What's on around Columbia in November 2026

The national steeplechase season ends on grass in Camden. Gates open at nine in the morning at Springdale Race Course on the fourth Sunday of November, horses jump in front of a crowd on the rail, and the last championship of the year is settled by mid-afternoon. This is the 51st running of the Colonial Cup, and race week starts three days earlier with a golf tournament and a polo afternoon.

Around Columbia, November is the month the holiday light shows open at Riverbanks and Saluda Shoals, the Gamecocks play five home basketball games downtown, and the steeplechase season finishes in Camden.

Every date below was confirmed for 2026 with the organizer, the venue, the city, the county, the state or the visitor bureau. Anything I could only find on a previous year's listing was left out, and there were seven of those this month. I have named them further down so you know what I looked at.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I live in Bluffton and I lend across the state, so the Midlands is a market I research rather than one I walk every day. Everything here is public information, cited beside the date it came from, and it was checked on October 23, 2026. If you are looking at homes around the capital this fall, the Columbia area buyer's guide covers the six counties, Lake Murray, Fort Jackson and the parcel questions that come with them.

Tuesday the 3rd is the general election, and Irmo has a question of its own

Election day is Tuesday the 3rd. Polls in South Carolina are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., you vote at the precinct you are assigned to, and you need one of the accepted photo IDs. The state election commission's own voter pages list the IDs and will find your polling place. Early voting ran October 19 through October 31, so the 3rd is the last day anyone can vote in person.

Voters who live inside the Town of Irmo have an extra line on the ballot. The question reads, "Shall the Town of Irmo change its form of government from the Council form to the Council-Manager form?" WIS reported in August that council passed it over two readings. WLTX explained what it does. The town already runs with a professional administrator, and the paperwork on file with the state still names the older council form. Town officials say the mayor's authority would not change. Irmo crosses the county line, so the question reaches eligible town voters on both the Lexington and the Richland side.

I am not taking a position on any of it. The Irmo page covers how that county line already shows up on an Irmo tax bill.

Five home basketball games at Colonial Life Arena, starting on the 3rd

The men's team opens the season at home and stays there for five straight games. The university's own non-conference release has Stetson on Tuesday the 3rd at 7 and Southeast Missouri State on Sunday the 8th at 1. The same release has Saint Peter's on Wednesday the 11th at 7, Gardner-Webb on Saturday the 14th at 2 and Elon on Wednesday the 18th at 7. The team then goes to Palm Springs for two games over Thanksgiving week.

The women play two home games at the same arena. The team's own schedule has Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday the 17th at 7, called the home opener, and Tennessee State on Saturday the 28th at 2:30. Both are on SEC Network Plus.

Seven arena nights in one month matter if you have showings booked downtown. Assembly Street and the Blossom Street side of campus back up badly from about an hour before tip-off.

Matt Mathews at the Township on the 5th, Rod Wave downtown on the 6th

Matt Mathews brings the Not What I Ordered tour to the Township Auditorium on Taylor Street on Thursday the 5th. The venue's own calendar carries two sets that night, an early one at 7 and a late one at 10:15.

Rod Wave plays Colonial Life Arena on Friday the 6th on the Don't Look Down tour. Ticketmaster has an 8 p.m. start and StubHub has 8:30, so I would go by whatever your own ticket says.

Justin Moore headlines the 2026 Fall Jam back at the Township on Saturday the 14th, doors at 6 and music at 7, per the same venue calendar.

Two home Saturdays at Williams-Brice, the 7th and the 21st

Texas A&M comes to Williams-Brice on Saturday the 7th. The university's own schedule still has the kickoff time unset, and so does Texas A&M's. ESPN's game page has it in an afternoon window between 3:30 and 4:30 Eastern.

Georgia closes the home schedule on Saturday the 21st. The two November road games are Arkansas on the 14th and Clemson on the 28th, so the Palmetto Bowl is in Pickens County this year rather than here.

A home Saturday at Williams-Brice fills the Rosewood and Shop Road side of town with traffic from late morning on. If you are driving in from Lexington or Blythewood to walk a home that day, you will want the morning rather than the afternoon.

JerryFest comes to Five Points on Sunday the 8th

JerryFest was supposed to happen on October 4 and the weather pushed it out five weeks. The Five Points Association's own event page now has it on Sunday the 8th from noon to 8, free, spread through the whole district. The festival is presented with Loose Lucy's and it celebrates the music of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. The band lineup was still being announced when I checked.

Graduation mornings at Fort Jackson

Fort Jackson is inside the Columbia city limits and it trains about half the soldiers who enter the Army each year, so graduation weeks fill hotel rooms across the Northeast side. The post's own calendar has two November ceremonies on Hilton Field at 9 in the morning. Those are the 1st Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment on Thursday the 5th and the 4th Battalion of the 39th Infantry Regiment on Wednesday the 25th. Family Day falls the day before a Thursday ceremony.

A third ceremony, the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry on Thursday the 19th, appears on two graduation-tracking sites and not on the post's own calendar. One of those sites also gives the 26th rather than the 25th for the 4th Battalion of the 39th Infantry. I would go by the post's own calendar, and visitors 18 and older need a pass at the gate.

South Carolina's disabled-veteran exemption and the 4% legal residence rate, the owner-occupied property tax rate, each have their own paperwork, and neither one is applied for you. The South Carolina VA loan page covers how the benefit works here.

Lake Murray Country opens its holiday shop on the 10th

The Lake Murray Country Holiday Open House runs Tuesday the 10th from 9 to 4 at the visitors center on North Lake Drive near the dam. The tourism office's own homepage has it as the start of its holiday season. Local makers set up inside with the gift shop, among them Lake Murray Pretzel Co., WeCo Candle Company and Dockside Charm Boutique, and a food truck parks outside.

The same day, the Columbia Art League opens its members' winter exhibition, Give the Gift of Art, and the league's own exhibit page has it on view from the 10th through January 5, 2027. Everything hanging is for sale. Over at the Columbia Museum of Art, the museum's own listing has Body Matters up through January 3, 2027, part of a national craft program marking the country's 250th year.

If you are looking around the lake this month, the water is going to be a long way down, and I explain why in the changes section below. The Chapin page covers the dock approvals and the sewer limits on that side of the lake.

Three days of craft booths at the fairgrounds, the 13th through the 15th

The Craftsmen's Christmas Classic fills the Cantey and Goodman buildings at the State Fairgrounds that weekend with handmade work, art, jewelry and gifts. Gilmore Shows, which runs it, calls this the 51st annual Columbia show and has it Friday 10 to 8, Saturday 10 to 6 and Sunday into the afternoon. Gilmore's own page closes the Sunday at 4 and a Lake Murray Country listing has 5, so the hour on the organizer's ticket page is the one I would plan around. A ticket is good for all three days with a return pass.

Wine on the River the 13th, Whiskey, Wine & Blues the 14th

Wine on the River is the Lexington Health Foundation's benefit, and the Lexington Chamber's community calendar carries it. The organizers have posted Friday the 13th as a save-the-date, with live music, food and tastings along the river in West Columbia. The venue has not been named for this year. The 2025 edition was at Stone River on Alexander Road and it sold out, so the foundation's own page is where the tickets will be.

Whiskey, Wine & Blues takes over 901 George Rogers Boulevard at the State Fairgrounds on Saturday the 14th from noon to 5, with VIP entry an hour earlier. The ticket page for this year has it as the second annual, 21 and over, no children and no pets, rain or shine, with the day benefiting the Jayln Rachel Foundation. ABC Columbia covered the announcement in September.

Vista Lights and the tree on Gervais, Thursday the 19th

Vista Lights is in its 41st year, and it is the night the holidays start downtown. The Vista's own event page has it on Thursday the 19th beginning at 6, with the tree lighting at 7 outside River Runner Outdoor Center at Lincoln and Gervais. Admission is free. There is an artisan market, and a free kids' zone with face painting, balloon art and Santa.

Park and Lincoln Streets close from 5 to 10 that night, and Gervais closes from Pulaski to Assembly at 6. Parking at the South Carolina State Museum is free, and Steel Hands Vista runs a free shuttle loop from the museum lot between 5:45 and 9:45.

Older listings still show Thursday the 20th, which was last year's date. The 19th is the one on the official page.

Camden race week, the 19th through the 22nd

Camden is in Kershaw County, about half an hour northeast of Columbia on I-20. Springdale Race Course there is the home of both of South Carolina's big steeplechase meets, the Carolina Cup in the spring and the Colonial Cup in the fall. Race week runs from Thursday the 19th through Sunday the 22nd, and the Carolina Cup Racing Association's own Colonial Cup page carries all of it.

Thursday the 19th is the Injured Jockeys Fund Golf Tournament at Camden Country Club, sponsored by the Camden Polo Club. Saturday the 21st is the polo day at 609 Polo Lane: gates at 11, a jockeys-versus-trainers match at noon and the Camden Cup at 3, with the gate going to the Injured Jockeys Fund.

Sunday the 22nd is the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup itself at Springdale Race Course, the 51st running and the season-ending championship of the National Steeplechase Association. Gates open at 9, the first race goes at 1, and the Colonial Cup hurdle is off at 2:45.

Camden charges the lowest town tax rate in the six counties, 12.4 mills in the South Carolina Association of Counties' 2025 rate report, and a mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. Kershaw County bills also carry their own flat solid waste fee and fire fee. The Columbia area buyer's guide breaks those out county by county.

A trail half marathon at Harbison on the 21st

The Broad River Half Marathon goes Saturday the 21st at 8:30 in the morning inside Harbison State Forest on Broad River Road, and the race's own registration page has packet pickup under the gazebo at the start from 7. It is 13.1 miles of singletrack through the forest, with stream crossings and rolling hills, and it is part of the Midland Mountain Trail Series. Some aggregator listings show an October date for this race; the organizer's page says the 21st. Registration closes that night.

The holiday lights come on at Riverbanks and Saluda Shoals

Wild Lights is the zoo's lights event, the one the Midlands knew for years as Lights Before Christmas. Riverbanks' own event page has it on select nights from the 20th through January 10, 2027, from 5 to 9 in the evening. Experience Columbia SC's listing spells out the nights the zoo is dark, and in November those are the 23rd, the 24th, Thanksgiving itself and the 30th. Tickets opened on November 2 in recent years and the zoo's ticket store carries the bookable dates, which is worth checking because one zoo page gives the 21st rather than the 20th. Santa visits run through December 23.

Holiday Lights on the River is the drive-through at Saluda Shoals Park on St Andrews Road. The Irmo Chapin Recreation Commission's own event page has it opening Wednesday the 25th and running nightly through December 31 from 6 to 10. You pay by the vehicle at the gate, and the route exits onto Bush River Road.

Both of those are in Richland County, and both pull traffic onto roads that a Saturday showing already has you on. The Blythewood page and the Lexington page cover what growth has done to the commute on either end of the metro.

Thanksgiving week, and a 5K on Black Friday

Thanksgiving falls on Thursday the 26th. The Shandon Turkey Trot & Burn 5K goes the next morning, Friday the 27th at 10, starting near Craft and Draft in Shandon. The race's own registration page has registration closing the night before at 11:59, costumes encouraged with prizes for the top ten, and strollers and leashed dogs welcome. It goes rain or shine.

Two Thanksgiving-morning races also show on a Columbia race directory for the 26th, a Children's Charities of the Midlands Turkey Trot and a Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands Turkey Day 5K at 9. Neither organizer has posted its own 2026 page that I could find, so I have left both out of the list above.

Farmers markets in November

Columbia is unusual in the Midlands for having a market that never closes. Soda City Market runs every Saturday of the year on the 1300 through 1500 blocks of Main Street from 9 to 1, and the state Department of Agriculture's listing carries those hours along with the market's own site. November Saturdays are the 7th, the 14th, the 21st and the 28th, including the one after Thanksgiving. Street parking downtown is free on Saturdays.

The Forest Acres Farmers Market finishes for the year this month. The city's own event page runs it Wednesdays from 2 to 6 at Gills Creek Memorial Park on Forest Lake Place and lists the last 2026 market as Wednesday the 4th. WIS went out there at the end of September and reported the season running through November, so the city's own calendar settles the final date.

The Lexington County markets are already closed. The Town of Lexington's own page ran the Market at Icehouse on Saturdays from May 16 through September 26 this year, and the Lexington Farmers' Market ran Tuesday afternoons at Fletcher Park through October 27. The South Carolina State Farmers Market on Charleston Highway in West Columbia is open daily year-round, though individual vendor hours vary.

The dates I could not confirm for this year

Seven things that belong on a November list around here are not above, because no 2026 date came from the organizer, the city, the county or the visitor bureau. I would rather say that plainly than hand you a date from last year.

• The City of Columbia's Veterans Day parade on the 11th. The 47th one went in 2025, starting at Sumter and Laurel and running south on Sumter to Pendleton near the State House, and the city has not posted a 2026 notice.
• The Governor's Carolighting at the State House. The 59th was Sunday, November 23, 2025 on the north steps at 6, and the governor's office has not announced this year's.
• The Blythewood Christmas tree lighting. One roundup lists a Sunday the 27th, and the 27th is a Friday in 2026, so the town is the place to ask.
• Columbia's Main Street holiday market and the Main Street tree. Both are usually December, and no 2026 date is posted.
• The Carolina Carillon holiday parade. The organizers have it on December 6 this year, outside this post.
• A Fall Back Fest in West Columbia. One listing gives Friday the 7th, and the 7th is a Saturday in 2026.
• The SC Korean Festival and a Day of the Dead program at the Columbia Museum of Art. Both appear only on listings whose weekdays line up with 2025.

If any of them post a 2026 date, they will be in December's list.

Changes around the area this fall

Lake Murray is going down to about 350 feet, and it stays there into the new year. Dominion Energy started lowering the lake in September and is aiming for roughly 350 feet by December, holding it there until the end of January. South Carolina Public Radio reported the schedule when Dominion announced it, with the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Services signed on. Dominion is doing it to kill back the aquatic vegetation, by exposing it to dry air and frost. The lake should be back to its 358-foot summer level by late spring. The last drawdown to 350 was January 2023. Coves and inlets are shallower than usual right now, which Dominion is warning boaters about, and it also means a waterfront lot you walk this month shows you a shoreline nothing like the summer one. Dominion also draws its permitting boundary at 360 feet of elevation, which is a different number from the water level. Any dock, boat ramp or retaining wall at or below that line needs Dominion's written approval before any other permit. So on a lakefront property you will want to find out whether the dock already has that approval.

SCDOT holds a public hearing on the Assembly Street railroad project on Wednesday the 4th. The project would separate the rail corridor from the street downtown, and WLTX covered what SCDOT is asking for. The open house runs 4 to 6 at 701 Whaley with the project team on hand, and the formal hearing follows from 6 to 7, with speakers signing up by 5:55. Written comments on the environmental assessment are open from October 21 through November 19, and the assessment can be read at SCDOT headquarters on Park Street or at the district office on Shop Road.

Carolina Crossroads has moved into Phase 3-C. WIS covered SCDOT's August update on the rebuild of the interchange tangle locals call Malfunction Junction. Phase 3-C widens I-20 and replaces the I-20 bridges over the Saluda River. The core I-20 and I-26 piece, Phase 3-E, is not scheduled to start construction until 2030, and the agency now puts the whole program near $2.7 billion finishing in the 2030s. Work has mostly been overnight and on weekends, and the project site posts the current closures.

Scout Motors says the Blythewood plant is about 90% built and about 900 people are hired. The company said so at an announcement on October 14, and North Atlanta Star reported it from the Upstate Business Journal's account. Two days later, HERE Columbia reported that seven Upstate parts makers are expanding to supply the plant, adding about 200 jobs and more than $82 million. The long-term target is still more than 4,000 permanent jobs at the plant, with roughly 1,000 more planned in a supplier park on the same site.

SCDOT is taking comments on its 2027 rural road safety list through November 9. The projects go to the Department of Transportation Commission in December, and approved work could start early next year.

A move for a new job changes how your income gets documented on a loan file, and what a lender reads depends on whether you are taking a salaried position or going out on your own once you get here. It helps me to know which one it is early. Pre-approval in South Carolina covers what a lender looks at before anybody writes a letter.

Common questions

When is the Colonial Cup in 2026?

Sunday, November 22 at Springdale Race Course in Camden. Gates open at 9 in the morning, the first race goes at 1, and the Colonial Cup hurdle is off at 2:45. The Carolina Cup Racing Association's own page has it as the 51st running and the season-ending championship of the National Steeplechase Association, with a golf tournament on the 19th and a polo day on the 21st ahead of it.

What is on the ballot in Irmo on November 3, 2026?

One town question, asking whether Irmo changes from the council form of government to the council-manager form. Town council passed it over two readings in August, and officials told WIS and WLTX that the town already runs with a professional administrator and the vote would correct the paperwork on file with the state. Irmo crosses the county line, so town voters see it on both the Lexington and the Richland side. The state election commission has sample ballots.

Are the farmers markets around Columbia open in November?

Soda City Market on Main Street runs every Saturday of the year from 9 to 1, so the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th are all market days. The Forest Acres market on Wednesdays closes for the season, with the city's own calendar listing the 4th as its last 2026 date. The Lexington County markets finished earlier: the Market at Icehouse ended September 26 and the Lexington Farmers' Market at Fletcher Park ended October 27. The State Farmers Market in West Columbia is open daily all year.

When does South Carolina play at home in November 2026?

Football hosts Texas A&M on Saturday the 7th and Georgia on Saturday the 21st, both at Williams-Brice Stadium, with kickoff times not yet set. Men's basketball has five home games at Colonial Life Arena, on the 3rd, 8th, 11th, 14th and 18th. Women's basketball hosts Florida Gulf Coast on the 17th and Tennessee State on the 28th at the same arena.

Why is Lake Murray so low in November 2026?

Dominion Energy is drawing the lake down to about 350 feet of elevation and holding it there until the end of January, to control aquatic vegetation by drying and freezing it. The lake is scheduled to come back to its 358-foot summer level by late spring 2027. Coves are shallower than usual, so a waterfront property walked this month looks very different from the same lot in July.

Which of these events are outside Richland County?

The Colonial Cup, the polo day and the golf tournament are all in Kershaw County, around Camden. Wine on the River is in West Columbia and the State Farmers Market is on Charleston Highway, both in Lexington County. Irmo's ballot question reaches voters in both Lexington and Richland. Everything else above is in Richland County. The county a home is in decides its tax bill, and around here the mailing address will not always tell you: a Columbia address can be in Lexington County, and a Blythewood parcel can be in Fairfield. The Columbia area buyer's guide walks through how to check a parcel, and applying for the 4% legal residence rate covers the form that gets you the owner-occupied rate once you close.

Can you lend on a home in the Columbia area?

Yes. I am licensed in South Carolina and I lend in all six counties of the Midlands, from Chapin and Irmo around the lake to Blythewood, Camden and Lexington. Call me if you would rather just talk it through.