Last December, Northcenter Town Square at 4100 N. Damen Ave. held the Holly Jolly Holiday Market for two afternoons, Dec. 13 and 14, from noon to 6 p.m. According to Block Club Chicago's 2025 holiday market guide, it had more than 20 local vendors, hot cocoa and seasonal drinks, live entertainment, Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a holiday trolley running to businesses across North Center and Lincoln Square. Admission was a suggested $5 donation.
That market won't return in 2026. The North Center Neighbors Association has replaced it with a single Saturday, Dec. 12, that keeps the tree, Santa and the trolley and drops the vendor tents. Without the vendors, the trolley's job changes. It used to be a side attraction to a market. Now it is the event itself, and its stops are the neighborhood's own storefronts. Several of those storefronts are brand new or still finishing construction this fall.
What the Dec. 12 plan keeps, and what it drops
The association announced the change on its holiday event page:
After much thoughtful discussion, the NCNA Board has made the difficult decision not to host the Holly Jolly Holiday Market for 2026. But there is still plenty of holiday cheer coming to North Center!
The replacement is a joint event with the Northcenter Chamber of Commerce: a Holiday Tree Lighting in Town Square, a visit from Santa Claus, and a Holiday Trolley "connecting neighbors with local shopping, seasonal specials, and family-friendly fun," all on Saturday, Dec. 12. The association gave no reason for dropping the market. It says more details are coming this fall. Start times, Santa's hours and the trolley route haven't been posted yet.
Compared with last year:
- Kept: Town Square as the anchor, Santa, and a trolley linking local businesses.
- Added: a tree lighting, which wasn't part of Block Club's 2025 market listing.
- Dropped: the second day, the 20-plus vendor booths, and the food, drink and live entertainment that ran through the square.
Last year, holiday shopping in North Center meant shopping at a market that set up in the square for a weekend. The 2026 version sends people to the businesses that are open the other 363 days of the year. The "seasonal specials" in the announcement will come from those shops and restaurants, not from pop-up tables.
Town Square gets one more Saturday morning first
Before the tree goes up, the square has one last busy morning. The Northcenter Farmers Market runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Oct. 31, with produce, flowers, pastries and handmade goods. The Chamber says LINK/SNAP purchases can be matched with produce vouchers.
That final Saturday is also the Chamber's Halloween event, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., held at Town Square and nearby businesses. It includes hayrides, costume contests and the season's last market.
The Halloween event works the way the December plan will: activities in the square, plus trick-or-treating that sends families into storefronts on the surrounding blocks. October tests on a small scale what December now relies on.
The storefronts the trolley gets to choose from this year
The trolley will have more stops to pick from than it did a year ago. One new business is already open, one has listed its opening day for this week and one is aiming for the weeks just before the tree lighting.
Hindsight, 2020 W. Irving Park Road. The tavern's own site lists its opening as Oct. 21. It has no TVs. Owner Ryan Reynolds told Block Club Chicago in August that he would "like to force people to talk to each other instead of having everyone silently be looking at something else on a screen." The shelves hold Go, the Viking Age strategy game Hnefatafl, and Puluc, an Indigenous Mesoamerican board game also called Bul. Reynolds told Block Club he wants versions with "physical stone pieces on wood boards."
The drink list will change soon after opening. Hindsight planned beer, wine, soju, sake, caffeine-based cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks, plus THC- and CBD-infused options. Reynolds told Block Club there was "a bit of a wait and see involved" with the hemp drinks. The state's summary of the Illinois Hemp Act says the law takes effect Nov. 12, 2026. It reclassifies intoxicating hemp products as cannabis, and outside the licensed cannabis market it allows only non-intoxicating CBD products under 0.4 mg total THC. So the tavern's menu on its first night may look different by the time the trolley runs. The games won't change.
Ela Thai Kitchen, 1824 W. Addison St. This one is already open. WTTW's fall restaurant roundup listed it among recent openings as a new Thai spot in North Center. The Infatuation places it right next to the Addison CTA station and calls it a stop for noodles, papaya salad and pre- or post-commute boat noodles. Of the three, it's the one tied to a commute rather than a weekend.
Jake's Place, 4159 N. Western Ave. Robert Maleski, who founded Milly's Pizza in the Pan in 2020, is opening a thin-crust, square-cut pizzeria in the former Armand's Pizzeria space. Armand's closed in the summer of 2025. Maleski told Block Club Chicago the crust will be "as thin as a cracker" and "the exact opposite of what we make at Milly's." The space already has a kitchen and dining room, so it shouldn't need much renovation, and Maleski is aiming for early December. If that holds, a pizzeria space on Western that closed in summer 2025 could be serving again by the weekend of the tree lighting. "I really want to challenge myself to see if I can hold my own with some of the best thin-crust pizza places in the city," he told Block Club.
A board-game tavern on Irving Park, a Thai kitchen by the Addison CTA station and a thin-crust pizzeria on Western sit on three different corridors, which gives a trolley built around "local shopping, seasonal specials" new places to stop.
Welles and Horner keep the routine underneath it
The parks hold steady while the commercial calendar changes. Block Club Chicago reported in August that Welles Park's fieldhouse would close for flooring, ceiling, doorway and lighting work, with a tentative Sept. 21 reopening. The Chicago Park District's Welles Park page now lists the fieldhouse as open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a fall pool schedule from Sept. 21 to Dec. 13 that includes adult swim and aquatic exercise. The fall season ends Sunday, Dec. 13, the day after the tree lighting.
At Horner Park, the Horner Park Advisory Council meets in the fieldhouse at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Wednesday, Dec. 2. According to Block Club Chicago, the council used its Brew Fest this summer to push for arboretum status for the park and to fund a tree database and self-guided tours. Council member John Friedmann said the park had 89 endangered ash trees.
The season, by date
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Oct. 21 | Hindsight's listed opening day | 2020 W. Irving Park Rd. |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Final farmers market, 8 a.m.–1 p.m.; Halloween event, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. | Town Square, 4100 N. Damen |
| Wed., Nov. 4 | Horner Park Advisory Council, 7 p.m. | Horner Park fieldhouse |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Illinois Hemp Act takes effect | Statewide |
| Wed., Dec. 2 | Horner Park Advisory Council, 7 p.m. | Horner Park fieldhouse |
| Early December | Jake's Place targeted opening | 4159 N. Western Ave. |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Tree lighting, Santa, Holiday Trolley; times to be announced | Town Square and local businesses |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | Welles Park fall pool season ends | 2333 W. Sunnyside Ave. |
The Klopas-Stratton Team follows North Center block by block, from Town Square to Western Avenue. If you'd like to talk about how new storefronts like these shape your street, or what a busier December corridor means for a home you own nearby, Contact Us.
