Smyrna's Holiday Season Comes With a New Coffee Shop, a Rebuilt Park and Half a Mile of River

The dining room at 2874 King Street is pink from end to end. The walls carry flowers, suns and green accents painted by local artist Ashton Watson. Alex and Christian Ruppe are working toward a grand opening there for Lume Coffee Co., their first coffee business. The Marietta Daily Journal reports that Alex Ruppe hopes to open by mid-to-late November, though no final date has been set.

A coffee shop sounds like a small item for a city whose mayor spent his October state-of-the-city address on a 9-acre downtown redevelopment and a $35 million road project. Those big projects are still a long way off. What Smyrna residents can actually use between now and New Year's is smaller and more spread out: Lume near Market Village, a rebuilt playground on Teasley Road and a new stretch of trail on the Chattahoochee. All three are open now or expected by year-end.

The dates that anchor the season

The city's calendar stays close to downtown, and most of it sits in a ten-day stretch in early December.

The city calls Home for the Holidays its annual kickoff to the season. Local school choirs perform across Market Village, Santa lights the tree and stays for photos, and the Kris Kringle Market sells gifts and treats. The Smyrna Holiday Market follows four days later at Brawner Hall and Reed House on Atlanta Road. The 21-and-up evening at the Community Center on Dec. 10 closes out the city's December listings.

These events are where most people will spend the season. The places below are where the city has added something new.

Lume gives Market Village a reason to come back

If Lume hits its target, it opens a week or two before the tree lighting, close enough to Market Village that the Dec. 1 crowd will pass nearby. According to the MDJ, the menu covers traditional espresso drinks such as lattes and cortados, plus chai and matcha. The beans are roasted in Atlanta by Chrome Yellow, and the owners are choosing local bakeries to supply pastries. Alex Ruppe also plans bottled, ready-made lattes for people in a hurry, and she hopes to sell fresh-squeezed lemonade.

A grab-and-go option gives the shop an everyday role on top of the busy event nights. The Ruppes told the MDJ they picked downtown because the local community supports small businesses and they plan to stay a long time.

A few blocks' worth of downtown business may not seem like news. Mayor Derek Norton's address put a number on it, though. The Cobb Courier reported him saying the city sees 94,000 visitors a month, and that one downtown retailer estimates business is up 10 to 15 percent over last year. That is one retailer's estimate, not a citywide figure. Still, it explains why a first-time business owner would bet on this block.

Rose Garden Park is the bigger change, a couple of miles from the tree

The project that will change the most weekends is in a neighborhood, not downtown. Rose Garden Park, at 1870 Teasley Road next to Rose Garden Pre-K, is getting a $1.2 million rebuild. The MDJ reports the funding comes from the 2022 SPLOST, federal Community Development Block Grant money and Smyrna Community Improvement Project funds. In his address, Norton said the park sits in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods.

Here is what the 9-acre park is getting:

• A new playground in a new spot, nearly twice the size of the old one, which Parks and Recreation Director Richard Garland told the MDJ was about 17 years old
• Slides, swings, jungle gym pieces and giant red flowers to match the park's name
• A sand volleyball court and a pollinator garden
• A 100-person pavilion with a grill, plus a second, smaller pavilion
• Accessible sidewalks, a rebuilt walking trail that loops through the park and a new stormwater management pond

The basketball courts, tennis courts and restrooms are staying. Garland described the design to the MDJ in practical terms. "This is a park that gets used heavily by the neighborhood," he said. He added that the open layout lets a parent sitting at the pavilion see their kids playing, without the platforms and covered areas that can block the view.

The plan has been in the works for years. The park was first slated for upgrades in the city's "Recreate" master plan, published in January 2019, and the city met with surrounding neighborhoods before drawing up the new design. Construction is expected to finish by the end of the year. If the schedule holds, the large pavilion could be booked by family groups early in 2027.

Half a mile of the Chattahoochee is already open

The third change is the only one that is finished. The MDJ reported that officials cut the ribbon on a half-mile accessible section of the RiverLands Showcase Trail at Riverview Landing. The section sits in Riverview Park, a 12-acre linear park along the river at 6275 Riverview Road. It completes the northern part of the Cobb RiverLands Showcase Project, which starts in Discovery Park and runs through Riverview Landing to a trailhead across the river from Proctor Creek.

Walt Ray, who directs the Trust for Public Land's Chattahoochee program, told the MDJ: "The river was always here, but for many, it was hidden behind the industry, behind roads, behind private property, and it was hidden by the assumptions that we had built about our river."

Half a mile is a small piece of a large plan. Cobb's share of the trail is a $48 million project across Smyrna, Mableton and unincorporated Cobb. The full Chattahoochee RiverLands vision is 100 miles of trails and parks from Buford Dam at Lake Lanier to Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Newnan. The next local piece is a bridge over Nickajack Creek. Right now, people cross the creek by walking on a large sewer pipe. Ray told the MDJ construction would begin within weeks. A Cobb DOT presentation dated September 2026 lists the start as anticipated in 2027. Expect the pipe crossing to stay in place for a while. The county's next phase will run south from Nickajack Creek to Mableton Parkway, with paved shared-use paths and boardwalks over sensitive areas.

Most of the city's December events are built around crowds and evenings. The trail works for a quiet weekend morning instead.

The big downtown sites are still in planning

The big projects Norton highlighted are real, and none of them will change a December 2026 weekend.

The first is the 9-acre former Smyrna Baptist Church property downtown. Its next phase begins after the church moves to its new building, which is under construction off Atlanta Road. Norton said residents sent more than 17,000 ideas for the land, from a hotel to retail to recreation, and that more than 70 developers have shown interest. The chapel is being planned as an art and performance space.

The second is the former Emory hospital site at 3949 South Cobb Drive. The City Council approved a $756,000 contract with Complete Demolition Services to remove three buildings, a parking deck and other site features, then clear and grade the land. The city bought the 12.72 acres in April 2025 for $11.75 million. The developer concept Norton described includes indoor athletic facilities, fields for baseball, soccer and tennis, pickleball courts, senior programming, and restaurants and retail facing South Cobb Drive, possibly with a hotel. The MDJ notes the plans have not been finalized.

The South Cobb Drive improvements between Windy Hill and Concord roads have $28 million of an estimated $35 million secured. The design concept includes added travel lanes, landscaped medians, pocket parks and pedestrian and bike trails. No construction start has been announced. In West Village, What Now Atlanta reported in August that New York Butcher Shoppe plans a location at 4600 West Village Place, Suite 3001, with no opening date yet.

That leaves a short list for the next eight weeks. Coffee at Lume once it opens, the tree lighting at Market Village on Dec. 1, the Holiday Market on Atlanta Road on Dec. 5 and 6, and a morning walk on the new half-mile at Riverview Landing. Rose Garden Park's new playground should join that list as soon as the fencing comes down.

If you live near Teasley Road or Riverview Road and are wondering how these improvements might shape your plans, the team at Strong Tower Realty Inc is glad to talk it through. Request a free home valuation or speak with a local agent today.