Four of Elmhurst's public buildings share a single park: the Elmhurst Public Library, the Elmhurst Art Museum, Wilder Mansion and the Wilder Park Conservatory. The Elmhurst Park District lists all four as part of Wilder Park, at 175 S Prospect Avenue.
That makes this one park the address for most of Elmhurst's holiday calendar this year. The Art Museum's free admission days and the Park District's two biggest seasonal events fall on back-to-back days. Once a week in early November and once in early December, you can see most of what the park offers in about 48 hours without buying a museum ticket.
Four Buildings, One Calendar
The Elmhurst Art Museum is at 150 S Cottage Hill Avenue. Regular admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $10 for students 18 and older with a school ID and $5 for ages 5 to 17. Children 4 and under and members get in free. The ticket includes the McCormick House. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday. The museum describes the McCormick House as designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Two exhibitions are running now, and both stay up through January 3, 2027. One is "Resisting the Long War: A Revolution of Values." "Abbott Pattison: The Figure Forward" is the current show inside the McCormick House.
The museum has set aside three fall free days for both shows: Friday, October 2, Thursday, November 5, and Friday, December 4. The October date is past. The other two are what organize the rest of the season.
For two adults and two kids between 5 and 17, a regular visit costs $46. On November 5 or December 4 it costs nothing. Both of those days fall right before or right after a free Park District event in the same park.
November 5 to 7: A Museum Day, Then the Market
The first stretch starts on Thursday, November 5, with free admission at the Art Museum from noon to 5 p.m.
The next evening, Wilder Mansion at 211 S Prospect Avenue hosts the opening night of the Holiday Market at Wilder Mansion. This is the 15th year for the market, which is run by RGL Marketing for the Arts. According to the Elmhurst Park District's event page, it brings in more than 55 artisans and gourmet food vendors selling kids' clothing, pottery, stationery, fiber work, jewelry, mixed media, painting and gourmet food. Admission is free.
- Friday, November 6: 4 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, November 7: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Because Friday runs into the evening, it works after work in a way the museum's weekday hours don't. Saturday morning suits anyone who wants first pick of handmade gifts before the vendor tables thin out.
The week after the market brings two more Art Museum programs. A lecture on "Abbott Pattison: The Figure Forward" runs Thursday, November 12, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. On Saturday, November 14, from 1 to 5 p.m., "Create With Us" invites visitors to meet and make art with veteran artist Eric Perez. If November 5 doesn't work for you, the Pattison lecture is a second way into the McCormick House show before it closes in January.
December 3 and 4: The Tree Lighting, Then the Museum Again
The second stretch reverses the order, with the park event first and the museum day after it.
On Thursday, December 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Park District hosts the Tree Lighting in Wilder Park. The district's event listing describes a countdown to lighting the community trees around the park, with festivities both outdoors and inside Wilder Mansion. Activities include:
- Meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus
- Meeting real reindeer
- Holiday carnival games
- Festive performances
- Food trucks
The event is free. Parking is open in Wilder Park's south lot and in the Alexander Lot at Elmhurst University. Because the university lot is listed, the district is planning for more cars than the park's own lot can hold. If you live within walking distance, walking is probably easier.
On Friday, December 4, the Art Museum's last fall free day runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. That gives you a second look at the park by daylight, one day after the tree lighting, with both exhibitions still up.
Santa comes back to the park later in the month. The Art Museum's "Create With Us: Holiday Party" is Sunday, December 13, from 2 to 5 p.m., and the museum's event listing reads "Santa comes to EAM!" Families who miss the December 3 crowd have a smaller, indoor chance ten days later.
The Football Series on Park Avenue
One other program series this season starts outside Wilder Park. The Elmhurst History Museum at 120 E Park Avenue is showing "Bear Down: Football in the Windy City," which opened August 28. The museum's current-exhibits page covers football history across Chicagoland, including the Bears, the Cardinals, George Halas, regional venues, artifacts and team rivalries. The museum's 2026 exhibition schedule gives a closing date of January 3, 2027, while the current-exhibits page says it's open through January 24, 2027. Check with the museum before you plan a January visit.
The programs run from November into December. Each is free for members and $8 for non-members:
- Sunday, November 8, noon: a gallery talk inside the exhibit.
- Sunday, November 15, 1 p.m.: "Foundations of the Chicago Bears," a lecture on the teams that came before the Bears and on George Halas's role in building the franchise.
- Thursday, December 10, 7 p.m.: "Bears vs. Cardinals: The NFL's Oldest Rivalry."
The museum's calendar puts the November 15 and December 10 lectures in its Education Center. The November 8 talk falls the day after the Holiday Market closes, so one weekend can include handmade gifts at Wilder Mansion on Saturday and leather-helmet football history on Park Avenue at Sunday lunchtime.
Even this series ends up back in Wilder Park. The museum's site also lists a January 8 screening of the football film "Leatherheads," held at the Elmhurst Public Library.
Before November: Halloween
The season starts on Saturday, October 31, five days before the first museum free day. The City of Elmhurst has set trick-or-treating hours for 3 to 7 p.m. that day. That morning, from 11 a.m. to noon, the Park District holds its free Howl-A-Ween Dog Costume Contest at Canine Corner Dog Park. Registration is requested. The contest ends three hours before trick-or-treating starts, so a dog's costume can be worn twice in one day.
The Full Sequence, in Order
Laid out by date, the late-fall calendar stays close to one park:
- Sat, Oct 31: Howl-A-Ween at Canine Corner, 11 a.m. to noon; trick-or-treating 3 to 7 p.m.
- Thu, Nov 5: Art Museum free day, noon to 5 p.m.
- Fri–Sat, Nov 6–7: Holiday Market at Wilder Mansion
- Sun, Nov 8: "Bear Down" gallery talk, History Museum, noon
- Thu, Nov 12: Pattison lecture, Art Museum, 7:30 p.m.
- Sat, Nov 14: "Create With Us" with Eric Perez, Art Museum, 1 to 5 p.m.
- Sun, Nov 15: "Foundations of the Chicago Bears," History Museum, 1 p.m.
- Thu, Dec 3: Tree Lighting in Wilder Park, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Fri, Dec 4: Art Museum free day, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Thu, Dec 10: "Bears vs. Cardinals," History Museum, 7 p.m.
- Sun, Dec 13: Art Museum holiday party with Santa, 2 to 5 p.m.
Eight of the eleven dates include an event at a Wilder Park address or at Canine Corner. The other three are History Museum programs on Park Avenue.
What York Street Adds Before Spring
Downtown has also changed this fall, though mostly in retail so far. Patch reported in late September that Jayne Boutique opened at 124 N. York Street, the chain's seventh store. That adds a new downtown stop for holiday gift shopping.
The bigger food additions are coming later. Patch reported that Q-BBQ is planned for 158 and 160 N. York Street, and a representative said the opening would come around next March. On the south side, the city has confirmed Parlor Pizza Bar for the former Silverado Grill site at 447 S. Spring Road, according to Patch. No opening date has been announced.
So for this holiday season, the biggest change to downtown's dining is still a few months off. The dates you can plan around are in Wilder Park, starting with the free museum day on November 5.
If family is coming to town and you want to build a visit around the Holiday Market weekend or the tree lighting, I'm happy to share how I'd pair those days with a stop on York Street. I'm Afrouz Kameli, and I've lived in these western suburbs for more than 25 years. Let's Connect.
