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Guides
20 Boston holiday markets, including one with 175 artists under one roof
Last updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2026. We refresh this guide every season, so check back before you head out. Boston’s holiday craft season starts this Friday, Nov 6, when the Snowport Holiday Market opens at 100 Seaport Blvd, and it doesn’t let up until Christmas Eve. More than 125 makers set up there every day through Sun, Dec 27, with food, cocktail bars and live music, and the general admission line is free. That same night, the studios and galleries at 450 and 460 Harrison Ave open from 5 to 9 PM for SoWa First Fridays, so you can buy straight from the artists in their own workspaces. Two days later, on Sun, Nov 8, the free SoWa Open Market fills Thayer Street and 500 Harrison Ave from 11 AM to 4 PM with local farmers, artists and food trucks, and only one Sunday is left after that. Below is every Boston craft fair, makers market and holiday market we could confirm with the organizer, in date order, with the weekend each one falls on. Every listing links straight to the organizer, so you can double-check hours before you go. Sundays through Nov 15 The last SoWa Open Markets of the year The SoWa Open Market runs Sundays only, and its final day of 2026 is Sun, Nov 15. That leaves two Sundays, Nov 8 and Nov 15, both 11 AM to 4 PM and free. It's one of the biggest open-air farmer and artist markets in the city, set among the artist studios, galleries and shops on pedestrian-only Thayer Street in the South End. Fri, Nov 6 and Fri, Dec 4 SoWa First Fridays On the first Friday of every month, the studios, galleries and shops at 450 and 460 Harrison Ave open their doors from 5 to 9 PM for SoWa First Fridays. It's free and family friendly, and you're buying straight from the artists in their own workspaces. The next two are Nov 6 and Dec 4. On Dec 4, the SoWa Christmas Market is open next door until 10 PM, so you can do both in one night. Weekend of Nov 13 to 15 Topsfield, the art book fair, the MFA and Cambridge This is the busiest craft weekend of the fall, with four good options. The New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair is in its 30th year at the Topsfield Fairgrounds Indoor Arena, 207 Boston St in Topsfield. Hours are Fri, Nov 13 and Sat, Nov 14 from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sun, Nov 15 from 10 AM to 4 PM. A $12 adult ticket is good for all three days. Back in the South End, the Boston Art Book Fair brings more than 130 exhibitors, artists and publishers to the BCA Cyclorama at 539 Tremont St. Think artist books, zines, comics, prints and experimental publications, many of them handmade. It's free to the public on Sat, Nov 14 (noon to 6 PM) and Sun, Nov 15 (noon to 5 PM). If you want first look, the ticketed preview party on Fri, Nov 13 opens to exhibitors at 7 PM. On Sat, Nov 14 only, the MFA Artisan Market sets up in the museum's Shapiro Family Courtyard from 10 AM to 5 PM, with local jewelry, fashion, ceramics, stationery and other gifts. It's included with general admission, and MFA members get 10 percent off everything. Author Eric Jay Dolin and chef Joanne Chang are signing books from 11 AM to 1 PM. That same afternoon, the Unruly Maker's Market from Rebel Rebel Wine Bar fills Dear Annie at 1741 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge from 2 to 6 PM with local artists and craftspeople. RSVP on the Eventbrite page. Starting Fri, Nov 6 Snowport in the Seaport The Snowport Holiday Market opens Fri, Nov 6 at 100 Seaport Blvd and stays open seven days a week through Sun, Dec 27, with 125+ makers, food, cocktail bars and live music. Getting in is free every day through the general admission line. On Saturdays and Sundays you can also buy a Fast Pass through the Seaport Insider app if you'd rather skip the wait. Through Dec 6, hours are Monday to Thursday 3 to 8 PM, Friday 11 AM to 9 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 9 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 8 PM. From Dec 7, weekdays open earlier, at 11 AM. Snowport is closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and closes at 6 PM on Christmas Eve. Starting Fri, Nov 20 The SoWa Christmas Market The SoWa Christmas Market opens Fri, Nov 20 (4 to 9 PM) inside the SoWa Power Station, 550 Harrison Ave in the South End, and runs through Sun, Dec 27. Expect more than 100 makers, artists, designers and specialty food vendors under one roof. Admission is $10, kids 12 and under are free, and there's no re-entry, so finish your coffee first. In November, the market is open Tuesday to Thursday 4 to 8 PM, Friday 4 to 9 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 9 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 7 PM, plus Black Friday from 10 AM to 7 PM. Starting Dec 1, hours stretch to 9 PM on weeknights, 10 PM on Friday and 10 AM to 10 PM on Saturday, with Sunday still 10 AM to 7 PM. It's closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and open 10 AM to 4 PM on Christmas Eve. Parking nearby is $10, cash only. Weekend of Nov 20 to 22 Marlborough, Somerville and Union Square Paradise City Arts Festival brings 175 artists and makers to 181 Royal Plaza Dr West in Marlborough on Nov 20, 21 and 22, with live demonstrations and two cafes. Hours are Friday and Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM. General admission is $16 ($14 early bird), students pay $10 with ID, a three-day pass is $24, and kids 15 and under get in free. Parking is free. On Sun, Nov 22, Somerville has two. The Holiday Plant Market fills two floors of Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, from 10 AM to 4 PM with local artists, small businesses and handcrafted goods for the plant lovers on your list. A few blocks away in Union Square, the Boston Women's Holiday Market takes over Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Ct, from 11 AM to 4 PM with about 35 vendors. Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 27 to 29 Wilmington, Worcester and the Armory The day after Thanksgiving is a big one for craft shows. The Original Castleberry Faire, now in its 31st year, is back at the Shriners Auditorium, 99 Fordham Rd in Wilmington. Hours are Fri, Nov 27 from 9 AM to 5 PM, Sat from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sun from 10 AM to 4 PM, and a $12 adult ticket covers all three days. Out in Worcester, the 44th Holiday Festival of Crafts turns the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, into a juried holiday market that usually has more than 50 fine craft artists. It runs Nov 27 and 28 from 10 AM to 5 PM and Nov 29 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Admission is $5, and parking is free. Closer to home, the Boston Women's Holiday Market at The Armory fills two floors at 191 Highland Ave in Somerville on Sun, Nov 29, from 11 AM to 4 PM, with about 35 vendors. Sat, Dec 5 A French market in Back Bay, a German one in Allston and Arlington Brewing's holiday market The French Library's Marché de Noël is in its 23rd year at 53 Marlborough St in Back Bay, from 10 AM to 4 PM. Shop French-inspired jewelry, housewares, books and gourmet treats, grab crêpes, and sample food, wine and spirits. Tickets are $5, or $3 if you buy early, and members and kids under 14 get in free. That afternoon, the German International School Boston hosts its Christkindlmarkt at 57 Holton St from 3 to 7 PM, with music, shopping, kids' activities, food and drinks. The school notes the event is pending license approval from the City of Boston, so check the page before you go. Arlington Brewing Company runs the Arlington Holiday Market on Sat, Dec 5 from noon to 6 PM, with more than 100 local vendors split between Arlington Town Hall and Mill Cafe. You'll find handmade gifts from local artists and crafters, neighborhood shops, food and Arlington Brewing beer, and admission costs nothing. Santa does story time at Town Hall at 1 PM and again at Mill Cafe at 4 PM, so plan to hit both. Weekends of Dec 11 to 13 and Dec 18 to 20 Harvard Square The Harvard Square Holiday Fair has been running since 1986, and admission is free. It's a juried fair with craftspeople from around the region alongside importers, on the lower level of the Galeria building at the corner of JFK and Winthrop Streets. It runs two weekends, Dec 11 to 13 and Dec 18 to 20, with hours of noon to 7 PM on Fridays, 11 AM to 7 PM on Saturdays and noon to 6 PM on Sundays. Sat, Dec 12 and Sun, Dec 13 Cultural Survival Bazaar The Cultural Survival Bazaar brings a winter solstice Indigenous art holiday market to the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, from 10 AM to 6 PM both days. You can meet the artists, make an Indigenous craft, catch music and dance, and swap a gently used Indigenous book. Suggested admission is $10, anyone under 18 is free, and if you bring a friend on day two with your day-one ticket, you both get in free. Sat, Dec 19 Holiday market at Night Shift Brewing The Boston Women's Holiday Market at Night Shift Brewing, 87 Santilli Hwy in Everett, runs from noon to 5 PM. The organizer describes it as a family-friendly holiday party with giveaways, ornament decorating and special cocktails, plus a food truck and parking on site. How to find craft fairs this weekend Start with our Boston events calendar. Tap "This weekend" and the Markets & Shopping category, and you'll see every market submitted to us, with the venue linked to its page. Our things to do in Boston this weekend guide rounds up the best of it, and the weekly calendar email goes to 45,000 subscribers every Thursday, just in time to plan. Then go to the organizer. Craft fair dates move, hours change for the holidays, and a market that ran in a church hall last year can move across town. The organizer's own page is always the final word, which is why every listing above links to it. A few organizers run several markets a season, so they're worth bookmarking. SoWa runs the Open Market, First Fridays and the Christmas Market in the South End. Castleberry Fairs runs juried craft festivals north of Boston, on the Cape and in New Hampshire. The Boston Women's Market pops up all over Greater Boston. Markets for Makers held its Boston fall market at the SoWa Power Station on Oct 10 and 11, and its Boston page is the place to watch for the next one. FAQ Are there craft fairs near me this weekend? For the weekend of Nov 6 to 8, 2026, Snowport opens in the Seaport on Friday with free general admission, SoWa First Fridays opens the South End studios Friday from 5 to 9 PM, and the free SoWa Open Market runs Sunday from 11 AM to 4 PM. For any other weekend, use the date headings in this guide or the “This weekend” filter on our events calendar. What are the best craft fairs in Massachusetts this weekend and next? This weekend, Snowport’s opening days in the Seaport are the big one. The weekend of Nov 13 to 15 is the busiest of the fall, with the New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair in Topsfield, the free Boston Art Book Fair in the South End, the MFA Artisan Market (Nov 14) and the Unruly Maker’s Market in Cambridge (Nov 14). Paradise City Arts Festival in Marlborough follows on Nov 20 to 22, and the Original Castleberry Faire in Wilmington and the Holiday Festival of Crafts in Worcester both run Thanksgiving weekend. Where can I find craft shows next weekend near me? Next weekend is Nov 13 to 15, the busiest craft weekend of the fall, with Topsfield, the Boston Art Book Fair, the MFA Artisan Market and the Unruly Maker’s Market all on. Snowport is open every day, and the SoWa Open Market has its last Sunday of the year on Nov 15. After that, the next big handmade weekend is Nov 20 to 22. Check our events calendar for new markets, since organizers keep adding them through the season. What is the biggest Boston craft fair? Of the markets in this guide, Paradise City Arts Festival lists 175 artists and makers, Snowport lists 125+ makers, and the Boston Art Book Fair lists more than 130 exhibitors. The SoWa Christmas Market has more than 100 makers and food vendors and runs the longest stretch indoors, from Nov 20 to Dec 27. Are there free craft fairs in Boston? Yes. Snowport (free general admission every day), the Harvard Square Holiday Fair, SoWa First Fridays, the SoWa Open Market and the Boston Art Book Fair (Saturday and Sunday) are all free to get into. The Arlington Holiday Market (Sat, Dec 5) has no admission charge either. The SoWa Christmas Market is $10, and kids 12 and under are free. What's happening in Boston in November 2026? Snowport opens in the Seaport on Fri, Nov 6, and the SoWa Christmas Market opens in the South End on Fri, Nov 20. In between, Nov 13 to 15 brings the Boston Art Book Fair, the MFA Artisan Market and the New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair in Topsfield. Somerville has two markets on Sun, Nov 22, and Thanksgiving weekend has craft shows in Wilmington, Worcester and Somerville. For concerts, shows and everything else on in November, browse our events calendar. What happened to the Boston Christmas Festival? The Boston Christmas Festival's old web address, bostonchristmasfestival.com, now goes to the New England Christmas Festival, which is at the Mohegan Sun Earth Expo Center in Connecticut on Nov 6, 7 and 8, 2026, with 400+ artisans. Hours are 9 AM to 6 PM Friday and Saturday and 9 AM to 5 PM Sunday. If you want a big holiday craft show in Massachusetts, Paradise City in Marlborough and the Original Castleberry Faire in Wilmington are the closest matches.
11 Thanksgiving dinners in Boston from $65 to $165
Turkey stuffed with lobster, live music and a Beacon Hill mansion Thanksgiving dinner in Boston can mean a $65 turkey dinner with an Italian twist or a $165 three-course meal in Back Bay. In between, you can have live music, lobster-stuffed turkey or a seat inside a Beacon Hill mansion. The question is how much you want to spend, and what you want for it. For Thursday, November 26, 2026, these 11 restaurants have announced Thanksgiving dining. We’ve put them in price order so you can compare the menus before choosing a table. Prices are per adult; drinks, supplements, taxes and gratuities can increase the bill. Check the restaurant’s booking terms for the full cost and availability. At the lowest starting price on this list, Via Cannuccia gives turkey a very different treatment. Its Thanksgiving dinner includes breast prepared porchetta-style with porcini mushrooms and Marsala sauce, plus turkey leg wrapped in puff pastry. Spinach and Taleggio flan, gratinéed onions and roasted potatoes complete the plate. The turkey dinner is $65 per person, while Beef Wellington is a $95 alternative. That makes this one to consider if you want something beyond roast turkey with the usual sides, without moving into the $100-plus menus. For $65, Ma Maison offers three courses, with choices that let you build a traditional Thanksgiving meal or a French bistro dinner. Its holiday menu includes escargots, roast turkey with the trimmings, filet mignon medallions with Bordelaise and fries, and wild mushroom risotto. Desserts include pumpkin pie, chocolate mousse and vanilla crème brûlée. Children under 12 eat for half price. Service runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Foie gras carries a $10 supplement, and the Grand Marnier soufflé adds $5. An extra $10 over the first two options gets you Sonsie’s three-course Thanksgiving menu, with charred rosemary focaccia for the table. Main courses include apple-cider-brined turkey, dry-aged sirloin, miso-glazed halibut and a vegetarian celery-root Wellington with mushroom duxelles and Parmesan polenta cake. The $75 menu gives a mixed group several directions to go without everyone ordering turkey. Dessert choices include pumpkin Basque cheesecake, molten chocolate cake, warm apple tart and cider doughnut holes with chocolate ganache and caramel. At The Beehive, the $95 three-course dinner comes with live music throughout the day. The holiday menu includes turkey with the trimmings, plus beef, fish and vegetarian options. Children 12 and under have a $29 menu. Thanksgiving dinner runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you’re eating elsewhere but want to go out afterward, burgers and snacks start after 9 p.m., with the bar open until 11 p.m. Eastern Standard’s Thanksgiving dinner is $98 for three courses, plus tax. The announced menu combines traditional holiday favorites, Eastern Standard classics and seasonal New England dishes. There’s a separate children’s menu, while drinks, extra sides and additions are priced separately. Dietary requests can be discussed in advance at team@easternstandardboston.com. The restaurant is at 775 Beacon Street, rather than its former Kenmore Square location. For $99, The Banks’ three-course Thanksgiving dinner includes lobster-stuffed turkey roulade. Braised short rib is another option for anyone who would rather skip the bird. The optional $55 wine pairing brings the menu-and-pairing total to $154 before other charges. The regular à la carte menu won’t be available on Thanksgiving; this booking is for the holiday prix fixe. Bistro du Midi’s Thanksgiving menu moves into the next price bracket at $110 for three courses. Announced dishes include black-truffle cauliflower soup and roast turkey breast, with service from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. A children’s menu is available on request. The optional wine pairing is $70, bringing dinner with the pairing to $180 before other charges. The regular à la carte menu won’t be served. At $130 for three courses, Hampshire House offers something different from a restaurant reservation: Thanksgiving inside a Beacon Hill mansion normally used for private events. It is opening to the public for the holiday, with reservations required. The menu includes roast turkey with walnut stuffing, beef tenderloin, grilled salmon and vegetarian pumpkin ravioli. Tax, gratuity and beverages are excluded. 75 Chestnut’s Thanksgiving dinner is also $130 for three courses, with turkey, salmon, beef tenderloin and vegetarian pumpkin ravioli among the choices. The turkey plate includes walnut stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash purée, vegetables, giblet gravy and cranberry-orange sauce. Dessert brings apple strudel, pumpkin cheesecake parfait and chocolate torte together. Beverages, tax and gratuity cost extra. The website currently lists Thanksgiving reservations as coming soon. For $5 more than the two $130 menus, Scampo serves four courses. Lydia Shire’s $135 Thanksgiving dinner begins with original Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins and a petite Boston Bibb salad. The next course offers choices including sherried Maine lobster stew and Cinderella pumpkin ravioli with burnt butter, sage and honeycomb brittle. Heritage turkey comes with celery-heart, sausage and golden-raisin stuffing, with beef, pork and fish alternatives also listed. Children 12 and under are $50. Lobster with lobster sabayon carries a $20 supplement. Deuxave’s Thanksgiving dinner is the most expensive starting menu here at $165 per person for three courses. Chef Ryan Zichella’s holiday menu is required that day, with reservations offered from noon to 9 p.m. The restaurant links a sample menu, so review the current dishes before choosing it for your Thanksgiving table. Its regular menu won’t be available, and the three-course requirement applies even if you would normally order something smaller.
Get to know Boston
Boston was named after another Boston
Boston was named after Boston. The earlier one is in Lincolnshire, England, where a medieval church tower rises above a port and market town. English settlers carried the name across the Atlantic in 1630. Massachusetts made it rather more famous. The connection is well documented. Historic England describes both the borrowed name and the prominent residents who left the English town to help lead the new settlement. The longer story involves a saint, a minister who arrived after the naming, and a peninsula whose human history did not start when the English showed up. Boston was named after a port town Boston, Lincolnshire, was an important trading port long before the Massachusetts settlement existed. Its position connected the town with North Sea commerce, and its surviving warehouses, markets and church reflect that wealth. St Botolph’s Church is the building most likely to catch your eye. Its tower is known as the Boston Stump, a nickname that undersells a structure visible across the flat surrounding country. The church supplied a religious and civic focal point for the town that gave ours its name. The name Boston is generally traced to Botolph’s town. The Getty Research Institute’s place-name record includes “Botolph’s Town” among its historical names. By the time the name reached Massachusetts, the shorter form had already done the work. John Cotton came later John Cotton is an important part of the connection between the two Bostons. He served as vicar of St Botolph’s before settling in Massachusetts. But the dates matter: the American town was named in 1630, and Cotton arrived in 1633. Boston Borough Council’s account of the transatlantic connection explains how Cotton’s congregation and other local figures linked the English town to New England. It also separates that migration from the earlier story of the Pilgrims. The English Boston has a Pilgrim connection too. In 1607, separatists trying to leave for the Netherlands were betrayed and arrested there. That episode belongs to the history leading toward the Mayflower voyage, not to a single founding trip that created every English settlement in Massachusetts. Putting those events into one neat departure story loses the actual sequence. Plymouth’s 1620 settlement and Boston’s 1630 settlement were different undertakings. Cotton’s later arrival strengthened an existing connection rather than creating the name on his first day. Before Boston there was Shawmut The English name was new. The inhabited place was not. The City of Boston’s archaeological history of the Common describes thousands of years of Massachusett life in Shawmut and emphasizes that the Massachusett people are still here. Archaeologists have found stone tools, pottery and shell deposits near the Frog Pond and Parkman Bandstand. Those objects give a much longer account of life on the peninsula than a founding date printed on a city souvenir. William Blackstone, also spelled Blaxton, was already living on the peninsula when John Winthrop’s settlers arrived. In 1634, he sold land to the colonists that became the Common. The familiar park therefore holds several histories at once: Indigenous use, English settlement and the development of shared public land. A city name is only part of the map Boston’s name is comparatively straightforward once you find the English town. The names inside Boston can be less cooperative. Jamaica Plain’s name, for example, has competing explanations rather than one securely documented answer. For Boston itself, there is no need to invent a secret message or claim the Puritans were asking a saint to protect their new home. A familiar English place name traveled with a community of settlers. Understanding why that name felt familiar requires looking back across the Atlantic; understanding the place it was applied to requires looking much further back here. The next time you hear “the original Boston,” the speaker may mean a Lincolnshire market town with a very large church. Ours was the sequel.
Bostonians call drinking fountains ‘bubblahs’
Ask for a bubbler in parts of New England and someone may point you toward a drinking fountain. Ask in Wisconsin and the same thing can happen. Boston does not have this word to itself, even when it pronounces the ending differently. “Bubblah” is a written attempt to capture the local pronunciation of “bubbler.” The object is familiar: a fixture that sends up a stream of water for someone to drink. Its regional name has generated a surprisingly persistent origin story involving a plumbing company and a trademark. A bubbler is a drinking fountain Merriam-Webster identifies “bubbler” as a drinking fountain. The word is not a joke invented for visitors or a different kind of beverage. If someone tells you there is a bubbler down the hall, they are giving you directions to water. The name is descriptive enough. Water rises from a small outlet, making a short bubbling stream. “Drinking fountain” describes its purpose; “bubbler” describes what the water appears to do. Neither name requires a complicated explanation to be useful. That does not mean every Bostonian uses it. A family’s vocabulary, where someone went to school and the people around them all help shape which words feel ordinary. Hearing “water fountain” from a Boston resident is not evidence that they are secretly from somewhere else. The Kohler story needs a correction One popular account claims that Kohler invented the fixture, called it the Bubbler and watched the brand name become a general term. Versions of the story even identify an inventor named Harlan Huckleby. WUWM investigated that account with historian Beth Dippel, who had worked with Kohler’s archivist. The company records did not establish the supposed employee, and the dates in the story did not fit the business’s manufacturing history. Kohler did later make a design called a bubbler. But the word was already in use. That is the important distinction: a company using a name does not establish that it invented the name. Dippel discussed an older attachment on school water containers as one possible explanation. She presented it as a theory. The reporting does not replace one tidy invention story with another proved beyond doubt. Why the final R sometimes disappears The spelling “bubblah” moves the discussion from vocabulary to pronunciation. In the traditional Boston accent, an R after a vowel may disappear before a pause or another consonant. That is the pattern people are trying to represent with the “ah” ending. It does not mean a speaker removes every R from every word. R’s at the beginning of words remain, and an R can connect a word to a following vowel. The same person can sound different when saying a word alone and when using it in a sentence. The word and the accent also travel separately. A speaker can call a fixture a bubbler while pronouncing its R. Another can have a strong local accent and call it a drinking fountain. Treating those choices as inseparable makes a caricature out of ordinary speech. Other words that can trip up a visitor A frappe is another useful example. The dictionary records the thick-milkshake meaning and the pronunciation “frap.” Recognizing the word helps you order; copying the server’s accent adds nothing to the transaction. Then there is “wicked” used to mean very. It changes the strength of a description rather than naming a different object. These are separate features of regional English, not a script that everyone in Boston follows. A bottle-filling station may stand beside a traditional drinking fountain, but the fixtures serve different actions: one fills your container, while the other lets you drink directly from the stream.The next time you hear “bubblah,” you do not need to settle a trademark dispute or demonstrate your local credentials. You just need to find the fountain.