At the ArtWalk opening reception at Pinot's Palette this fall, people took out their phones mostly to show each other photos of art they liked. Katie Brandeau, who went back to making art professionally after working in research and development for Disney, told The Lexington Observer she already had a likely buyer:
"I actually have a purchaser that's interested in purchasing one of the pieces and it's only been there for, not even, a week."
Her piece was on display in a Lexington Center window, not in a gallery. That's how the town's holiday shopping works this year. You buy window art while it's still up and collect it after the show closes. You order most of the Thanksgiving market days before the tables go up at Fletcher Park. If you wait for the obvious date on each, you'll miss most of what's on offer.
The Windows on Mass. Ave. Are for Sale Until November 17
ArtWalk 2026 has been running since early October and ends Tuesday, November 17. According to The Lexington Observer, this year's show has more than 200 works by 75 artists in 30 storefronts. Each piece has a card with its price and the artist's contact information. Sales go through the artist, not the shop. The Munroe Center for the Arts says most of the work is for sale, and any piece that sells stays in the window until the show ends.
So buying works differently here than at a gallery or a craft fair. You see a piece through the glass, email the artist, and then let it keep hanging in the window for other people to see until the 17th. Art bought as a December gift has to be bought now, while it's still on public view.
The show started in 2015. Innessa Manning brought the idea to Munroe executive director Cristina Burwell over coffee: a walkable fall art show that pairs local artists with town-center retailers to bring more foot traffic downtown. Upasna Chhabra joined the organizing committee two years after the first event. Most of it is on Mass. Ave., with some shops on Waltham Street too. Eric Michelson, co-owner of Michelson's Shoes, told the Observer, "It really brightens up the center."
Munroe's location list shows who is in which window. A few of the fuller ones:
| Window | Artists on view |
|---|---|
| Former Stationers storefront | Yi Mei, Jane Goodrich, Kat McManus, Ricardo Maldonado, Kush Patel, Tammy Rose, Susan Keefe, Jonathan Anderson |
| Former Wales Copy storefront | Tammy Rose, Rebecca Pontius, Cheryl Macedo, Grace Ouyang, Robert Sykes, Debbie C., Sehr Yalat |
| Eye Look | Sylvia Mallory, Jeff Morrill, Molly Trainer, Donna Calleja, Jean Hart, Gordon Fletcher, Kate Derosier |
| Theater Pharmacy | Margaret Stevens, Elliott Silverman, Carol Camelio, Christine Rowan, Peter Bain, Judith Cooper |
| Marathon Sports | Shikha Anand, Aisha Nigam, Sandra Sutera, Ryan Tang, Jeff Morrill, Sehr Jalal |
| Il Casale | Trish Gannon, Shehab Hossain, Elena Sidorova, Irma Chughtai, Deepak Das |
| Crafty Yankee | Heidi Mann |
| Eastern Bank | Shehab Hossain |
The two largest groups are in former storefronts, Stationers and Wales Copy, where there's no merchandise to work around. Other windows have room for only one artist or two. Rancatore's has Pam Smith, Nouvé Bakery has Carole Rabe, Artinian Jewelers has Jennifer Zacharis, and La Flamme has Karin Samatis and Diane Piper. Some artists hang in several windows. Gordon Fletcher has work at Eye Look, MiniLuxe and Love at First Bite, so you can see one artist's work in three places on one walk.
Shehab Hossain does urban night photography and light paintings inspired by science fiction. He told the Observer that people seeing his work often say they "didn't know other artists who did this type of work live in Lexington." In a show of this size, much of the work comes from people who live nearby.
Fletcher Park's Thanksgiving Market Is Mostly Ordered in Advance
A week after the windows clear, the Lexington Farmers' Market holds its Thanksgiving FEASTival at Fletcher Park on Tuesday, November 24, from noon to 4 p.m. The market is one afternoon, but the ordering runs over most of the week before it. Many vendors work from pre-orders, and the most popular Thanksgiving items are often reserved before Tuesday. The order cutoffs, in sequence:
- Friday, November 20, 8 p.m.: Microcosm Coffee Roasters closes orders.
- By November 20: Stillman's Farm takes orders for its Thanksgiving Box, which serves four to six people, for FEASTival pickup.
- November 22: My County Mushrooms pre-orders are due. You choose the FEASTival pickup slot and pay online.
- Monday, November 23, 6 a.m.: Liberty Fish/Boston Sword & Tuna takes email orders until then, with payment at pickup.
- Monday, November 23, noon: Del Sur's deadline. You choose pickup in its online store and pay there.
- Monday, November 23, 5 p.m.: Boston Smoked Fish Company accepts email orders until 5 p.m. the day before.
Two vendors have special instructions. Copicut Farms sells by pre-order only at the FEASTival, and its list includes turkey. Bread Obsession asks you to write "FEASTival pickup" in the comments of your online order.
The rest of the vendor list fills in the table and the extras. It includes Ackermann Maple Farm, Art Cooks, Blackeyed Susan's Sheep Dairy, Blisspoint Meadery, Busa Farm & Markets, Freedom Food Farm, Mei Mei, Olive World, Ovenbird Cafe, Rascal Relish, Sueños Chocolates, Tex Mex Eats, Venier Forge and Wicked Bess Shrubs. Venier Forge is a forge in a Thanksgiving lineup, which suggests the market expects some people to come for gifts as well as food.
Waltham Street Opens the Longest Window
The Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 29, the LexArt Holiday Marketplace opens in LexArt's building at 130 Waltham Street. It runs through December 24. ArtWalk has six weeks of browsing and a single day of food pickup. This sale stays open almost four weeks. The hours:
- Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- December 21, 22 and 23, extended to 7 p.m.
- December 24, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Regular weeks have no Monday hours, though Monday, December 21, is one of the extended days. Thursday is the regular late night, until 7 p.m. All of the work comes from LexArt's artisan members, who prepare for this sale all year. Items include handmade silver jewelry, wooden toys, woven goods, ceramics, knit pieces, home decor, framed photography, gallery paintings and ornaments. ArtWalk asks you to commit early. LexArt is the place for people who would rather pick up a piece and take it home the same day.
December 5 Belongs to the Youngest Makers
The Munroe Center for the Arts, whose executive director helped start ArtWalk, also runs the last market in this stretch. Its fourth annual Youth Holiday Market is Saturday, December 5, from 1 to 4 p.m. at 1403 Massachusetts Avenue. Everything for sale, including handmade gifts, artwork, crafts and other creative goods, is made by young artists and makers up through grade 12.
After December 5 there's a quiet stretch. The Farmers' Market's Small Yet Mighty Winter Market comes back Saturday, January 2, 2027, at The Waldorf School. After that it runs every other Saturday: January 16 and 30, February 13 and 27, March 13 and 27, and April 10. The Thanksgiving pre-orders are the last farm orders of the year, and the LexArt marketplace is the last place in town on this calendar to buy handmade work before the holidays.
For a short list, here are the four dates in order. Email ArtWalk artists before November 17. Finish most FEASTival orders by Monday, November 23. LexArt opens November 29. The Munroe Center's youth market is December 5.
At The Marrocco Group, we've watched Lexington Center's storefronts change over the years. ArtWalk shows how much a full window does for a block, empty storefronts included. If you're thinking about how your own home will present to buyers or how it fits into the town around it, schedule a complimentary market consultation with our team.
