Winter Art Fairs and Holiday Art Markets Near Kannapolis, NC
Around Kannapolis, the winter art fair season is really a November and December one: all eight events here fall in those two months, and nothing turned up for January or February 2027. For original art rather than stocking fillers, the Mooresville Fine Arts Festival on November 21 is the one juried fine-art fair in the set, with up to 70 artists and free admission. In Kannapolis itself, the Second Saturdays Maker's Market lines West Avenue on December 12, also free.
The others trade off size against cost. The Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte has 400 vendors and a $22 walk-up ticket, the 5th Annual Christmas Extravaganza in Concord advertises over 200 for $10, and three charge nothing at all. They also differ in what is on the tables: the two juried shows screen who can sell, while most of the holiday markets lean toward gifts, decor and food.
Our picks
- Buying an original piece: Mooresville Fine Arts Festival. Juried, with up to 70 artists showing painting, pottery, photography, jewelry and woodwork, and free admission and parking at the Charles Mack Citizen Center.
- Staying in Kannapolis: Second Saturdays Maker's Market, Downtown Kannapolis. About 20 makers on the West Avenue sidewalk downtown on December 12, free, with vendors packing up at 3 p.m.
- A big indoor browse ten minutes away: 5th Annual Christmas Extravaganza. Over 200 vendors inside the Cabarrus Arena over Thanksgiving weekend, and the $10 ticket is good for all three days.
- Handmade only, for a few dollars: Southern Touch Craft Show: Christmas in Salisbury. Juried to screen out resellers and direct-sales booths, with $5 tickets and hours of 10 to 4 on both days.
- Last-minute gifts with kids along: Miracle on 26th Street Holiday Market. Free, noon to 5 on the last weekend before Christmas, inside a food hall with a free lot and the 25th Street light rail stop nearby.
At a glance
| Option | Admission | Address | City | Date | Month | Vendors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freesource | 115 West Avenue, Kannapolis, NC 28081source | Kannapolissource | Dec 12, 2026source | Decembersource | 20source | |
| Freesource | 215 N Main St #2527, Mooresville, NC 28115source | Mooresvillesource | Nov 21, 2026source | Novembersource | 70source | |
| $5source | 1965 Jake Alexander Blvd. W., Salisbury, NC 28147source | Salisburysource | Nov 21, 2026source | Novembersource | ||
| $10source | 4751 State Hwy 49, Concord, NC 28025source | Concordsource | Nov 27, 2026source | Novembersource | 200source | |
| 329 McGill Ave NW, Concord, NC 28027source | Concordsource | Nov 28, 2026source | Novembersource | |||
| $22source | 800 Briar Creek Road, Charlotte, NC 28205source | Charlottesource | Nov 11, 2026source | Novembersource | 400source | |
| 300 Camp Road, Charlotte, NCsource | Charlottesource | Dec 2026source | Decembersource | |||
| Freesource | 421 E 26th St, Charlotte, NC 28205source | Charlottesource | Dec 20, 2026source | Decembersource |
Juried art show or holiday gift market
Only two events jury their sellers. Mooresville Arts juries the Mooresville Fine Arts Festival, and Southern Touch juries its first Christmas in Salisbury show to keep resellers out. Everything else is a market: the Christmas Extravaganza leans festive and giftable, the Southern Christmas Show is decor, apparel and food with craft booths mixed in, and the Christmas Market at Cabarrus Brewing Co. is mostly handmade gift stalls in a brewery yard.
The Charlotte markets sit between the two. The Mistletoe Market at Camp North End is the most design-led, curated with Vintage Charlotte and Studio Cultivate, and Miracle on 26th Street is a curated pop-up whose vendor list is not published ahead of time.
Free, $5, $10 or $22 at the door
Three events are free: Second Saturdays, Mooresville and Miracle on 26th Street. Southern Touch charges $5 and the Christmas Extravaganza $10 for all three days. The Southern Christmas Show is the one real outlay. The table shows its $22 full-price weekday ticket, but advance weekday tickets are $20, weekend tickets run to $25, and parking adds $12. Cabarrus Brewing and Camp North End have not posted a 2026 price.
Planning the weekends from mid-November
The Southern Christmas Show opens first, on November 11, and runs twelve days. Mooresville and Salisbury then share the weekend of November 21 and 22, the Christmas Extravaganza and the Cabarrus Brewing market fall on Thanksgiving weekend, and December brings Second Saturdays on the 12th, Miracle on 26th Street on the 19th and 20th, and Camp North End's market on the first three Saturdays. Camp has not yet named those Saturdays, and the Christmas Extravaganza holds its vendor list until tickets go on sale October 1.
The options in detail
Second Saturdays Maker's Market, Downtown Kannapolis
The only one of these that is actually in Kannapolis, and the easiest to drop in on: makers set up along the West Avenue sidewalk downtown on the second Saturday of the month, and the December 12 date is the last of the 2026 run. It is a sidewalk market rather than a juried art show, so expect a mix of handmade goods alongside the downtown shops, which run their own pop-ups and deals the same day. Vendors pack up at 3 p.m., though the listing notes some stay until 5 depending on the weather. Nothing to pay and nothing to book.
Mooresville Fine Arts Festival
The closest thing on this list to a true fine-art fair rather than a gift market: Mooresville Arts juries the exhibitors, and the 2026 edition is billed as up to 70 artists showing original painting, pottery, photography, jewelry, metalwork, woodwork and fibre art. It runs two days indoors at the Charles Mack Citizen Center in downtown Mooresville, with free admission and free parking, and the organizers say last year's festival drew more than 2,000 visitors. There is a separate ticketed kick-off night at the Mooresville Arts gallery on the Friday if you want the preview. Worth the 25-minute drive if you are shopping for a piece rather than a stocking filler.
Southern Touch Craft Show: Christmas in Salisbury
A juried handmade art and craft show, which means the organizers screen out resellers and direct-sales booths before the doors open. This is the first Salisbury Christmas edition from Southern Touch, who already run shows at the Rowan County Event Center and the Cabarrus Arena, and it runs both Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4 with free parking. Tickets are five dollars at the low end, so it is a cheap browse compared with the big Charlotte shows. The organizers have not published a vendor count for this one yet.
5th Annual Christmas Extravaganza
The biggest craft market in Cabarrus County itself, ten minutes from Kannapolis at the Cabarrus Arena, and the one to pick if you want volume without driving to Charlotte. Sunny Day Markets advertise over 200 indoor vendors across three days, and the ten dollar ticket is good for all three, so you can come back. The whole show is inside, which matters for a Thanksgiving weekend that can go either way, and parking is free. It leans festive and giftable rather than fine art, and the vendor lineup is not published until tickets go on sale on October 1.
Christmas Market at Cabarrus Brewing Co.
A one-day vendor market in the brewery yard in Concord, run by Cabarrus Festivals as the opening act for the town's Christmas Festival the following weekend. The page promises dozens of Christmas vendor booths on November 28, with the tree lighting, Santa photos, live music and a kids' play zone saved for December 5 and 6. Cabarrus Brewing has hosted its own holiday market here for years, so the format is familiar: shop with a beer in hand, mostly handmade and gift stalls rather than gallery work. The organizers have not posted an admission price or a vendor count for the 2026 market.
Southern Christmas Show
The region's holiday shopping institution, now in its 59th year and running twelve straight days at the Park Expo in Charlotte. The show puts its own numbers at 400 vendors and more than 95,000 shoppers, which makes it far larger than anything else within reach of Kannapolis, and it is a decor, apparel, food and gift show with craft booths in the mix rather than a fine-art fair. It is also the only one here you really pay for: adult weekday tickets are cheaper bought in advance, weekend tickets cost more again, and parking is twelve dollars on top. Go on a weekday morning if crowds bother you.
Mistletoe Market at Camp North End
Camp North End's annual evening market takes over the old industrial campus north of uptown Charlotte on the first three Saturdays of December, curated with Vintage Charlotte and Studio Cultivate. It is the most design-led market on this list: a rotating cast of local makers, food and drink on site, music, and enough happening around it (ice skating, a dog parade) that it works as an outing rather than a shopping errand. Camp has confirmed the market returns in 2026 but has not published the exact Saturdays or a vendor count yet, so check before you drive. Parking fills fast; the site itself recommends walking, biking or carpooling.
Miracle on 26th Street Holiday Market
A two-day pop-up market inside Urban District Market in Charlotte's Mill District, put on by POP.culture on the last weekend before Christmas. Both days run noon to 5, admission is free and open to all ages, and there is a free lot on site plus the 25th Street light rail stop a short walk away. Being in a food hall means you can eat and shop in the same room, which makes it the easiest of the Charlotte options with kids in tow. It is a curated pop-up rather than a juried art show, and the vendor list is not published in advance.
How we researched this
We treated winter as the cold-season fair calendar from mid-November through February and searched Cabarrus, Rowan, Iredell and Mecklenburg counties for January and February 2027 art and craft fairs. None turned up, so those months are empty in the Month column on purpose. Christmas in Davidson is missing because its town page gives neither a venue address nor an admission price, the ClearWater Arts Center holiday market in Concord because it had not posted a 2026 date, and Christmas Made in the South at the Cabarrus Arena because it runs October 23 to 25, which is fall. Shows in Greensboro, Waxhaw and Matthews were further away than anything kept.
Vendor counts are what each event advertises, with a claim of more than 20 recorded as 20, and an empty count or price means the organizer had not published one when we looked in early September 2026. Camp North End and Cabarrus Festivals were both still missing 2026 details in September, which makes their own pages the ones to watch.