Winona Lake's Holidays Run Down Park Avenue. The First Stop Asks for a Toy.

To get into The Village at Winona's Tree Lighting Ceremony this Saturday, Nov. 21, you need a new, unwrapped toy. If you have an old Social Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop gift card in a kitchen drawer, bring that too.

Winona Lake's holiday calendar is all on one short stretch of road. The Village lights its tree at 700 Park Ave. on Nov. 21. Two weeks later the Town of Winona Lake holds KringleFest at Miller Sunset Pavilion, 705 Park Ave., across the street. That same evening the Community Arts Program puts on a Christmas concert at Rodeheaver Auditorium, 901 Park Ave. Each weekend has a different host and different rules. The first weekend has the most to keep track of.

Saturday, Nov. 21: your admission is a toy

The Village at Winona has posted a three-hour program for its Tree Lighting Ceremony. It's built so the activities run all afternoon and everything comes together at dusk. Here's the order, as listed on Visit Kosciusko County's holiday calendar:

1. 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Toys for Tots collection. Kids make ornaments at the Brick Alley Pavilion. Train rides for all ages run in the Letterwood brick-paver parking lot, and carolers walk through the Village.
2. 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Free cookies and hot chocolate, and Santa Claus arrives.
3. 6:15 p.m. The Village Christmas tree next to Letterwood is lit.

The Village asks every guest to bring a new, unwrapped toy as admission, and the toys go to Toys for Tots. That makes Saturday different from anything else on Park Avenue this season. KringleFest is free to walk into, and the Rodeheaver concert sells tickets. On Saturday you need to make a stop at the store first.

The timing matters too. Santa's window and the hot chocolate end at 6:15, the same minute the tree is lit. A family that shows up at 6:00 for the lighting gets 15 minutes of Santa. A family that arrives at 3:30 gets ornaments, train rides and carolers, and is already there when the cookies come out.

The shop at 904 Park is new this holiday season

Last year the ice cream counter in the Village was Social Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop. This fall it was sold to the team behind The River Coffeehouse and became The Villa Sweets + Eats. Hooch and Nosh reported the sale on Oct. 1, 2026. It said the founders' last day running Social was Sept. 26 and the shop was set to reopen under the new owners on Oct. 1. In early October, the shop's own posts said it was serving customers at 904 Park Avenue.

Some things changed. The Villa now serves Ashby's Sterling Ice Cream from Ludington, Michigan. In its Oct. 2 post the shop called it "a brand we trust" and noted that it's "a different brand than what you've enjoyed here in the past." The menu also has grilled sandwiches, açaí bowls, and fruit and yogurt bowls. On Oct. 26 the shop said it would soon add homemade soups to the weekend menu and switch to a winter schedule. Check its current hours before you count on a scoop between the train rides and the lighting.

Hooch and Nosh also reported the detail that makes this weekend matter if you have an old card. Social gift cards and coupons will be honored through Thanksgiving week, and the hand-dipped ice cream is staying. Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 26, so the tree lighting is the last big Village event before those cards stop working. The outlet summed up the handoff this way:

"Consider it less of a goodbye and more of a changing of the scoops."

The Villa's first holiday season is also the first for The River Coffeehouse team's second Village business. In March 2025, Hooch and Nosh reported that The River Coffeehouse had taken over Light Rail Cafe, which spent 12 years in Winona Lake. So the coffee counter and the ice cream counter in the Village now belong to the same local owners, and Nov. 21 is the first tree lighting where that's true.

The same Saturday, two other towns

Nov. 21 is busy across the county, and the other events line up differently with the Village.

North Webster holds its own Christmas Tree Lighting that afternoon, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. on Pilcher's Lawn at 127 S. Main St. The North Webster-Tippecanoe Chamber of Commerce is the host and the event is free. The 2026 listing says activities start around town at 3 p.m. and build toward lighting the downtown tree. Its hours almost exactly match Winona Lake's, so most families will end up at one tree lighting or the other.

The Milford Holiday Market ends before the Village event begins. Meet Milford runs the market from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 611 W. Emeline St. in Milford. It closes an hour and a half before the Village opens its toy collection, so you have time to shop in Milford and still get to Park Avenue for the 3:30 start. You could even find the Toys for Tots toy at a Milford vendor's table.

Two weeks later, the Town takes the same block

After Thanksgiving, Park Avenue gets a different host. The Village's tree is already lit, and the next big gathering belongs to the Town of Winona Lake. Main Street Warsaw's downtown celebration opens the weekend the night before.

KringleFest is shorter than the Village event and runs at a different time of day. It's a two-hour late morning, and the Town calls it a holiday event "for kids of all ages." The Town also notes that times are subject to change. Both events have Santa and train rides. KringleFest adds live reindeer and ice skating, and it doesn't ask for a toy at the gate.

The Rodeheaver performances are the only stop on this stretch of Park Avenue that needs a ticket. Visit Kosciusko County lists prices from $14.35 to $17.43 for An Americana Christmas. Because KringleFest is in the late morning and the concert is at night, Dec. 5 can be a full Park Avenue day: the pavilion at 705 before lunch and the auditorium at 901 after dark.

The Downtown Christmas Celebration in Warsaw on Friday, Dec. 4, sets up that Saturday. It has its own tree lighting, carriage rides, a twinkle light parade and a Christmas Market for last-minute shopping. From Friday evening in Warsaw to Sunday afternoon at Rodeheaver, the first weekend of December has a tree lighting, a parade, KringleFest and two concert performances. None of them asks for a toy at the door.

Marcus Christlieb and David Lion follow Kosciusko County's lake towns, Park Avenue included, as closely as the Fort Wayne neighborhoods where Lion & Christlieb does most of its business. If you're curious what a home near the Village or along Winona Lake's shoreline is worth this season, start with our instant home valuation, and we'll follow up with a local read on the numbers.