortgages in Louisiana covers the returns side of it.

A handful of restaurants opened across the year. Emeril's Chop House took over the former 18 Steak space at L'Auberge, and Dumpling Hour opened on Corporate Boulevard in September. Tsaocaa opened in Acadian Perkins Plaza, and the Historic Highland Road Grill opened in October in the building that was Sammy's Grill. 225 Baton Rouge tracks the openings month by month if you want to know what is new on a street you are shopping.

Common questions

What is happening around Baton Rouge at Thanksgiving 2026?

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The Baton Rouge Turkey Trot runs its one-mile and 5K downtown that morning from 368 Convention Street, starting at 7:30. The night after, Louisiana Lights opens at LSU Burden Museum and Gardens and Zoo Lights opens at BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo, both from 5:30 in the evening. The Red Stick Farmers Market has a Saturday market on the 28th, and the Kingfish host the Mid-South Monarchs at the River Center on Friday the 27th.

When does LSU play at home in November 2026?

Twice. LSU Athletics has Alabama in Tiger Stadium on Saturday, November 7 and Texas on Saturday, November 14. Kickoff times were still unannounced when I checked on October 26. Basketball is at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center through the month, with the men opening against LSU New Orleans on the 3rd and the women playing seven home games between the 2nd and the 23rd.

When is White Light Night in Baton Rouge in 2026?

Friday, November 20, from six to ten in the evening, along Government Street in Mid City. Mid City Merchants posts the date and Visit Baton Rouge carries the hours. It is free. One downtown calendar lists a shorter window for the same night, and the merchants' page is the one to go by.

What is on the Louisiana ballot on November 3, 2026?

Ten proposed constitutional amendments, plus federal, judicial and local races, and parish propositions. The Secretary of State publishes the ballot language for all ten. Five touch property taxes. They cover the transfer of a surviving spouse's disabled-veteran exemption, local millage rates after a reassessment, and a larger exemption for owner-occupied homes of residents 65 and older that each parish or city would have to adopt separately. The other two are a higher income limit for the special assessment level and exemptions for rehabilitated blighted property. In East Baton Rouge there is also a ten-year renewal of a 0.50 mill mosquito abatement and rodent control tax at half its former rate. Polls are open from seven in the morning to eight at night, and your parish registrar has the sample ballot for your own address.

Are all of these inside the city of Baton Rouge?

Several are not. The St. Francisville events are up in West Feliciana Parish, the Audubon site is on Highway 965 above the city, and the Hyundai-POSCO mill is down in Ascension Parish near Donaldsonville. The two things to find out about any address you are serious about are which parish it is in and whether it is inside a city's limits. The parish assessor sets the tax bill, and the city adds its own millage on top. St. George is its own city now, and that changes which municipal taxes apply on the same stretch of road. The Baton Rouge area buyer guide walks through it parish by parish.

I am moving to the Baton Rouge area this winter. Where should I start?

You'll want to start with the parish and the flood picture, because this metro runs across ten parishes and two banks of the Mississippi. A Baton Rouge mailing address does not tell you which parish you are in, or what the flood map says about the lot. The Louisiana page covers the statewide pieces, including the notary closing, which works differently from the title-company closings clients know from other states. Then please give me a call and tell me which areas you are looking in, and I can show you what your numbers look like in each of them.