At 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, Little Falls Street will be closed to cars between Broad Street and Park Avenue for the first outdoor Little City Holiday Market in Falls Church. The tents and white lights will be on the street, but a lot of the day happens off it. Santa will be on the front lawn at Stylish Patina. The beer is at Stratford Garden. The kids' area is in a parking lot. Three restaurant patios a short walk away are running markets of their own.
The reason is simple. More makers applied than the street could hold.
More Makers Applied Than the Street Could Hold
At the Economic Development Authority's October 8, 2026 meeting, staff said 40 vendors were confirmed for Little Falls Street out of more than 80 applications. Vendors who didn't fit on the street were sent to satellite locations. In practice, the market doubled in size by using businesses already on the route, with no extra street closure.
That's why the official Little City Holiday Market page reads more like a walking route than a vendor map. Clare & Don's Beach Shack, Ireland's Four Provinces and Northside Social will each host a satellite holiday market on their patios. Stylish Patina is hosting its own group of vendors along with the food. The vendors on the street are mostly small local businesses and makers. The list includes Entangled Local Yarn Shop, Green Archer Comics, Godfrey's Bakery Cafe, Kristina's Swede Treats, Suzanne Updike, Printmaker, The Naughty Nougat, Capitol Hill Calligraphy & Design and Chef Craig's Woodcrafts.
The EDA meeting summary also says there is no rain date. Staff explained that police overtime is already stretched across several December events, and EDA members agreed to go ahead and accept the weather risk for this first year. December 12 is the only day, so plan around that one afternoon and evening.
The Map Is a Set of Hosts
Each stop has its own job, so it helps to know what's where before you go.
| Location | What's there |
|---|---|
| Little Falls Street, Broad St. to Park Ave. | The main vendor row of local makers and small businesses, plus live music |
| Stylish Patina, front lawn | Santa visits and photos, cookie decorating with gingerbread and sugar cookies, and vendors hosted by the shop |
| Stylish Patina, gift-wrap station | Gift wrapping by Homestretch, with donations welcome |
| Stylish Patina, parking lot | Food from Borek-G Cafe and Market, Cafe Kindred, The Cheese Cartel and Seaside Oyster Company |
| Stratford Garden | A beer pop-up from Audacious Aleworks |
| Stratford Garden, parking lot | The Little City Kids Corner |
| Clare & Don's Beach Shack, Ireland's Four Provinces, Northside Social | Satellite holiday markets on the patios |
Food is in one place, Stylish Patina's lot, and nowhere else on the main row. The cookie decorating is led by Falls Church resident Allison Colburn. Homestretch runs the wrapping table, so finished gifts can be wrapped before you head back out.
The Kids Corner Runs on a Schedule
Most of the market is open browsing from 3 to 9 p.m. The Kids Corner in Stratford Garden's lot has set times, and if you have children with you, those times decide the order of your visit:
- 3:00 p.m. Storytime with The Wandering Shelf, a mobile bookstore
- 3:30 p.m. Family game session with Cozy Nook Games, whose games are also for sale
- 4:00 p.m. Second storytime
- 4:30 p.m. Second game session
- 5:00 p.m. Third storytime
- 5:30 p.m. Third game session
These activities run throughout the afternoon:
- Holiday-themed slime from Cloud Nine Slime Bar
- Letters to Santa with Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, whose team plans to answer every child who writes, plus holiday coloring pages and a giant shark
- Holiday button making with Acton Academy, The Learning Quest and The Toy Nest
The last game session starts at 5:30. Families who arrive at 3 can do two storytimes and a game session, see Santa at Stylish Patina, and eat in the food lot before it gets dark.
After 5 p.m., the Route Gets Longer
The holiday edition of Little City Sips starts at 5 p.m. and runs until 10, an hour after the market closes at 9. Adults 21 and older can buy a featured drink at a participating Falls Church restaurant in an official Little City Sips cup and carry it through the designated Sips area while they shop. The Little City Sips page has the participating restaurants, the boundary map and the music lineup. The organizers say Santa may walk the Sips route too.
This is where the three patio markets come in. Clare & Don's, Ireland's Four Provinces and Northside Social are the places adults are likely to stop for a drink or dinner anyway, and the overflow makers will be set up there. The market page encourages visitors to stop at all three during the Holiday Market and Little City Sips.
Parking Is Close
The market page points drivers to free on-street parking, the City Hall lot, and the George Mason Square, Broad & Washington and Kaiser Permanente garages. All of them are within a short walk of Little Falls Street.
December Moves Around the City
December 12 is the only holiday event built on Little Falls Street storefronts. The rest of the season takes place in different parts of the city, which makes it easy to fit the market around the other dates.
- Through November 30: The Live Local Falls Church Challenge, a month-long shop-local challenge across the city, is already underway.
- Saturday, November 28: Small Business Saturday, plus A Very Victorian Christmas at Cherry Hill Farmhouse, 312 Park Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free and no registration is required.
- Tuesday, December 1: Winter Wonderland at Market Square in Modera Founders Row, 110 Founders Ave., from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Expect a holiday lights countdown, performances by Creative Cauldron and the Meridian High School Choral Group, DJ Eric, Santa arriving by firetruck, and train rides. Garage parking is free from 4 to 9 p.m.
- December 5 and 6: The Holiday Gift & Craft Show at the Community Center, 223 Little Falls St. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, with free admission.
- Saturdays through December 26: The farmers market at the City Hall parking lot, 300 Park Ave., including the morning of the Holiday Market.
- Thursday, December 31: Watch Night on West Broad Street between North Maple Avenue and South Washington Street, 7 p.m. to midnight. The evening includes live bands, a DJ, the historic star drop at midnight, and a free shuttle connecting East Falls Church Metro, the celebration and other stops in the city.
Two of these fall on the same street a week apart. The Gift & Craft Show is indoors on Little Falls Street on December 5 and 6, and the outdoor market fills the same street on December 12. On December 12 you can start at the farmers market in the morning and stay through the evening market.
New Stops a Few Blocks Away
Several places on and near Broad Street have opened since summer, and they're close to the market route.
The Falls Church News-Press reported that Wonder Food Hall is now at 100 W. Broad St., in the former Brown's Hardware building. The City of Falls Church says you can order from more than 15 restaurant concepts there. The same News-Press report placed Lil' Cakes and Creamery at Modera Founders Row, 120 Founders Avenue, with gourmet cupcakes, ice cream, milkshakes and cake jars. It also says Harvey's on W. Broad has been sold, and the founder wrote that it will keep its name and staff. The independent bookstore The Dark, Unbound is at 112 W. Broad St., two doors from Wonder, according to the Falls Church Independent.
Farther west, ARLnow reported that Best Buns Bakery & Burgers opened October 1 at 265 W. Falls Station Blvd. in West Falls, with a full-service bar and rooftop seating. The Fresh Market planned for West Falls is now expected in November 2027 because of engineering and construction delays tied to the slab, according to the October 8 EDA meeting summary.
This summer, a half-mile of Broad Street held most of the city's weekends. In December, the busiest Saturday moves one block to Little Falls Street, and the shops along it serve as the venues.
The team at Sison Homes and Associates follows the openings, events and street-level changes in Falls Church all year, not only when a home is for sale. If you'd like to know how the city's newest storefronts and events relate to your own home and plans, we'd be glad to talk. Schedule a Consultation whenever it suits you.
