On Sunday afternoon, December 6, Depot Plaza will have dancers from Happy Feet, RoCo Dance and the Marin Conservatory of Dance performing, electric toddler trains running, a visit from Santa and the community tree lighting. Around all of it will be a holiday lighting installation that the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce calls new for 2026. The Chamber says the lights will run at "Depot Plaza and beyond."
Winterfest is the town's best-known holiday date. This year it also ends a three-day run that holds almost all of Mill Valley's civic holiday calendar. Once that weekend is over, the season moves indoors to Sweetwater Music Hall and 142 Throckmorton Theatre, and it stays there until a few days before Christmas.
Friday through Sunday, December 4 to 6
The weekend begins downtown on Friday night, picks up a second location across town on Saturday, and comes back downtown on Sunday.
- Friday, December 4, 8 to 10 p.m. 142 Throckmorton Theatre presents Winters Wonderland Extravaganza 2026, Deborah Winters' 15th annual holiday concert of big-band jazz and seasonal favorites.
- Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The City's Recreation Department holds its Holiday Craft Fair at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, with handmade goods from local artists. Admission is free.
- Saturday, December 5, late morning to 3:30 p.m. The First Annual Rocking Holiday Art Show fills Sweetwater Music Hall at 19 Corte Madera Avenue with local art and music. Sweetwater and the Women's Art Alliance present it together.
- Sunday, December 6, 11 a.m. to noon and 1 to 2 p.m. The Chamber holds its second annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party at the Assembly Wealth Event Space, 319 Miller Avenue. Each house costs $65, and adult caregivers come free.
- Sunday, December 6, starting at 1 p.m. Winterfest runs across Depot Plaza and Lytton Square. Admission is free.
Both Saturday events are in daytime and overlap for most of the afternoon. The craft fair sits up on Camino Alto, and the art show is in the middle of downtown. Sunday is easier to plan. The second gingerbread session finishes an hour after Winterfest starts, and both are a short walk apart on Miller Avenue.
What changed on Sunday
Three of this year's Sunday details are different from last year.
In 2025 the Chamber held Winterfest and the tree lighting on December 7. This year both fall on December 6, which is again the first Sunday of the month.
The first gingerbread party, on December 7, 2025, was held at Paseo. This year's second edition moves up Miller Avenue to Assembly Wealth at No. 319.
On its Winterfest page, the Chamber names the lighting installation as the addition for 2026. The Chamber presents the event with support from the City of Mill Valley.
The old venue has changed hands since last December. Paseo Bistro closed late last year. The El Paseo rooms between Throckmorton and Sunnyside avenues now house Lima Nikkei, a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant from Novato resident Edwin Sandoval.
A new restaurant where last year's party was
The restaurant gives the Sunday a place to eat afterward, right where the 2025 party was held. Leanne Battelle's restaurant column, reprinted by the Mill Valley Chamber, describes a renovation run by Sandoval, whose day job is owning Atlas Construction. The once-whitewashed brick was sandblasted back to its original color, the dark floors were refinished in a lighter shade, and 56 light fixtures were replaced. The back room kept its colored glass windows and exposed rafters.
The room seats about 125, which suits a holiday table. Sandoval's grandson Lukas Sandoval manages the restaurant, and Wilmer Anaya, a fellow Lima native who has cooked at San Francisco's La Mar Cebichería Peruana, runs the kitchen. The menu is built for sharing. It includes six ceviches, robata skewers served on small Japanese grills, and a Paseo Sour made with pisco, matcha, shochu, yuzu and black sesame syrup.
Hours are what matter on Winterfest day. Lima Nikkei is open 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, at 17 Throckmorton Avenue. Its doors open about when the Lytton Square afternoon winds down. On Friday, December 4, the restaurant is open until 10, and it sits on the same avenue as the Throckmorton stage where Deborah Winters' concert begins at 8.
After the weekend, two stages carry December
There are no more large outdoor gatherings on the town's calendar after December 6. The holiday season continues in two music rooms within a few blocks of each other.
| Date | Venue | Show | Doors / Show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, Dec 8 | Sweetwater Music Hall | El Vez Christmas Show | 7 p.m. / 8 p.m. |
| Fri, Dec 11 | Sweetwater Music Hall | 4th Annual Hometown Holiday Bash with The 85s | 7 p.m. / 8 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec 12 | 142 Throckmorton Theatre | Narada Michael Walden's 29th Annual Holiday Jam, "WE ARE FAMILY Christmas" with Kathy Sledge | VIP 6:30 p.m., general 7:30 p.m. |
| Sun, Dec 20 | Sweetwater Music Hall | A Holiday Tribute to Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas featuring Jason Crosby | Noon / 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. / 7 p.m. |
| Mon, Dec 21 | Sweetwater Music Hall | The Christmas Jug Band's 50th Sleigh Ride with Special Guests | 6 p.m. / 7 p.m. |
| Tue, Dec 22 | Sweetwater Music Hall | Maria Muldaur's Holiday Swing | 6 p.m. / 7 p.m. |
Most of these are long-running events. The Christmas Jug Band is marking its 50th Sleigh Ride, Narada Michael Walden's Holiday Jam is in its 29th year, and The 85s are holding their fourth Hometown Holiday Bash. Sweetwater also has holiday shows on back-to-back weeknights, Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd. On Sunday the 20th, the Charlie Brown tribute plays twice, with a 1 p.m. matinee that fits an afternoon with children.
Sweetwater's December calendar has the remaining tickets and listings. Sweetwater is at 19 Corte Madera Avenue, and Throckmorton is at 142 Throckmorton Avenue. Both are close to Lytton Square, so the end of December happens in the same few blocks as the start.
Throckmorton's December under a new arrangement
The theatre's holiday shows arrive just after a change in how it is run. On October 30, Mill Valley LiveArts announced a partnership with Throckmorton & Company, a new locally owned organization that will take on producing the theatre's programs and managing its operations.
The theatre still operates as 142 Throckmorton Theatre. Lucy Mercer, who founded Mill Valley LiveArts 24 years ago, stays on as artistic director and oversees programming. The nonprofit's board will put its effort into artist support, scholarships and community arts initiatives.
Throckmorton & Company plans to "maintain programs and support their continued development," and December's two Throckmorton dates are both long-running annual shows: Deborah Winters' 15th holiday concert on December 4 and Narada Michael Walden's 29th Holiday Jam on December 12. Upcoming listings are at throckmortontheatre.org.
Free downtown parking covers the whole season
The City's parking program covers both the outdoor weekend and the indoor stretch after it. In a November 5 notice, Mill Valley said parking at all city meters and the multi-space kiosk is free from Thanksgiving through January 1, 2027, up to the posted time limits on each meter or nearby sign. The program covers downtown and the Lumberyard.
That puts Winterfest, the Throckmorton concerts, the gingerbread sessions on Miller Avenue and all five Sweetwater shows inside the free-meter window. The time limits still apply, so the posted signs decide how long a car can stay during a two-show Sunday on December 20.
For something outdoors in between, Mount Tamalpais State Park lists its "Perk Up in the Park: Hot Beverages & Cool Information" program on November 29 and again on December 6, the same day as Winterfest. The listing is on the park's page.
Winter light changes how a Mill Valley home looks. Brick, wood and warm interiors read differently in December than they do in June. If this season has you thinking about how your own home would photograph and show in the early dark, Sharon Kramlich would be glad to walk through it with you over coffee downtown. Request a complimentary home evaluation whenever it suits your calendar.
