McLean Winterfest Moved to Daylight This Year, and Now It Shares a Sunday With the Craft Festival

The McLean Winterfest Parade steps off at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, two hours earlier than last year. The block party at Langley Shopping Center now runs from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. In 2025 it ran from about 5 to 7:30 p.m. With the new times, McLean's biggest downtown holiday gathering lands on the same afternoon as the last open hours of the McLean Holiday Art & Crafts Festival at McLean Community Center.

The new schedule fits a pattern across this year's local calendar. McLean's 2026 holiday season runs mostly in daylight, and its events tend to come in pairs. If you plan around the doubled-up days, you can see most of the season in about three Saturdays and one Sunday.

Last year's parade ended after dark. This year's block party ends at 4:30.

In 2025, the McLean Revitalization Corporation started pre-parade entertainment at 2:30 p.m., sent the parade down Old Chain Bridge Road at 3:30, and started the block party around 5 p.m. That reporting comes from FFXnow's 2025 holiday roundup. In the same article, MRC President Tom Gilmore said the new block party was meant to create "a full day of community celebration as downtown McLean lights up with holiday spirit."

That was only the parade's second year back. FFXnow reported that it returned in 2024 after a six-year hiatus, and the block party was added in 2025. For 2026, MRC's Winterfest page shifts everything earlier. Check-in opens at 12:30 p.m. at Beverly and Elm. Parade lineup starts at 1 p.m. at Beverly and Old McLean Village Drive. The parade begins at Fleetwood Road and Old Chain Bridge Road at 1:30 and ends at 2:45. Santa's station at the block party opens at 3 p.m., and the event closes at 4:30.

MRC lists food from 54-plus vendors, performances by local groups, and a parade with marching bands, floats, dance performances and community organizations. Last year's route ran along Old Chain Bridge Road from Fleetwood to Curran Street, according to Patch's coverage of the 2025 parade. The 2026 page confirms the same starting corner and shows the full route on a map.

Two events, one Sunday afternoon

On the same day, the McLean Holiday Art & Crafts Festival finishes its three-day run at McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave. It's an indoor juried show with 80 regional artisans selling pottery, glass, jewelry, woodwork, holiday décor, fine art and artisanal foods. The Northern Virginia Handcrafters Guild, a nonprofit founded in 1972, manages the show. Admission is $5 and covers all three days. Children 12 and under get in free.

This year, the two schedules overlap for most of the afternoon:

Start at the festival in the morning and eat lunch at its onsite café. From there, head to the parade by 1:30. Santa's station opens at 3 p.m., leaving families with younger kids 90 minutes to visit before the block party wraps up at 4:30. If you buy a festival ticket on Friday or Saturday, you can come back for a second look on Sunday morning without paying again.

December 6 is the biggest of the season's paired days

The same kind of overlap shows up on two other dates this season, which makes it easier to plan the rest of November and December.

Saturday, November 21 pairs two morning events. St. John the Beloved Catholic Church holds its 47th Christmas Bazaar at 6428 Linway Terrace from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The 46th was held on Saturday, November 22, last year. Admission is free, and vendors set up both indoors and out. The church's Eventbrite listing calls the outdoor Christmas market "new this year." That same morning from 10 to noon, McLean Community Center runs Holiday Gingerbread House Decorating. The Old Firehouse provides a prebuilt house and all the decorating supplies, and registration is required. The bazaar's hours cover the gingerbread session on both ends, so one family can do both before lunch.

Saturday, December 12 puts two family events under one roof. McLean Community Center hosts Milk & Cookies with Santa in two blocks, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 2 p.m. Families pick either a Santa's Workshop Pass or a photo-only option. The Alden Theatre, in the same building, stages The Joyfully Jolly Jamboree at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. You can combine the morning Santa session with the 4 p.m. show, or the 11 a.m. show with the afternoon Santa block, and stay at 1234 Ingleside Ave. the whole time.

Each of the season's anchor events starts in daylight:

• Nov. 21: St. John the Beloved Christmas Bazaar, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; MCC gingerbread decorating, 10 a.m. to noon
• Dec. 4–6: McLean Holiday Art & Crafts Festival, closing at 4 p.m. on Sunday
• Dec. 6: Winterfest Parade & Block Party, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Dec. 12: Milk & Cookies with Santa, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and The Joyfully Jolly Jamboree, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The evening events still on the calendar

The few evening events left fall at the start and end of the season.

At the start, Tysons Corner Center holds its Holiday Kick-Off Celebration on Friday, November 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. at PenFed Plaza. The mall's listing says more details are coming soon. In mid-December, the Alden's Sounds of the Season: A Lil' Maceo Holiday starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 19.

The rest of McLean's after-dark season happens on front lawns. McLean Community Center's Light Up McLean contest is open to residents and businesses in the MCC tax district. Registration closes Friday, December 11, and community voting runs from December 21, 2026, through January 3, 2027. Residential categories are Best Overall, Most Creative/Original and Best Holiday Theme. Only residential entries are eligible for prizes, and the public also picks a Best Overall business. MCC's program guide defines the district as bounded by the Potomac River to the north, the Arlington County line to the east, Difficult Run to the west, and to the south by Route 66, Route 7 or the Dulles Access Road, whichever is farthest north. If you plan to enter, mark the December 11 deadline. It falls the day before the Milk & Cookies weekend and nearly two weeks before voting opens.

Feeding a crowd between events

Surfside Taco Stand opened its first Virginia location on October 22 at 6218 Old Dominion Drive in Chesterbrook Shopping Center. It's a fresh option for the extra people a holiday weekend brings. FFXnow reported that the menu includes shareable nacho and fajita boxes that serve up to 10 people. Georgetown Events Hospitality Group owns the restaurant. Federal Realty told FFXnow it planned a grand-opening celebration in November but had not set a date when the October 21 article ran. A box ordered after the parade could feed a houseful of out-of-town relatives on the evening of December 6.

Glenwood's, the other big Chesterbrook arrival, won't be open this season. FFXnow reported a planned construction start in early 2027 and a target opening in fall 2027.

If you're thinking of listing your home in the new year and want to know what a McLean buyer might pay for it, Jennifer Fang Homes can prepare a home valuation before the holidays. Request Your Free Home Valuation and have the numbers ready by Winterfest weekend.