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What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

11.23.2022 By: Megan James

What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

Kids enjoying the Sheldon Museum’s train display a few years ago. Independent file photo/Trent Campbell

Feeling stir crazy already? Here are a few things going on Thanksgiving weekend (and read on for all the holiday happenings coming up in December):

The Neshobe Pie Gobbler Fun Run & Walk takes off in Brandon on Thanksgiving morning! Every 10th participant goes home with a pie.

Pop over to the Sheldon Museum to see the incredible toy train display! Each year a team of volunteer engineers sets up an elaborate mini-world of electric trains that zoom through a village, zip under tunnels and stop at tiny stations. The trains will be running on Friday and Saturday, November 25 and 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; included with regular admission. (Admission is free during Midd Night Stroll evenings — Dec. 1, 8 & 15 — and for the Holiday Open House on December 3.)

Watch the World Cup! The Marquis Theater is live streaming the soccer games in the cafe all week (except on Thanksgiving itself). Team USA plays Friday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m.  

Ice skate at Memorial Sports Center; there are public skating hours every day except Thanksgiving.

Sled dogs are coming to ECHO! Scoot up to Burlington on Saturday, November 26, to meet a team of Siberian huskies.

Shelburne Museum’s Winter Lights event opens this weekend. Grab some tickets and head up to see all the buildings and gardens aglow for the holidays.  

Or, head to Lake Dunmore to see Wayne Smith’s annual over-the-top illuminated Christmas decoration extravaganza, which he usually lights up for the month the first night after Thanksgiving.

The Vermont Folklife Center’s gingerbread house competition is back in person this year! And the deadline is Dec. 1, so Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to plan your creation. Bakers of all ages can participate!

Donate nonperishable items (or money!) to our local food shelf run by HOPE. (Here’s more detailed info about what the organization needs this year.) Or sign up to fulfill some of HOPE’s Holiday Shop wishlist items. More info here.

What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

Hi Santa!

MEET SANTA, SEVEN WAYS

Santa is magical; that’s how he can be at the Holiday Stroll in Vergennes and Very Merry Middlebury simultaneously on Saturday, Dec. 3. You’ll find him with Mrs. Claus in Middlebury’s Triangle Park from 9-11 a.m.; reading at a special story time at the Bixby Library at 10:30 a.m.; and posing for photos at the Vergennes Opera House that afternoon. 

At 5 p.m. that same day, Santa will arrive on a fire truck at Veterans Memorial Park in Salisbury, where folks will enjoy a bonfire, soup, sweet treats, a gigantic Christmas tree, and hay rides to the library for a Santa story time. 

On Friday, Dec. 9, Santa will visit the Bristol Town Green for a candy cane hunt. Bonus: The amazing SD Ireland truck — a cement mixer decked out in thousands of lights — will be there, too.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, the Clauses will meet children at Maple Landmark Woodcraft (indoors this year!) This event is free but reservations are required.

And on Friday, Dec. 16, Santa will read stories to folks of all ages at Bristol’s Holley Hall at 3:30 p.m.

What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

Last year, in addition to appearing at Midd Night Stroll and on the Bristol Green for the candy cane hunt, the SD Ireland truck made several unannounced loops through Middlebury’s Buttolph Acres.

GET IN THE HOLIDAY MOOD WITH THESE SHOWS

Bring your little ones to a special family screening of The Nutcracker at BARN OPERA in Brandon on Dec. 3. The hot cocoa will be flowing, and there will be enough stage space for anyone who wants to dance along. Wear your tutu!

The Middlebury Performing Arts Series is offering free tickets to a streaming-only performance by the inventive theater group Manual Cinema on Dec. 9-11. The troupe performs an adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” using paper puppets, miniatures and silhouettes.

What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

Using vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and a live music ensemble, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality.

Town Hall Theater is hosting a matinee screening of “The Polar Express” on Dec. 11 with a build-your-own hot chocolate bar; pajamas encouraged.

And on Dec. 21, local kids perform a Winter Solstice Pageant with lanterns and puppets outside Town Hall Theater.

What To Do Thanksgiving Weekend (Plus Holiday Happenings!)

Last year’s Town Hall Theater Winter Solstice Pageant included this amazing dragon puppet. Independent file photo/ Steve James

SHOP LOCAL (WITH CHOCOLATE)

Shops stay open late in downtown Middlebury on Dec. 1, 8 and 15 for Midd Night Stroll (and often the SD Ireland truck makes a visit). If chocolate is your thing, you’ll want to hit up Bristol on Dec. 2 for the annual downtown Chocolate Walk.

CALLING CREATIVE KIDS!

The Better Middlebury Partnership is inviting young entrepreneurs to sell their creations — baked goods, jewelry, artwork, etc. — at a first-ever kids’ holiday market at Very Merry Middlebury on Dec. 3. Interested? Email [email protected]. 

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Megan James

Upcoming Events

Dec
1
Fri
5:00 pm Bristol Chocolate Walk @ Downtown Bristol
Bristol Chocolate Walk @ Downtown Bristol
Dec 1 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Bristol’s Annual Chocolate Walk is back! Spend your afternoon and evening browsing stores, nibbling on a delicious chocolate treat (or two or three), and getting your holiday shopping on.
7:00 pm ‘A Christmas Carol’ @ Town Hall Theater
‘A Christmas Carol’ @ Town Hall Theater
Dec 1 @ 7:00 pm
We all know and love Dickens’ famous story A Christmas Carol.  MACo proudly presents our original adaptation, true to the novella, which deftly integrates Dickens’ witty, pointed, and socially conscious narrative with the heartwarming and familiar [...]
7:00 pm Friday Night Community Swim @ Mount Abraham Union High School
Friday Night Community Swim @ Mount Abraham Union High School
Dec 1 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Come swim at the Mount Abe indoor pool! Checks and cash will be accepted upon arrival.
Dec
2
Sat
9:00 am Very Merry Middlebury @ Downtown Middlebury
Very Merry Middlebury @ Downtown Middlebury
Dec 2 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Meet Santa and Mrs. Claus inside Town Hall Theater from 9-11 a.m.; take a horse and wagon ride through downtown (9-11 a.m.); get hot cocoa with all the fixins; visit the Sheldon Museum to see [...]
9:30 am Vergennes Saturday Playgroup @ Vergennes Congregational Church
Vergennes Saturday Playgroup @ Vergennes Congregational Church
Dec 2 @ 9:30 am – 11:00 am
Little ones (birth to 5) and their caregivers get together to play, make new friends, and build a supportive family community. Complimentary coffee will be served for adults; BYO snacks.
10:00 am Art on the Trail @ Bristol Trail Network
Art on the Trail @ Bristol Trail Network
Dec 2 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
As Artist-in-Residence on the Bristol Trail Network, artist and scientific illustrator Charon Henning is offering free monthly nature observation and art journaling classes on different sections of the Bristol Trail Network each month, from June [...]
10:00 am Sheldon Museum Holiday Open House @ Sheldon Museum
Sheldon Museum Holiday Open House @ Sheldon Museum
Dec 2 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Admission to the museum is free, and the model trains will be running all day. The annual holiday trees and wreaths raffle will be on view as well as other festive activities throughout the day.
10:00 am Vergennes Holiday Stroll @ Downtown Vergennes
Vergennes Holiday Stroll @ Downtown Vergennes
Dec 2 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
A typical schedule of events throughout the Little City at this annual holiday event includes breakfast with Santa at Vergennes Union High School; photos with Santa and other activities at the Vergennes Opera House; music, [...]
10:30 am Bixby Young Writers Club @ Bixby Library
Bixby Young Writers Club @ Bixby Library
Dec 2 @ 10:30 am
The Young Writers Club is held the first Saturday of the month in the Bixby’s Vermont Room. We will work on fun and informal writing activities. This program is recommended for elementary school-aged children.
11:00 am Homeward Bound Holiday Open House @ Homeward Bound
Homeward Bound Holiday Open House @ Homeward Bound
Dec 2 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
In addition to being an opportunity to bid farewell to the animal shelter’s fearless leader of 10+ years, Jess Danyow, you can partake in refreshments, visit shelter animals, browse stocking stuffers, and more. You’ll be [...]
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