Christmas in the Park at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park

Christmas in the Park turns a state campground into a holiday drive-through. Campsites along the loop dress up with thousands of twinkling lights, and families roll through at a crawl with the windows down, radios up, and hot chocolate within reach. Beyond the lights, a walk-through live nativity scene sits near the park facilities, with family crafts and activities for the younger set. It runs Friday, December 11, and Saturday, December 12, 2026, with the drive starting at 6:00 PM each evening.

A holiday tradition between the two towns

Lake Bob Sandlin sits roughly halfway between Mount Pleasant and Mount Vernon, which makes Christmas in the Park the rare seasonal event that both towns treat as their own. The park, part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife system, is a hangout all year for fishing and camping on Lake Bob Sandlin; for the first two weekends of December it trades its usual quiet for a genuinely big small-town holiday night. The 2026 edition is the 14th time the park has hosted it, and the format has held because it works: a slow car ride through lit campsites is exactly the kind of low-stakes, memory-making outing a December evening in East Texas is for.

The drive from the property

The park entrance is off State Park Road 1008, about a half-hour drive from County Road 1070 through the farm country between the two towns. It is an easy evening loop for anyone considering the property: light the fire early, drive over in the warm truck, take the loop slowly, and be home before the frost settles. For a buyer weighing whether this corner of Titus County has enough going on, nights like this are the answer, the kind of event a weekend place makes easy to attend because the whole county ends up there anyway.

December is already the busiest month on the local calendar, between the parades in Mount Pleasant and Mount Vernon, the tree lightings, and holiday concerts. Christmas in the Park fits between all of it, and because it runs two nights, it is forgiving of weather and schedules. Bundle up, take the long way around the loop, and let the campground do the decorating.