Three addresses on Kensington's holiday calendar this month are only twelve house numbers apart. They are 10417 Metropolitan Avenue, 10419 Fawcett Street and 10429 Fawcett Street, and they belong to a vintage shop, an upcycling studio and a record store. Between Nov. 12 and Nov. 27, each one hosts its own event. Taken together with what the fire department, a resale shop, a Montessori campus and a senior living community have planned, the season looks like this: the Town of Kensington puts on the lightings, and almost everything else between now and early December comes from the businesses and volunteer groups themselves.
The Town's own calendar shows the split. Its official events are color-coded green and community events blue, and for November the blue entries far outnumber the green.
Three storefronts near the tracks, three reasons to stop in
MakerHive holds its grand opening Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 10419 Fawcett Street. The studio is built around reclaimed materials that are collected, sorted and cleaned, and visitors turn things like buttons, plastic caps, old keys and toy pieces into crafts. Opening weekend is a free, drop-in open studio. You pick an upcycled base, decorate it and take it home. Advance registration is accepted, walk-ins are welcome, and anyone under 16 needs an adult along. MakerHive's website also lists paid workshops and private events, which helps if you're thinking ahead to a winter-break birthday.
Metro Vintage Market & Gallery, at 10417 Metropolitan Avenue, hosts a pre-holiday Sip & Shop with the KTown Ladies on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. The Town's event listing calls the shop a new addition to Kensington's retail community and pitches the evening for holiday shopping and Thanksgiving-table accents. Refreshments, light fare and drinks are planned. An RSVP helps but isn't required.
Love People Records, at 10429 Fawcett Street, runs a Black Friday Record Store Day on Nov. 27 from noon to 6 p.m. If you'd rather skip the mall the day after Thanksgiving, that's a six-hour window within walking distance for much of the town.
All three are opening their doors in November. They're using the weeks before the official lightings to get neighbors through the door, and the Town calendar gives them room to do it. Its entries for Nov. 8 through Nov. 11, and again for Nov. 24 through 26, are empty.
The rest of November is run by volunteers and nonprofits
The other November events come from institutions with long Kensington roots. Several of them raise money for a cause.
- Thursday, Nov. 5, 4 to 8 p.m.: Hops & Specs at BabyCat Brewery, 10241 Kensington Parkway, organized by Look Again Resale Shop. Proceeds support the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington and its vision-health programs across the region. General admission is free with advance registration. A $25 ticket includes your first pint, and a $50 VIP ticket adds a meal from the Cattie Shak food truck. Details are on the event registration page.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department's Open House & Craft Fair at Station 5, 10620 Connecticut Avenue.
- Friday, Nov. 13, 6 to 8 p.m.: Diwali: A Festival of Lights at Montessori Living, an intergenerational nonprofit campus in Kensington. The evening includes Diwali traditions and stories, a home-cooked Indian buffet, dancing and crafts. Tickets are $25 per adult and free for children, and proceeds support Montessori Living's International Teacher Residency Program.
- Thursday, Nov. 19, 4 to 6 p.m.: The 11th Annual Friendsgiving Celebration at Kensington Park Senior Living, 3620 Littledale Road.
Every Saturday the Kensington Farmers' Market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Historic Train Station, 3701 Howard Avenue. It's listed year-round, with baked goods, seasonal produce, meats, seafood, cheese, artisan breads, olive oil and prepared foods. On Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 the market overlaps with the KVFD craft fair and MakerHive's opening, so you can easily do two of them in one Saturday morning.
Hops & Specs is a good example of how the season works. A resale shop organizes a benefit at a brewery, the beneficiary is a regional nonprofit, and the Town's role is to list it.
Connecticut Avenue has its own comebacks
The storefronts along Connecticut Avenue are adding to the season too. Gene's Costumes at 10636 Connecticut Avenue reopened this fall after nearly three years closed following an electrical fire. Montgomery Community Media reported that owner Ginger Ager was excited to reconnect with regular customers. Its regular hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. It's worth remembering for holiday party outfits, not just Halloween.
Farther up the avenue, Marathon Deli & Grill opened at Crossroads of Kensington, 10619 Connecticut Avenue, on May 8, 2026. Bethesda Magazine reported it as the College Park restaurant's second location and its first in Montgomery County. Its first holiday season in Kensington gives anyone running between craft fairs and lightings another casual place to eat.
Friday, Dec. 4: two events, one evening
Everything above leads up to the first Friday in December, when the Town's biggest community event and Antique Row's annual gathering fall on the same night with half an hour of overlap.
The 6th Annual Light Up KTown runs from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Howard Avenue Park. The flyer posted with the Town's event listing describes the evening this way:
"To kick off the holiday season, please join us for hot adult beverages, hot cider and hot chocolate, s'mores by the fire pits, music, and merry making!"
The ceremony also launches two contests. Town residents hear the rules for the home decorating awards, with entries due by Dec. 16 for the Griswold, It's a Wonderful Life and Traffic Stopper categories. Attendees also vote for the best storefront decoration in the business district. So the businesses that spent November hosting their own events get judged on their windows by the neighbors who came to those events.
Then, at 7 p.m., the Antique Row Holiday Open House begins and runs until 9, with refreshments and, in Kensington Antique Row's words, "merriment." Here's how the evening lines up:
- 6:30 p.m.: Light Up KTown opens at Howard Avenue Park with drinks, s'mores by the fire pits and music.
- 6:45 p.m.: The lighting ceremony begins, followed by the decorating contest announcement.
- 7:00 p.m.: The Antique Row Holiday Open House begins.
- 7:30 p.m.: Light Up KTown wraps up.
- 9:00 p.m.: The Antique Row open house ends.
You get the lighting and the cocoa first, then the shops along the Row for the rest of the evening. If you have small children, the first hour may be enough. If you're shopping for gifts, the second half is the reason to stay.
The weekend keeps going
Dec. 4 is the busiest night, but it starts a three-day stretch with a lighting on each day.
Saturday, Dec. 5 starts with KVFD's Breakfast with Santa at Station 5, 10620 Connecticut Avenue. The farmers' market runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Historic Train Station as usual, and the Town's Menorah Lighting follows from 6 to 7 p.m. at Kensington Town Hall, 3710 Mitchell Street.
Sunday, Dec. 6 closes the stretch with the Town's Christmas Tree Lighting, also from 6 to 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
That makes three lightings in three nights at two locations, Howard Avenue Park on Friday and Town Hall on Saturday and Sunday. If you have out-of-town guests arriving that weekend, it's an easy plan that doesn't involve driving.
Parking downtown is set to change
Holiday traffic along Howard and Fawcett has an obvious limit, which is parking. The Town is working on that. According to a parking study dated Oct. 15, 2026, in the Town Council's Oct. 21 meeting packet, the Town bought the former M&T Bank lot at 10415 Montgomery Avenue in January 2026 to expand public parking for the business district. Design work is underway, EV-readiness is planned, and delivery is anticipated in late 2026. The same study counts 214 publicly available off-street spaces across the Town's six public lots, which puts the new lot's contribution in context. Until it opens, walking to the Dec. 4 lighting is probably still the easier choice.
If the Griswold category has you rethinking your own front porch, or you're wondering how a home's exterior and lighting come across to the people walking by, I'd be glad to talk it through with you. Mandana Tavakoli helps Kensington homeowners see their homes with a designer's eye, in December and every other month. Let's Connect.
