Park Slope's Two Biggest Holiday Saturdays Share One Cul-de-Sac on 4th Street

At Fifth Avenue, 4th Street ends in a short cul-de-sac. On one side is Washington Park, and the Old Stone House stands at its edge. Most of the year it's a place you walk through on the way to the playground or the avenue. For two Saturdays in a row this year, it is where Park Slope's holiday season happens.

The Park Slope 5th Avenue BID lights its tree on that corner on Saturday, November 28. Seven days later, on Saturday, December 5, the Old Stone House Holiday Artisans Bazaar sets up on the same plaza. Most of the other dates on this year's calendar are either inside the Old Stone House or a short walk up Fifth Avenue to Grand Army Plaza. If you want to plan the season, start from this corner.

Two Saturdays, one corner

The tree lighting comes first. The Park Sloper's listing for the BID event puts it at the corner of 4th Street and 5th Avenue on Saturday, November 28, 2026, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The BID describes it as its annual lighting on Small Business Saturday, which is always the last Saturday in November.

The bazaar comes a week later. Brooklyn Community Board 6 lists the Holiday Artisans Bazaar, a collaboration between Brooklyn Pop Up and the Old Stone House, at the 4th Street Plaza at 5th Avenue on December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It promises handcrafted gifts, accessories, fashion, home goods, jewelry and art from local artisans, along with a DJ and craft making. Brooklyn Pop Up's own page puts it along the 4th Street cul-de-sac beside the Old Stone House and counts 50+ local artisans, makers and small businesses. It also lists hot cider and spiked cider. If the weather is extreme, the bazaar moves to Sunday, December 6.

Since both events use the same few hundred feet of sidewalk, both Saturdays have the same layout. You'll find the action at the plaza, the Old Stone House's programs inside, and Fifth Avenue's shops and restaurants on either side.

November 28 runs from Grand Army Plaza down to the tree

Small Business Saturday works best as a walk down Fifth Avenue that ends at the lighting. Here is the day in order:

1. 8 a.m. The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket opens. GrowNYC runs it every Saturday of the year, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Prospect Park West and Flatbush Avenue.
2. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first Wreath Workshop with Sam Lewis begins at the Old Stone House. The Old Stone House calendar says participants make a winter wreath with help from the OSH garden team, and lists tickets at $65.87.
3. 2 to 4 p.m. The second wreath session runs, same price, same garden team.
4. 4 p.m. Caputo Bagels at 81 Fifth Avenue closes. Its weekend hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., so go for coffee earlier in the day.
5. 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The tree lighting at 4th Street and 5th Avenue.

The second wreath session ends half an hour before the lighting begins, a few steps away. If you sign up for the afternoon slot, you can carry your finished wreath straight out to the plaza.

The same weekend is holiday pricing at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, which BroadwayWorld reported was set to start its skating season on October 31. Lakeside's public skate page treats November 26 through 29 as holiday dates. On those days general admission is $15 cash or $15.45 by card, and skate rental is $10 cash or $10.29 by card. The Old Stone House follows on Sunday, November 29, with Hand-Quilted Needle Books, a 1 to 4 p.m. session hosted by El Lang and priced from $12.51 to $49.87.

December 5 and 6 add Grand Army Plaza to the plaza schedule

The second Saturday is busier, because Chanukah starts that weekend and its main public lighting is at the other end of Fifth Avenue.

The bazaar runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 4th Street plaza. The Old Stone House calendar adds Ma's House Reunion that afternoon from 2 to 6 p.m. It's a free public program for the contemporary art exhibit Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Land, which overlaps the bazaar's last two hours.

That evening the menorah lighting moves to Grand Army Plaza. Chabad of Park Slope's 2026 menorah schedule lists the second night at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. The third night, Sunday, December 6, is the big one, with a live concert at 4 p.m. and the lighting at 5 p.m. Chabad calls the Grand Army Plaza menorah the largest in Brooklyn and says every night includes live music, hot latkes and gifts for children.

Sunday, December 6, also has a market just west of the neighborhood. The Park Sloper lists the Threes Flea Market Holiday Edition, curated by Fig Shop, at Threes Brewing Gowanus, 333 Douglass Street, from noon to 6 p.m. If the weather pushes the bazaar to Sunday, it would run alongside the Threes market and the Grand Army Plaza concert. That would make December 6 the fullest day of the season.

The new Fifth Avenue stops between the two plazas

The walk between Grand Army Plaza and the 4th Street plaza has several new places since the fall. All of them are on Fifth Avenue, and three opened in October, just before the holiday weekends.

Caputo Bagels, 81 Fifth Avenue near Prospect Place. This is the closest of the new places to Grand Army Plaza. Brooklyn Bridge Parents reports it comes from James Caputo, a fifth-generation Brooklyn baker whose family's Caputo Bake Shop operated in Carroll Gardens for more than 120 years, and restaurateur Rafael "Rafi" Hasid. The menu has hand-rolled sourdough bagels, cream cheeses, smoked fish, sandwiches, pastries and coffee. It opens at 7 a.m. every day, so it works as a stop before or after the Greenmarket.

Voodoo Queen Soul Kitchen, 147 Fifth Avenue. This New Orleans-inspired kitchen opened in October for lunch and dinner. Sunday through Thursday it's open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday it stays open until 1 a.m. The same roundup said brunch would start in November. Because it's open late on Saturdays, it's the one new place still serving long after the tree lighting ends.

Sesilya, 254 Fifth Avenue at Carroll Street. The bakery side of this Georgian restaurant and bakery opened on Thursday, October 22, in the former Negril BK space, according to Park Slope Pulse. The restaurant was set to follow. Owner David Kitiashvili moved to New York from Tbilisi more than two decades ago and runs Sesilya with childhood friends. He told Park Slope Pulse that many of the dishes are family recipes passed down through generations, with khachapuri at the center. "Park Slope is an exceptionally warm and welcoming neighborhood," he told the outlet. "It feels like everyone knows each other and is connected to what is happening around them." From Carroll Street, the tree at 4th Street is four blocks south.

Lileo. Park Slope Pulse also points out that Sesilya is the second Georgian spot on this part of Fifth Avenue. Lileo, a Georgian coffee and wine bar, opened earlier this year a few blocks north. Together they give Fifth Avenue two Georgian stops within a few blocks of the plaza.

The BID's gift card is a good fit for Small Business Saturday shopping. The Park Slope 5th Avenue BID says it is accepted at participating businesses on 5th Avenue, 7th Avenue and in Gowanus.

The rest of the season, by date

The plaza Saturdays are the main events. The rest of the calendar is mostly smaller programs inside the Old Stone House, plus the nightly menorah lightings at Grand Army Plaza.

The Brandenburgers concert is the longest-running event on the list. The Old Stone House says the ensemble has been part of its music programming since 2004 and plays the family holiday concert every year. It's on December 19, two weeks after the bazaar. The Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket also keeps its 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours on Saturday, December 26, the day after Christmas.

All of this takes place on a few blocks of Fifth Avenue, between Grand Army Plaza and 4th Street. Danielle walks these blocks every week with her clients. If the holidays have you thinking about a move within Park Slope, or about which part of the Fifth Avenue corridor suits you, Danielle Sells NYC is happy to talk it through. Book a market consultation.