The holiday season in the City of Falls Church kicked into high gear in the week leading up to Thanksgiving with special events that underscored an emphasis on gratitude and giving. More is in store.

This coming Tuesday will be a highlight of the season in the Little City, a Winter Wonderland fete on the outdoor market square at Founder’s Row at the intersection of W. Broad and N. West Street. This annual event began as a tree lighting ceremony to switch on the festive lights in the trees lining W. Broad Street, something that Mayor Letty Hardi had been advocating for years.

Now, in recent years it has relocated and expanded to include entertainment (the team from Creative Caudron and Meridian High School student singers), hot chocolate and treats, with free parking. It’s the family-oriented gathered community highlight kicking off the season.

It actually got started last Sunday night with a first-ever for the Little City, an ecumenical Thanksgiving service in the historic Falls Church (dating from the Revolutionary War era) in the center of town.

In what Falls Church Episcopal rector Rev. Burl Salmon said he is determined to become an annual tradition, the service was led by the choirs and clergy from numerous churches based in the City. The invocation by the Rev. James Henry of the Dulin United Methodist Church, in the ecumenical spirit, referred to the divine by “your many holy names.”

(“Ecumenical” is a term that means “promoting unity among different churches” and more broadly, “having a worldwide or universal scope.”)

Among those attending the service were Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields and Falls Church City Schools Superintendent Terry Dade, along with City Council member Marybeth Connelly, who spoke during the service about the launch of a new “Better Together” initiative.

The effort is aimed at providing support for Falls Church families who need it, a number which Connelly noted is growing in the midst of the current federal cutbacks in the region. She cited in particular the need to assist families whose children already rely on free meals provided by the City schools that they won’t have access to during holiday periods when the schools are closed.

Components of the “Better Together” campaign include donating money to the Falls Church Education Foundation’s Family Assistance Fund, donating food or funds to a local food pantry like the Falls Church Community Service Council or Food for Others, volunteering to “adopt a family” in collaboration with friends, church or neighborhood, and to purchase a “Better Together” t-shirt or sweatshirt to raise funds for the effort.  

Churches involved in the effort involving the City and the City schools include the Christ Crossman Methodist, Columbia Baptist, Dulin Methodist, Falls Church Episcopal, Falls Church Presbyterian, Galloway Methodist and St. James Catholic.

Sunday’s historic service was followed this Monday by the second annual Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Welcome Falls Church held at the Henderson Middle School cafetorium, with numbers a good 20 percent higher than last year, according to organizers. There were Halal and non-Halal lines.

As City schools closed for Thanksgiving as of Wednesday, and City government will be closed through the weekend, with the exception of the Community Center that will be open Friday. Saturday, a Civil War Thanksgiving reenactment will be open free to the public at the Cherry Hill Farmhouse.

Tuesday’s Winter Wonderland event will attract the entire community, and the public is also invited to attend the annual Holiday Gift and Craft Show at the Community Center the next weekend of Dec. 6 and 7.

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah will run this year  from Dec. 14 to 22 and the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Christmas comes on Dec. 25, a Thursday this year.

A diminishment in Falls Church this season will be the lack of a Watch Night on New Year’s Eve at the downtown intersection of Broad and Washington St. There will be no street closures as has been the case there every year since the mid-1990s.

There was no official reason given for the cancellation by City of Falls Church officials, even though the nearby State Theater will be hosting its usual concert featuring the popular Legwarmers again this year. Some area restaurateurs expressed strong disappointment at the news, indicating they were not consulted or provided any options.

The long-range forecast for the immediate area for winter 2025-2026 predicts a mostly mild winter with above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation. However, there is some variability, with a potential for colder periods in late November, early December, and early February, and snowfall might occur with storm systems that track inland.