It’s that time of the year for holiday cheer and to indulge in all your favorite traditions: the Nutcracker, Sausalito’s lighted boat parade, Christmas music shows, garden ice rinks and oodles of holiday craft fairs. Here’s the scoop on all that—and more.
Partner Events
ICB Winter Open Studios , Marin City Health and Wellness Center’s Inaugural Winter Gala, Guide Dogs for the Blind Graduations
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On the Scene Community Events and Fundraisers
2025 Dates TBD ICB Winter Open Studios
The ICB Art Studios in Sausalito hosts its annual Winter Open Studios the first weekend in December, to the delight of art lovers and families. The historic building hosts over 90 studios featuring a variety of accomplished artists — painters, sculptors, photographers, fiber and digital artists. Last year, approximately 1,500 visitors came from the Bay Area and beyond to mingle with the artists, view artwork and purchase original work directly. Read more about the event here. Photos by Erika Perrino, Michael Wolfe, Anki Gelb and Kathleen Mozena.
2025 Dates TBD Guide Dogs for the Blind Graduations
Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) will celebrate its guide dog team graduates every other Saturday with public graduation ceremonies at the organization’s campus in San Rafael. These touching public events have brought tears of joy to the eyes of the toughest audience members, as graduating guide dog teams proudly take the stage. Families are welcome at the ceremonies, which honor the independence and companionship that GDB’s guide dogs provide for GDB’s clients who are blind or visually impaired.
These events allow GDB’s clients to meet the puppy raisers who cared for their canine heroes prior to beginning formal training at GDB’s campus, plus recognize recent graduates of GDB’s Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Program, K9 Buddy Program, and Breeder Dog Program. Kleenex will be provided. Pre-registered bus groups are welcome. Graduation day public tours of the campus are offered on the days of the ceremonies.
2025 Date TBD Marin City Health and Wellness Center’s Inaugural Winter Gala
The Marin City Health and Wellness Center (MCHWC) is hosting its inaugural Winter Gala at the beautiful Peacock Gap Golf Club in San Rafael. Join them for an unforgettable evening featuring inspiring guest speakers, exciting silent and live auctions, community impact awards, live music, dancing, and gourmet food stations.
This special fundraiser focuses on sustaining and expanding clinic services in Marin and Bayview Hunters Point, focusing on creating lasting improvements in healthcare quality and accessibility for its communities. The funds raised will directly support critical initiatives, including the recruitment of top-tier physicians, the expansion of behavioral health services, and phase II construction at the Phillips Drive location in Marin City. Tickets, tables, and corporate sponsorship opportunities are available for purchase (donations always welcome of course!).
2025 Date TBD Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s Annual Holiday Jam
The Narada Michael Walden Foundation holds an annual Holiday Jam at the Throckmorton Theatre to fundraise for its musical grants and youth programs. Decorated musicians play alongside youth bands and performers, familiarizing young people with the music industry and teaching them skills from some of the best musicians around.
Events
2025 Dates TBD Winter Wonderland
Lace up your skates and take a spin on the Marin Art and Garden Center’s holiday rink under falling snow and twinkling lights. Festivities include the Ross Auxiliary’s Winterfest on Dec. 7, with train rides and an appearance from Santa Claus.
2025 Dates TBD Sausalito Gingerbread House Tour
While strolling the streets and window-shopping in downtown Sausalito, look out for feats of gingerbread structural engineering during the 18th annual Sausalito Gingerbread House Tour. Businesses of all kinds build their own cookie creations, and visitors are invited to explore the streets and vote for their favorite. Might as well do some holiday shopping while you’re there, before stopping by a local restaurant for seasonal specials.
2025 Date TBD Holiday Heroes at Oracle Park
See a ballpark transformed into a holiday wonderland for the annual Holiday Heroes, put together by the Wender Weis Foundation for Children and multiple Bay Area sports team. The celebrity-filled evening offers boundless holiday fun to over 400 children and their families, many of whom come from underserved communities.
2025 Dates TBD Winterfest Sausalito
Photo by Kimber Communications
A favorite Marin holiday highlight, Winterfest starts with its annual Lighted Boat Parade featuring brightly decorated boats cruising the Sausalito harbor, followed by a fireworks show. The following day, the Jingle Bell 5K and brunch at the Spinnaker are both a fun run and fundraiser for the Dipsea Kids.
2025 Dates TBD Great Dickens Christmas Fair
During one of the Bay Area’s most time-honored holiday traditions, the Cow Palace is transformed into a maze of Victorian streets in old London town, laden with shops bedecked in holiday finery and bursting with handmade treasures, music halls, dance parties, sing-alongs and hundreds of costumed characters.
2025 Date TBD Giant Menorah Lighting in Downtown San Rafael
Chabad of Marin and the City of San Rafael are lighting a giant menorah on the first Sunday evening of Chanukah at the Downtown San Rafael Plaza. There will also be music, dancing, and a chocolate gelt drop—plus anyone who brings a non-perishable food item for the SF/Marin Food Bank receives a free hot chocolate and a latke.
Dec 31 Bouncy Ball Drop
Usher in the new year while wearing a hard hat! At noon in Downtown Novato, a crane will drop 25,000 bouncy balls for 2025 for this free event. Kids can keep as many bouncy balls as they can fit in their pockets, and they can walk away with souvenir hard hats, too.
2025 Dates TBD Union Square Ice Rink
The Holiday Ice Rink in San Francisco’s Union Square is a fun way to end, or begin, a day of holiday shopping in San Francisco’s iconic shopping district.
Arts, Theater and Lectures
2025 Dates TBD Marin Ballet’s Nutcracker
Lavish Victorian sets and elaborate costumes for 125 dancers are just part of this classic ballet production, performed at the new Marin School of the Arts.
2025 Dates TBD Mark Foehringer’s Nutcracker Sweets
This 50-minute version of the Nutcracker is specifically designed for families with young children. This year’s production includes new choreography, scenic elements, fun costumes and a scene where it snows on the audience.
2025 Date TBD The Velveteen Rabbit
ODC/Dance’s annual whimsical holiday show is based on the children’s classic book by Margery Williams. Weekend showgoers can also opt-in for a Velveteen Rabbit-themed brunch at the St. Regis prior to the show.
2025 Dates TBD Broadway Holiday
For the first time, Marin Theatre and Transcendence Theatre Company are teaming up for an all-new production featuring a stellar cast of Broadway veterans and rising stars performing a mix of classic wintertime tunes and showstopping Broadway numbers.
2025 Dates TBD The Christmas Ballet
A signature mix of ballet, contemporary, character, Broadway, jazz and tap from Smuin keeps the energy flowing at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts this holiday.
2025 Dates TBD Blithe Spirit
An eccentric spiritualist medium ventures into the home of a novelist and conjures up the ghost of his first wife, leading to a series of hilariously otherworldly complications.
2025 Dates TBD The Winter Wonderettes
This lighthearted holiday romp tells the story of four female friends who discover Santa is missing and use their creative ingenuity to save the day.
2025 Date TBD Sister’s Christmas Catechism
It’s “CSI: Bethlehem” in this holiday mystery extravaganza at the Marin Center, as Sister takes on the mystery that has intrigued historians throughout the ages: Whatever happened to the Magi’s gold? It’s a hilarious retelling the story of the nativity, as only Sister can do.
2025 Dates TBD A Whynot Christmas Carol
A puckishly funny adaptation of Charles Dickens’s beloved classic features festive music, magical ghosts, an effervescent cast of kids and ample hijinks.
Holiday Fairs
2025 Date TBD Mill Valley Holiday Craft Fair
The yearly artisan holiday craft fair at the Mill Valley Community Center draws in crowds eager to revisit their favorite vendors and search for uncommon goods. Free, ample parking makes it even more attractive.
2025 Date TBD Landmarks Arts & Crafts Fair
This small arts fair in Tiburon features local artists and craftspeople offering gifts for sale. All proceeds benefit the Landmarks Society’s historic sites.
2025 Dates TBD Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair
Locally hand-made jewelry, fashion accessories, wreaths, and ornaments crafted of glass and wood are just a few of the options at a fair famous for stand appearances by the Muir Beach Quilters and the Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department.
2025 Dates TBD Mercantino di Natale
Go di lusso at Museo Italo Americano’s holiday market with all-Italian made crafts, goodies, fashion, art and more.
2025 Date TBD Fort Mason Holiday Night Market
Piggybacking off its Off the Grid success, Fort Mason launches its first holiday night market—an immersive holiday shopping experience combining food trucks, live entertainment, art, Santa and mouse king visits, a classic holiday movie, holiday trees, and fresh snow.
2025 Dates TBD Not So Silent Night
Downtown Novato keeps up the holiday cheer with an evening of shopping and live music. Shops will stay open late for holiday shopping (shop local!), and downtown’s many restaurants, bars and taprooms will keep the good times rolling. The evening begins at 4 p.m. and runs through 9 p.m.
Music
2025 Dates TBD Holiday Spectacular
The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus presents its annual holiday concert at San Francisco’s Sydney Goldstein Theater, offering an experience that blends the enchantment of the season with the transformative power of compassion and community.
2025 Date TBD Rocky Mountain High: John Denver Christmas
Tribute artist Rick Schuler takes audiences back to the ’70s when John Denver’s music permeated the radio airways. The show features all of Denver’s hits plus heartwarming carols and holiday classics from Denver’s memorable holiday TV specials.
2025 Dates TBD Holiday Choral by Candlelight
The Marin Symphony plays both traditional and contemporary holiday music set to candlelight in the beautiful setting of St. Raphael’s Church, with both instrumental and choral performances.
2025 Date TBD Gregory Porter
A two-time Grammy winner and seven-time nominee, Gregory Porter is undoubtedly one of jazz’s most celebrated male vocalists. He returns for one night only at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland.
2025 Date TBD The Christmas Jug Band Holiday Show
Experience a set of original holiday tunes in a way you could never imagine.
2025 Date TBD The Allman Betts Family Revival
The sons of Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts, along with other musicians, perform classic songs from The Allman Brothers Band at the Fillmore.
Museums
2025 Dates TBD Restitution and Recuperation: An Exhibition by Charles H.Lee
This photo exhibition at MarinMOCA leans into a range of social and political ramifications for America’s Black soldiers — from denial of G.I. benefits to soldiers to the irony of vacant housing on California’s decommissioned military bases despite the highest homeless veteran population in the nation.
2025 Dates TBD ‘Tis the Season for Science
Get into the holiday spirit at this annual happening at the California Academy of Sciences. This year, pairs of baby animals are the stars of the show, including juvenile reindeer, camels and yaks.
Film
2025 Dates TBD Another Hole in the Head
A film festival dedicated to the realms of science fiction, fantasy, horror and other genres showcases new independent films from around the world with dozens of feature films and hundreds of shorts shown at Bay Area theaters and on Zoom.
2025 Dates TBD Nightbitch
An official selection of the Mill Valley Film Festival, this film tells the story of a woman (Amy Adams) who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her new domesticity takes a surreal turn.
2025 Dates TBD Met Opera: Mozart’s The Magic Flute
This whimsical film production of an abridged English-language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute makes a special encore presentation during the holiday season.
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Give Back When You Go Out: Volunteer
Looking for more ways to give back to our community by volunteering your time? Here’s a list of Marin County nonprofits supporting a variety of causes — ranging from helping our most vulnerable residents to keeping our environment healthy — where your assistance can really make a difference.
