Three Rivers' Holiday Season Runs Through the Riviera This Year

Christmas Around Town started as a scattered thing. More than 50 years ago, downtown Three Rivers businesses each held their own holiday open house, and the season moved from one shop door to the next. The 2026 schedule is built differently. The concert, the Santa photos, the Polar Express screenings and New Year's Eve all happen inside the Riviera Theatre, and most of the weekend's outdoor moments are set up to send people back toward its doors.

The shops still matter, and the Riviera hasn't replaced them. It has become the room downtown comes back to between them.

The open house that grew past the storefronts

The Three Rivers DDA traces Christmas Around Town to those coordinated merchant open houses and names Ridgeway Floral as one of the longtime participants. The event now runs three days, November 27 through 29, with tree lighting, Santa visits, rides, live entertainment, shopping specials and family activities across downtown. Sponsorship comes in four tiers named Golden Rings, Silver Bells, Mistletoe and Snowball.

So the merchant core is still there. The detailed schedule for the weekend is posted on the Riviera Theatre's event page, and you can see the shift once you read it hour by hour.

Friday night is indoors by 7

Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so the season opens on Black Friday. At 6 p.m. on November 27 the DDA holds its Holiday Tree Lighting and Caroling in the Mural Mall, with the TRHS Aristocrats, a reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, hot cocoa and cookies.

An hour later, the DDA's Holiday Spectacular Concert starts on the Riviera stage at 7 p.m., with a suggested donation for entry. On a cold late-November night, that order makes the evening simple to plan. Lights and carols in the Mural Mall, then inside for the show.

The weekend of November 28 and 29, piece by piece

The schedule lists Saturday and Sunday together. Shop Small is the only item tied to Saturday, and the rest aren't assigned to a day. Here is everything it includes for those two days:

• Shop Small Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Businesses are open all day with special deals.
• Santa arrives by fire engine for photos at the Riviera Theatre.
• Cookie decorating kits at GG's.
• A scavenger hunt with prizes.
• Free wagon rides and make-and-take holiday crafts for kids.
• The Holiday Light Parade at 6 p.m. through historic downtown, returning after its first run last year.
• Polar Express Night to Fight Hunger at the Riviera, with screenings at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Entry is free with a non-perishable food item, and the event includes hot cocoa, caroling before the shows, a "Tom Hanks" conductor punching tickets and a free bell for kids.

Two of the weekend's anchors are at the Riviera, Santa's photo stop and both film screenings. The 5 p.m. Polar Express showing ends close to the parade's 6 p.m. start, which makes it easy to step from the screening onto Main Street. The scavenger hunt, the cookie kits and the wagon rides keep families moving between storefronts, and those still come straight from the merchant tradition.

The DDA overview mentions carriage rides, while the Riviera's detailed schedule calls them free wagon rides. No ride times have been posted.

The stage is busy well before Thanksgiving

The Riviera works as a holiday hub because it never really goes quiet. Its calendar for the coming weeks lists the Bourbon Brothers on Friday, October 23, a Woody Guthrie benefit on Saturday, October 24, Rocktober on Friday, October 30, and The Insiders' Tom Petty tribute on Friday, November 6, with tickets listed at $20. The bar is open Wednesday through Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m.

Watershed Voice reports that the October 24 Guthrie tribute benefits the Huss Project, with advance tickets starting at $10 plus fees.

That same Saturday is a full one for families. The City of Three Rivers holds Scidmore Spook-Tacular at Scidmore Park from 1 to 4 p.m., with trunk-or-treat and a spooky zoo walkthrough. The Three Rivers Public Library's calendar lists "Book or Treat!" the same day. An afternoon at Scidmore followed by an evening show at the Riviera is an easy October 24 plan to put together.

December shares the season between the shops and the stage

After the Christmas Around Town weekend, the DDA goes back to the storefronts. Festive Fridays fall on December 4, 11 and 18, with shopping specials, seasonal treats and family activities downtown. The event titles say "All Day," but the calendar entries on each page are set for 1 to 7 p.m. If you plan around one, the late afternoon is the safest window.

The year ends back at the theater. Midnight on Main runs at the Riviera on December 31 from 9 p.m. to midnight, with live music, dancing, a balloon drop and a champagne toast. The DDA hasn't posted a 2026 performer or ticket price yet, so check the listing before you plan the night. The Three Rivers Public Library also lists Family Gingerbread House Decorating on December 9.

Put together, the season looks like this:

Three of the six rows are at the Riviera, and the Mural Mall tree lighting runs straight into the concert there an hour later.

A second room on North Main

Downtown has another place built around people gathering this season. Kingbird and the Ordinary opened this spring at 45 N. Main St., in the space that most recently held the Farrand Hall Diner. Watershed Voice reported that chef Ken Miller and his wife, Ashley Miller, own and run it as two connected concepts. Kingbird serves brunch and lunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. The Ordinary is a reservation-only monthly dinner series built around seasonal multi-course menus. According to Watershed Voice, the restaurant's opening materials describe the goal as an experience that's "equal parts delicious, familiar, exciting and welcoming."

The Ordinary's fall and winter dates follow the same calendar as the rest of downtown:

1. Saturday, October 24: a French-themed dinner, on the same day as Spook-Tacular and the Guthrie benefit.
2. Saturday, November 21: a Forest and Game dinner at $100 per person, the weekend before Christmas Around Town.
3. Saturday, December 12: a Holiday Party at $125 per ticket, with 10% of the ticket price going to Children's Miracle Network.

Because the dinners are reservation-only, check the Kingbird and the Ordinary events page well before you'd want to go, especially for the December party.

If you already live here, the advice is practical. Choose your stops at the Riviera first, since the concert, Santa, the Polar Express and New Year's Eve are all fixed to that stage. Then fill the hours between with Ridgeway Floral, GG's, the scavenger hunt and a Festive Friday afternoon.

If you're filling in your own holiday calendar this year, I'd love to hear which Riviera night or downtown stop is your family's favorite, and I'm always glad to share what I'm looking forward to around Three Rivers this season. Christy Cottingham is here whenever you'd like to talk. Let's Connect.