On November 30, the Battle of Franklin's 142nd anniversary, STFB volunteers and many others worked with one eye on the weather while placing 10,000 candle luminaries around the town square in honor of the dead, wounded, and missing resulting from the 1864 carnage.  Wind, cold, and rain were forecasted, but Franklin residents were determined the event would take place regardless.

After opening comments by Franklin Mayor Tom Miller, Confederate and Union bands marched into the city center from the north and the south, accompanied by respective color guards, and assembled at the base of the monument. The two bands alternated playing Northern and Southern tunes such as the "Red, White and Blue", the "Bonnie Blue Flag," and "Stonewall Jackson's Way". The two bands finally formed a "reconciliation" band to play "Home Sweet Home", the "Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful."

After the bands finished, church bells began tolling in the gathering dusk. "These luminaries represent 10,000 husbands, brothers and sons," Mayor Miller noted in his remarks to the crowd, "I hope we can do this every year.”