Hollis This Holiday Season: The Dates, Deadlines, and Traditions to Put on Your Calendar

On the evening of Saturday, December 12, more than 2,000 luminaria lanterns will glow along Hollis's historic district and around Monument Square. Volunteers will start placing and lighting them at 2 p.m. that afternoon. The lanterns get built six days earlier, on Sunday, December 6, starting at 1 p.m. in the Brookdale Farm warehouse at 38 Broad Street.

That's how the whole season works in Hollis. Almost every holiday tradition in town is put together by local hands: the church fair's frozen pies, the Rotary craft sale, the Woman's Club cookies, the chili supper, the Town Band concert. Each one comes with an earlier date that matters more than the event itself, like a preorder cutoff, a sign-up, a drop-off time, or a call for volunteers. If you wait until December to think about the holidays, you'll miss most of them. The calendar below runs in the order those decisions come due.

The season at a glance

This weekend: art at the barn, and a Sunday pie deadline

The first two dates land right after this post goes up. The Hollis Arts Society Art Show and Sale runs Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Lawrence Barn, 28 Depot Road. The society calls it its biggest annual event. It's a showing of what local artists have been making, and it doubles as an early chance at handmade gifts.

Sunday the 8th is also the last day to reserve a pie from the Christmas Fair. According to the Congregational Church of Hollis's November 2026 newsletter, preorders are due by 11/8. You can choose from:

• Traditional two-crust apple pie
• Dutch crumb apple pie
• Triple berry pie
• Apple crisps, in a square pan or a 9"x13" pan

You pick up and pay for your order at the fair on November 21. The pies come frozen, ready to bake at home, which puts them in your freezer five days before Thanksgiving on November 26. To order, email [email protected].

The order is simple: reserve in early November, pick up in late November, bake whenever you're ready. That two-step pattern shows up again and again this season.

November 21: the Christmas Fair on Monument Square

The 2026 Christmas Fair & Luncheon fills the Congregational Church at 3 Monument Square from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 21. The newsletter lists raffle baskets, a book room, a bake sale, holiday pies and crisps, jams and jellies, a silent auction, a "New to You" room plus crafts, and a kids' craft room.

If you're planning the day around a family schedule, these times help:

• Santa visits: 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to take pictures.
• Luncheon: 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Hardy Hall, with holiday music.
• Angel Loft: a shop where only children do the shopping, so kids can pick out gifts on their own.

If you preordered pies, plan to pick them up the same visit. For a household that planned ahead, Thanksgiving dessert, a photo with Santa, and lunch all happen in one Saturday on the square.

Thanksgiving week: the farm stand that never closes

Lull Farm's Hollis market at 65 Broad Street, on Route 130, is open every day of the year from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. That makes it a dependable stop for the things that run out the week of Thanksgiving. The Lull Farm Bakery & Kitchen turns out fresh breads, pastries, pies, and soups. Lull's bakery page says its Thanksgiving menu becomes available at the Hollis farmstand on November 1, though the page doesn't print a year. Ask at the counter for this season's menu and ordering cutoffs before you count on a particular item.

December 6 and 12: the luminaria weekend

The 12th Annual Hollis Holiday Luminaria Stroll & Town Band Concert is the biggest day of the season, and the clearest example of how much of it depends on neighbors showing up. It spans three days: building the lanterns on December 6, the event itself on December 12, and clean-up at 8:30 a.m. on December 13. The organizers ask for volunteers to help place and light the lanterns and again for the clean-up.

Here's how Saturday, December 12, unfolds:

1. 10 to 11:45 a.m.: Holiday Gift Workshop for Kids at Hollis Artspace, 30 Ash St. Advance sign-up is required. The workshop is also offered on December 11.
2. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Gingerbread House Contest drop-off at the Lawrence Barn, 28 Depot Rd. Judging starts at 1 p.m.
3. 2 p.m.: Volunteers begin placing and lighting the luminaria. Snacks go on sale in front of Hollis Town Hall, 7 Monument Square, until 6 p.m. Musical performances run until 4 p.m. on the Squires Community Patio at the Congregational Church.
4. 3 to 6 p.m.: Holiday Craft Sale with local artists, sponsored by the Hollis-Brookline Rotary Club, inside Town Hall. At 3:30 p.m., the church Meetinghouse opens so visitors can warm up.
5. 4 p.m.: Luminaria Stroll and Tree Lighting on Monument Square, with carolers from the Hollis Brookline Middle School Chorus and the gingerbread contest winners announced. The Hollis Historical Society's Always Ready Engine House museum at 26 Main St. holds a holiday open house with hot apple cider until 6 p.m.
6. 4:30 p.m.: Santa rides a lit tractor and hay wagon from Monument Square down Depot Road to the Lawrence Barn.
7. 4:45 to 6:15 p.m.: Community Chili & Cornbread Supper, with hot dogs too, at the Congregational Church. Enter through the center double doors at ground level. Everyone is welcome. Donations go to Holiday Food boxes.
8. 5 to 6:30 p.m.: Visits with Santa at the Lawrence Barn, hosted by the Hollis Woman's Club, with refreshments and holiday cookies for sale. Lit tractors are on display at Hardy North Field, 42 Depot Rd.
9. 7 p.m.: The 30th Annual Hollis Town Band Holiday Concert and Bake Sale in the Hollis Brookline High School auditorium, 24 Cavalier Ct. Organizers ask for one or more non-perishable food items for admission.

Look at how the day is paid for. The supper runs on donations for food boxes, Santa's visit takes donations to cover the day's costs, and the concert asks for a donation of non-perishable food.

The luminaria weekend has its own early deadlines too. The Woman's Club Christmas cookies can be preordered through the luminaria website, the kids' workshop needs advance sign-up, and gingerbread houses have to be dropped off by 1 p.m. If your family wants a contest entry, start baking the week before.

Parking for the stroll

The organizers point to four places to park:

• The lot behind the Hollis Social Library, 2 Monument Square
• The Lawrence Barn lot, 28 Depot Road
• The field at 12 Monument Square
• The Hollis Brookline Middle School lot, 25 Main St.

Santa's tractor ends at the Lawrence Barn, and the concert is at the high school on Cavalier Court. If you plan to stay through the evening, think about where you'll be at 7 p.m. when you choose a spot.

In between: weekly anchors and a tree just over the line

Between the big dates, a few smaller standing activities fill out the weeks.

Classes at Hollis Artspace. The studio and gallery at 30 Ash Street offers classes and workshops and has a gift shop of work by local and regional artists. Its October newsletter lists "Drawing Animals" on Mondays, November 9, 16, and 30 and December 7, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. It also promotes holiday-season workshops in printmaking, junk journals, felting, watercolor, and seasonal Zentangle. Check exact dates with Artspace before you plan around them.

Sunday music bingo. Pizzeria Zacharia Bar & Grill, at 85 Runnells Bridge Road, serves Italian food and handcrafted pizza. Hollis Brookline News lists Sunday music bingo there on November 8 at 6:30 p.m. It's free to play, with gift-card prizes and a $25-plus-tax special of a large cheese pizza with six tenders or wings.

Choose-and-cut trees. The nearest cut-your-own option is just across the town line at Live Tree or Die Farm, 11 Cricket Hill Drive in Amherst. The farm grows Balsam, Fraser, and Concolor firs and provides maps, saws, netting, hot chocolate, and donuts. Its site lists hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, then Saturdays in December until the trees sell out. On this year's calendar, those are November 27 and 28 and the Saturdays starting December 5. The site lists $100 per cut-your-own tree and $150 for a tree, stand, and wreath combo. Neither the prices nor the schedule is dated to this year, so check with the farm before you go. If you cut on December 5, you'll have a tree up a week before the luminaria.

If friends or family visiting for the luminaria start asking what homes in Hollis are like, or you'd like to talk about your own plans over the holidays, I'm always happy to answer questions with no pressure and no timeline. Reach out to Sharon Bean whenever it suits you. Let's Connect.