Lakewood's best-known holiday night is Light Up Lakewood on December 5. Most of the season starts well before it, and starts farther east. Home for the Holidays has been open at 13383 Madison Avenue since October 17. The Lakewood Historical Society hands out its wreaths at 13314 Detroit Avenue the week before Thanksgiving. The Screw Factory, at 13000 Athens Avenue, holds two markets, one on Small Business Saturday and one on the second weekend of December. Those three addresses sit within a few hundred house numbers of each other, and they give the east end of the city a holiday calendar that runs from mid-October to two days before Christmas.
Downtown Lakewood and the Beck Center supply the big December dates. The east-side places carry the weeks in between, and one of them is getting harder to reach by car because of a road project that runs into next spring.
Three addresses, eight weeks of shopping
The east-side calendar is built from small operations, each on its own schedule. Taken together, they cover nearly every week between now and Christmas.
Home for the Holidays, 13383 Madison Ave. The shop is in its eleventh season. It held its grand opening on October 17 and stays open through December 23, the longest run of anything on Lakewood's holiday calendar this year, according to the Lakewood Observer. On publish day it is in its fourth week, with six weeks still to go.
Lakewood Historical Society, Haber Family Center for History, 13314 Detroit Ave. The Society's 2026 wreath sale order form prices each wreath at $46. Pickup runs Tuesday, November 17, through Saturday, November 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Wreaths can also be shipped for $24 plus an $8 box per wreath. Pickup falls next week, which makes it the first fixed date on the east-side calendar.
Screw Factory Artists, 13000 Athens Ave. The studio building holds two separate events. Small Business Saturday at the Screw Factory runs November 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with work from resident artists and invited artists, free admission and free parking. Two weeks later, the Holiday Art Market opens Friday, December 11, from 6 to 10 p.m. It continues Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. The Screw Factory's own listing describes local artists, makers and small businesses selling handmade gifts, holiday décor and art, with open studios to walk through.
Downtown has its own long-running shop as well. Gina DeSantis Ceramics opened a seasonal pop-up at the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, 16017 Detroit Ave., on November 5. It is open Thursday through Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. until December 19, with extended 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, according to the Lakewood Observer. Those extended hours line up with the Screw Factory's Saturday market, so November 28 covers both ends of Detroit Avenue in one day.
The Athens Avenue detail that changes the drive
The Screw Factory's two markets fall in the middle of the city's Bunts Road rehabilitation. The project rebuilds Bunts from Lakewood Heights Boulevard to Clifton Boulevard, including the roadway, storm sewers, water mains, sidewalks, a new multipurpose path on the west side of the street and new decorative streetlights.
The City's Bunts Road project page, updated October 26, describes the current traffic setup this way:
"Athens Ave. is closed at the Bunts Rd. intersection for staging of equipment and materials. This closure is expected to last through May 15, 2027."
On the same page, the City says Bunts is limited to southbound one-way traffic between Madison and Lakewood Heights Boulevard, with northbound traffic detoured to Warren Road. The traffic light at Athens was removed in September and replaced with stop signs.
For anyone used to taking Bunts to Athens, both Screw Factory weekends will need a different route. The Screw Factory's visitor page points to its east entrance near Athens and Halstead and lists street parking on Athens and nearby streets. The Small Business Saturday listing adds one restriction: no parking on the east side of Halstead. Because the work schedule can change, check the City's project page before heading out on November 28 or December 11.
December 5 belongs to Detroit Avenue
The east side holds the long stretch of the season. Downtown holds the single biggest night. Light Up Lakewood takes place Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 8 p.m. on Detroit Avenue between Arthur and Marlowe Avenues. It is free and open to all, presented by LakewoodAlive with First Federal Lakewood as sponsor.
LakewoodAlive's sponsor list gives a good picture of the evening. It names a Holiday Train, Ice Carving, a Beer Garden, a Stage and a Parade, with the City of Lakewood, Lakewood Common, First Federal Lakewood, Laskey Costello, Shinn Law Firm, Geiger's, Sauced Taproom, Embden HR, Lakewood Catholic Academy and Lakewood Public Library each attached to a piece of it. Parade rules require motorized units to arrive by 4:15 p.m. and ask participants to park on-street away from the route.
Light Up Lakewood includes its own shopping as well. The event has an indoor, curated Holiday Market for local small businesses and makers, plus street vendors on Detroit between Belle and Mars Avenues. That puts a makers' market on the calendar three weekends in a row: Small Business Saturday on Athens, the Holiday Market downtown on December 5, and the Screw Factory's Holiday Art Market starting December 11.
The stage calendar opens the night before
The Beck Center for the Arts, at 17801 Detroit Ave., opens two December productions the night before Light Up Lakewood. That makes the first weekend of December the busiest of the season.
The Nutcracker Ballet 2026 runs December 4 through 13, and the Beck Center says ticket information is coming. Performances are scheduled for:
- Friday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, at 2 and 6 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, at 2 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 11, at 9:30 and 11 a.m., both sensory-friendly
- Saturday, Dec. 12, at 2 and 6 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m.
How to Dance in Ohio opens the same night, December 4, and runs through January 3, 2027, with added December performances.
The Saturday, December 5, Nutcracker matinee at 2 p.m. ends before Light Up Lakewood gets going, and both are on Detroit Avenue. The 6 p.m. show overlaps the downtown evening.
Lakewood Public Library adds two holiday programs in the Main Library Auditorium, according to its program guide. The Largely Literary Theater Company performs "Christmas with Charles Dickens" on Sunday, December 13, at 2 p.m. Julie Koenig presents "British Royal Christmas" on Wednesday, December 16, at 7 p.m. For older residents, the City's Division of Aging lists a trip to Great Lakes Theater Festival's "A Christmas Carol" on Tuesday, December 15, with a $20 ticket and $3 transportation, in its November newsletter.
Where the dates collide
Sunday, December 13, is the one day when three events overlap. At 2 p.m., the Nutcracker's final performance at the Beck Center and the Dickens program at the Main Library start at the same time, while the Screw Factory's market runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Athens. For anyone hoping to do all three, the market works best in the morning.
Here is the full season in date order, with the east-side addresses alongside the downtown ones.
| Date | Event | Address | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Now through Dec. 19 | Gina DeSantis Ceramics pop-up | 16017 Detroit Ave. | Thu to Sat, noon to 6 p.m. |
| Now through Dec. 23 | Home for the Holidays | 13383 Madison Ave. | Seasonal shop |
| Nov. 17 to 21 | Historical Society wreath pickup | 13314 Detroit Ave. | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Nov. 27 | Black Friday extended pop-up hours | 16017 Detroit Ave. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday at the Screw Factory | 13000 Athens Ave. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday extended pop-up hours | 16017 Detroit Ave. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Dec. 4 to 13 | The Nutcracker Ballet 2026 | 17801 Detroit Ave. | Times listed above |
| Dec. 4 to Jan. 3 | How to Dance in Ohio | 17801 Detroit Ave. | Multiple performances |
| Dec. 5 | Light Up Lakewood | Detroit Ave., Arthur to Marlowe | 4 to 8 p.m. |
| Dec. 11 | Holiday Art Market opening night | 13000 Athens Ave. | 6 to 10 p.m. |
| Dec. 12 and 13 | Holiday Art Market | 13000 Athens Ave. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Dec. 13 | Christmas with Charles Dickens | Main Library Auditorium | 2 p.m. |
| Dec. 15 | Division of Aging "A Christmas Carol" trip | Departs via the City | See newsletter |
| Dec. 16 | British Royal Christmas | Main Library Auditorium | 7 p.m. |
At Christopher Wertz, we follow Lakewood's season street by street, from the Bunts Road work to the shops that open their doors in October, because those details shape daily life in every corner of the city. If this December has you thinking about which part of Lakewood suits your household best, Schedule a Consultation and we'll walk through it with you, patiently and at your pace.
