Melrose's December Keeps Coming Back to Memorial Hall

How many times will you walk into Melrose Memorial Hall between now and the middle of December? If your family has a dancer, a symphony habit or a farmers market routine, the answer could easily be three. Between December 4 and December 13, the hall at 590 Main Street hosts three major holiday events across two back-to-back weekends. A different local group runs each one.

That makes the calendar easier to plan than it looks. The city's holiday season comes down to one address and nine days. The tricky part is that each event sells, fills or crowds differently.

Three events, two weekends, one address

Each event works differently. The Nutcracker lands on the same three days as the Chamber's citywide open house, so the hall and the streets around it are busy at the same time. The Pops is the hardest seat to get, and much of it is already gone. The market opens the morning after the second Pops night and runs for only three hours.

November already runs through the same building

Memorial Hall's holiday season starts before December. On Saturday, November 14, the hall hosts "Harvest: A Fundraiser for the Food Drive." The City of Melrose calendar lists event hours of 5:30 to 9 pm with doors at 6, and sends ticket questions to The Food Drive.

Earlier that same Saturday, you can fit in a gallery visit. The Melrose Creative Alliance lists "Expressive Visions" at the Beebe Estate Gallery, open Saturdays from 11 am to 3 pm on November 14, 21 and 28.

The rest of November spreads across town:

• Wednesday, November 18, 7 to 8:30 pm: "Indigenous People in the Colonial Melrose Imagination" in the Lower Level Meeting Room at the Melrose Public Library.
• Sunday, November 22: The Melrose Farmers' Market Harvest Market at Bowden Park, where West Emerson and Vinton Streets meet next to the Cedar Park commuter rail stop. The Melrose Creative Alliance listing mentions fall produce, maple syrup, honey, wine and mead, bread and cheese, ceramics and hot prepared food.
• Monday, November 30, 7 to 8:30 pm: The Author's Corner with Peggy Bendroth, in conversation with Ellen Holtzman, back in the library's Lower Level Meeting Room.

The Harvest Market sets up the move indoors. The market's Thursday afternoon outdoor season ended October 29, and November 22 is its last listed market at Bowden Park. You can park free in the commuter rail lot along Cedar Park or in the Trinity Church lot. After that, the market's schedule puts every listed date inside Memorial Hall.

December 4 to 6: the Nutcracker shares its weekend with the whole city

Melrose Youth Ballet's 31st annual Nutcracker opens Friday, December 4, at 8 pm. That's the same night the Melrose Chamber of Commerce's Home for the Holidays starts downtown. The two schedules overlap all weekend, so plan around both.

Friday evening, in order

1. 5:45 pm: Holiday singing on the City Hall lawn.
2. 6:00 to 8:00 pm: Temple Beth Shalom serves latkes, sufganiyot and drinks outside the temple at 21 East Foster Street.
3. 6:15 pm: Mayor Jen Grigoraitis lights the City Hall Christmas tree. The crowd then walks toward the YMCA to wait for Santa.
4. Around 6:30 pm: Santa arrives downtown on a fire engine.
5. 6:45 to 8:30 pm: Once the trees along Main Street are lit, Santa takes pictures at the Knights of Columbus, with hot cocoa and holiday music.
6. 7:00 pm: Doors open at Memorial Hall for the Nutcracker's 8 pm opening night.

That timeline leaves room to see the tree lighting and still reach your seat. Doors open an hour before every Nutcracker performance. There's also a 10 am show on Friday morning, but it's reserved for school field trips and isn't open to the public.

Saturday

Saturday is the busiest day on Main Street. The Chamber's free holiday trolleys run from 10 am to 2 pm, starting at Cedar Park and stopping throughout Melrose's shopping districts. The last trolley leaves Cedar Park at 1:40 pm, and the Chamber asks riders to leave strollers at home or at Cedar Park. From 11 am to noon, Cedar Park has "reindeer" rides, cookie decorating, a hot cocoa bar and a visit from Santa.

The Nutcracker's Saturday matinee starts at 1 pm, while the trolleys are still running, and the evening show follows at 7. If you're seeing the matinee, doors open at noon, so the morning at Cedar Park and the afternoon at Memorial Hall fit into one outing.

Sunday

Sunday is quieter. The Nutcracker closes with matinees at 10 am and 2 pm. Rising Eagle at 505 Main Street hosts Brunch with Santa from 11 am to 2 pm, which fits between the two shows. Across town, the Mt. Hood Park Association of Melrose holds its free Children's Holiday Party from 1 to 3 pm at the Mount Hood Golf Clubhouse, 100 Slayton Road. Zero Waste Melrose also plans a winter holiday decor mini swap from 11 am to 2 pm, with the location still to be announced.

Melrose Youth Ballet sells tickets only through the link on its own website. All sales are final, and MYB says it isn't responsible for resale or exchanges made anywhere else.

December 11 and 12: the Pops is the tightest ticket

The Melrose Symphony Orchestra brings back its Holiday Pops on Friday, December 11, and Saturday, December 12, with the Empire Trio. Singers Erin Shields and Adam Cannedy perform alongside pianist and violinist David Shenton, who plays violin and piano at the same time. The program includes music from The Nutcracker and Polar Express and a narrated reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

The orchestra's Holiday Pops page lists two ticket types. General admission is $32 and reserved table seating is $40. At last check, Saturday general admission was sold out, table seating was sold out for both nights, and Friday general admission had limited availability.

That's a month before the concert. Of this season's Memorial Hall events, the Pops is the only one whose listing shows sold-out seats, so it's the one to settle first. If you want to go, Friday the 11th is the only night still listed with general admission seats. Doors open at 7 pm, pre-concert organ music starts at 7:15, and the concert begins at 8.

December 13: the market comes inside

The morning after the second Pops concert, the hall hosts the Melrose Farmers' Market Holiday Market. The city's listing gives public hours of 11 am to 2 pm at Melrose Memorial Hall. The market will use the hall's kitchen and the GAR room.

After December 13, the market stays at Memorial Hall for the rest of its winter season, with markets listed for January 30, February 27 and March 27. The holiday weekends end, but the hall keeps a market on the calendar roughly once a month into spring.

Eating on Main Street around the shows

Every event in this post is on or near Main Street. Two places come up in the calendar itself or in recent local news:

• Slurp Noodle, 478 Main St. It soft-opened Saturday, September 19, in the former Comella's storefront and serves ramen, pho and rice bowls. Patch reported that it sold out of food and closed for a day on September 28 to restock, then reopened the next day.
• Rising Eagle, 505 Main St. It's the Chamber's Brunch with Santa host on Sunday, December 6, from 11 am to 2 pm, the same morning the Nutcracker plays its last two performances at Memorial Hall.

The Chamber notes that Home for the Holidays activities may change. Check the Chamber's page the week of December 4 before setting out on Friday evening.

If you're hosting family for the holidays and the conversation turns to what your home is worth, Coldwell Banker First Quality Realty has worked in Melrose and the communities around it since 2002, and our team works in English and Spanish. Get your instant home valuation before the Nutcracker weekend, and we'll be glad to go over the numbers with you after the holidays.