Galena's Christmas Tree Lighting is on Sunday, December 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Galena Square, with stories, songs and Santa. This year nearly all of the Village's construction is scheduled to wrap up just before it. Nearly every street, sidewalk and park project the Village of Galena has planned for 2026 sits between Miller Park on North Walnut Street and the square. Almost all of them have finish targets of November 15, Thanksgiving or the end of November.
These projects are more than routine repairs. They rebuild the quarter-mile between the Ohio to Erie Trail and downtown. On December 6 the whole village will walk that stretch at once, likely for the first time since the work began.
The lighting falls ten days after Thanksgiving this year
Last year Galena lit its tree on the square on November 30, three days after Thanksgiving, according to a Delaware Gazette holiday roundup. The Village calendar puts the 2026 lighting on Sunday, December 6, ten days after Thanksgiving on November 26.
That puts the lighting after the Village's two main construction deadlines. Columbus Street and Walnut Street are targeted for November 15. Holmes Street and the Miller Park Pavilion are targeted for Thanksgiving. The 2026 Community Improvement Projects page adds one caveat that applies to every date below:
"Schedules are subject to weather, material availability, and construction conditions."
Columbus Street gets the heavy pavement and a raised crosswalk
Columbus Street is downtown's restaurant row. In January, when Altafiber was boring fiber through downtown, the Village sent a notice to downtown business owners naming Son of Thurman, Toni's, the Galena Diner and the Coffee Vault as the storefronts along that stretch. Those four are a good map of the block:
- The Coffee Vault, 9 W. Columbus St., in a restored historic building
- Galena Diner, 13 Columbus St., which the Village says has served comfort food for more than 20 years
- Toni's Family Trattoria, 19 W. Columbus St.
- Son of Thurman, 31 W. Columbus St., a family offshoot of the Thurman Café that serves the Thurman Burger and the Thurmanator
On that same street, Chemcote/CTL is installing heavy-duty pavement, building a raised center-block crosswalk and restriping, with completion targeted for November 15. The crosswalk is the change pedestrians will feel most. A raised crossing in the middle of the block gives people a marked route from one side of the restaurant row to the other without walking to a corner. On lighting night, many of them will be heading to the square or coming back for dinner afterward.
West Columbus has a second project. In late September the Village began building new public parking, sidewalks and infrastructure at 42 W. Columbus St. Crews started demolition and a sewer tap on Monday, September 28. Parallel parking on the north side of West Columbus is closed until that work is done. Updates on that closure come through the Village's construction notices.
The same parcel has a private plan as well. According to the Delaware Gazette's summary of early 2026 zoning meetings, Galena's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 3-2 in February to approve Hollis Motor Co. The plan is an appointment-only classic car dealership in a 1,040-square-foot building designed to resemble a 1950s-era service station. Approval was contingent on variances and engineering reviews, and the Gazette reported the dealership would need nearby public parking.
Walnut Street links the square to Miller Park
The Walnut Street work matters most for getting around on foot. Miller Park is at 268 N. Walnut St. and has a playground, a basketball court and a paved walking trail. The Ohio to Erie Trail's Thomas W. Hopper Legacy Trail section runs through the park between Walnut and Holmes streets. The trail's North Walnut parking sits on the site of the old railroad station. The Village's outdoors guide says the trail's 1.5-mile segment through Galena passes Miller Park, and downtown's square and restaurants are about a quarter-mile off the trail.
Walnut Street covers that quarter-mile, and both halves are being rebuilt:
- North Walnut gets a paved, striped parking area with several new spaces and a new ADA-accessible sidewalk.
- South Walnut gets a relocated guardrail so designed parking spaces can be paved and striped, plus a wider street and a new sidewalk.
- Both segments get resurfacing and a replacement stormwater catch basin, with completion targeted for November 15.
South Walnut was the last piece to start. A Village notice posted October 29 said work on Columbus and North Walnut was wrapping up. It also said South Walnut would close between Columbus Street and Front Street beginning Monday, November 2, for about a week, depending on weather. If that schedule held, the street reopened around November 9.
Holmes Street is on the other side of Miller Park. The design-build team of McB and Sands Decker is widening, resurfacing, restriping and repairing it, with completion targeted for Thanksgiving.
Miller Park gets restrooms before winter
Of all the parts of the walk, Miller Park is changing the most. Here is where each park project stands, according to the Village's projects page:
| Miller Park project | Scope | Funding | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pavilion, Phase I | Completed earlier in 2026 | Village of Galena | Done |
| Pavilion, Phase II | Restrooms, electrical, concrete, stonework | Village of Galena | Thanksgiving 2026 |
| Miller Park Trail | Widening and resurfacing | Preservation Parks of Delaware County | November 2026 |
| Parking lot | Paved driveway, expanded and paved lot, striping by Chemcote/CTL | Village of Galena | End of November 2026 |
| Pavilion, Phase III | Painting, trim, signage, landscaping | Village of Galena | 2028 |
Restrooms and electrical service make a park shelter usable for much more of the year. Preservation Parks of Delaware County is funding the trail widening, which reaches into the trail corridor itself. Taken together, a paved lot, a wider trail and a finished pavilion make Miller Park a practical starting point for downtown. Cyclists coming in on the Ohio to Erie Trail and families parking near North Walnut can both start there.
The square is already done, and Village Hall is next
Galena Square's own work was finished before this fall's deadlines. T Crete installed sidewalks around the full perimeter of the square, a new crosswalk and a traffic-calming bump-out on the southwest corner to improve ADA accessibility.
Village Hall at 109 Harrison St. is the one piece on the schedule that may still be in progress around lighting night. T Crete and Lawn Masters are building a new ADA-accessible entrance, with completion planned for December 2026. The building is more than offices. Village residents can rent it for events, and the Galena Historical Foundation Museum is on the top floor. The Galena Historical Foundation takes part in the tree-lighting festivities, and the museum is open to the public on the first and third Saturdays of each month except January and February. On that schedule, December 5 and December 19 are the museum's Saturdays around the lighting.
Two crossings already finished this year
This fall's work builds on two connections that opened earlier in 2026. The Delaware Gazette reported that Galena reopened the refurbished Walnut Creek Bridge for pedestrians and cyclists between Harrison Street and Joe Walker Road after a July 9 ribbon cutting. Columbus Recreation and Parks told the Gazette that its rebuilt 1,500-foot timber boardwalk off the Mudflats parking lot at Hoover Reservoir opened March 18, after the previous structure closed in 2021. The Village counts the Walnut Creek Trail, including Kane's Crossing over Big Walnut Creek, among its trails. It also starts near Ruffner Park at 170 Harrison St., a few blocks from the square.
Galena's civic calendar between now and the lighting
These are the Village calendar dates and construction targets on the way to December 6:
- Wednesday, November 11: Village offices closed for Veterans Day.
- Sunday, November 15: target for Columbus Street and both halves of Walnut Street.
- Monday, November 16: Village Council meeting, 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 18: Planning and Zoning meeting and a public hearing on the former Blackhawk Golf Course, both at 7 p.m.
- Thursday, November 26: Thanksgiving, with Village offices closed. This is also the target for Holmes Street and Miller Park Pavilion Phase II.
- End of November: target for the Miller Park Trail and parking lot.
- Sunday, December 6, 6 to 8 p.m.: Christmas Tree Lighting on Galena Square.
- December: target for the new Village Hall entrance.
If the targets hold, a family can park in the new Miller Park lot, take the widened trail and walk down North Walnut on the new sidewalk. They can cross Columbus Street mid-block on the raised crosswalk and reach the square on its new perimeter sidewalks, before dinner at one of the four restaurants on West Columbus.
If you're thinking about how Galena's improved village center fits your own plans, Dedra Lucas knows these streets block by block and would be glad to talk through what this fall's work means for the homes around the square, the park and the trail. Let's Connect.
