What time should you get downtown on the second Saturday of December? Most people would plan around the tree lighting. The City of Redwood City lists Hometown Holidays for Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 a.m. to "6:00 pm-ish" around Courthouse Square. It calls the tree lighting the "perfect way to end" the day.
Four separate organizers have programs downtown that Saturday, and each one has posted hours. They all start in the morning, and the last one closes at 3 p.m. The City lists the parade route and details as "coming soon," its page gives no time for the tree lighting, and it says all event details, activities and times are "tentative and subject to change." The evening is the part you can't pin down yet. The morning already has times attached, and that's where most of the day's programs are.
Four organizers, one stretch of hours
These are the programs that already have dates and times for Dec. 12, 2026, listed in the order they close.
| Hours | What | Where | Organizer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Merry Marketplace, featuring young local entrepreneurs | Fox Theatre lobby | City of Redwood City |
| 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Casitas Navideñas: Art & Tradition | Downtown Library Makerspace, 1044 Middlefield Road | Redwood City Public Library |
| 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Growing Hope seed-packet workshop | Center for Creativity, 800 Main St. | Center for Creativity |
| 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Encore Books on the Square | Lower level, San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway | San Mateo County Historical Association |
Two of the four close at 1 p.m. If you arrive after lunch, you can still catch the carnival rides, the main stage and Santa. The Fox lobby market and the library's painting table will already be packed up.
Why the first three hours fill up
The Merry Marketplace runs in the Fox Theatre lobby for only three hours. On its event page, the City describes it as a market of "Kidpreneurs" selling their own handmade creations and curated products, with interactive games mixed in. It's the only shopping on the official program with its own closing time. The other vendors fill the streets around Courthouse Square, and the City has been taking applications from food vendors, craft vendors and community organizations.
Casitas Navideñas runs during the same three hours at the Downtown Library. According to the library's calendar listing, it's open to all ages in the Makerspace. Each participant paints and decorates a small wooden house inspired by Latin American architecture and holiday traditions. The program is part of Raíces Creativas, a Latin American Arts & Culture Series sponsored by the Redwood City Arts Commission. You leave with a finished casita, which also works as a homemade gift.
Growing Hope starts and ends an hour later, at the Center for Creativity on Main Street. The Center's event page calls it an artist-led, drop-in workshop timed to Hometown Holidays. You design your own seed packet and take home California wildflower seeds, either to keep or to give away. The Center ties this workshop to the festival by name. If the morning goes long, it gives you an extra hour.
The building that does double duty
Courthouse Square's address is 2200 Broadway, and so is the San Mateo County History Museum's. That building has two of the day's stops. The City says Santa photos will be in the museum's rotunda. Encore Books on the Square is downstairs on the lower level.
Encore Books is open Saturdays only, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its proceeds support the San Mateo County Historical Association and its education programs. On most weekends you'd need a reason to be at the museum on a Saturday morning. On Dec. 12, the Santa line brings you to the same building during the five hours the used bookstore is open.
For new books and small gifts, Fireside Books & More is at 2421 Broadway. Its own site lists cards, gifts, puzzles, candles, toys, decor, bags and jewelry along with books. In April, Walking Redwood City reported that it was open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., closing at 6 p.m. on Sundays. Its weekday hours run well past the festival's closing time, so Fireside is the one gift stop that doesn't have to fit into Saturday morning.
Lunch on Middlefield, between the two clusters
The day's stops sit in two groups. The library and its Casitas table are on Middlefield Road. The Fox lobby, the museum and Courthouse Square are along Broadway, and the Center for Creativity is on Main Street. Lunch fits naturally between the morning programs and the afternoon on the square.
Gangsan Korean Restaurant at 830 Middlefield Road is the newest name on that block. The restaurant's own announcement listed its soft opening for Wednesday, July 22, 2026. It's in the former Dasbierhauz space. Redwood City Pulse reported that the beer hall closed permanently on June 30 after two years on Middlefield, and that Gangsan was taking over the location. Last December's festival had a beer hall at that address, and this year Gangsan's name is on it.
What the afternoon holds
After the timed programs close, the afternoon belongs to the City's own lineup. That includes carnival rides, which need tickets. It also includes Santa's Village, hosted by the Redwood City Parks & Arts Foundation, with crafts, cookie decorating, letters to Santa, holiday photo spots and storytimes with Mrs. Claus. The main stage features local schools, performers and community groups, plus a community holiday singalong with Sound Union. None of these has a posted start or end time yet. The parade route is listed as "coming soon," and the page posts no time for the tree lighting beyond placing it at the end of the day.
Here's one way to plan the Saturday, working backward from the 1 p.m. closings:
- 10 a.m. Start at the Downtown Library for Casitas Navideñas. Painted houses need some time to dry before you carry them around.
- Late morning Walk to the Fox Theatre lobby for the Merry Marketplace before it closes at 1 p.m.
- Before 2 p.m. Stop at the Center for Creativity on Main Street for a Growing Hope seed packet.
- Lunch Head back to Middlefield Road, where Gangsan has taken over the former Dasbierhauz space.
- Before 3 p.m. Go to 2200 Broadway for Santa photos in the rotunda and Encore Books downstairs.
- Afternoon into evening Spend the rest of the day at Courthouse Square for the main stage, Santa's Village, the parade and the tree lighting, once the City posts times.
You can do the stops in a different order. The times to plan around are the posted 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. closings, and the City notes that its own times are tentative.
The rest of December downtown
Dec. 12 is the biggest day, but it isn't the only date on the downtown calendar. These have confirmed 2026 dates:
- Friday, Nov. 20: Asim Azhar Live at the Fox Theatre. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.
- Thursdays, Dec. 3, 10 and 17: Make & Take Thursdays at the Center for Creativity, free drop-in art sessions from noon to 2 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 4: A Celtic Christmas at the Fox Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 19: Bay Area Hip~Hop Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre, with shows at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m. for the matinee.
The Make & Take session on Dec. 10 falls two days before the festival. Growing Hope runs in the same Main Street space on Dec. 12, so if you go to both, you'll already know the room.
At Carmen Miranda, we keep up with Redwood City's downtown calendar from one season to the next. If you'd like to hear what's opening on Middlefield and Broadway after the holidays, Let's Connect.
