Holmdel's two biggest holiday calendars this year come from two very different places. Bell Works is a renovated corporate campus on Crawfords Corner Road that will spend December running a maker market in its Main Atrium. Historic Longstreet Farm, inside Holmdel Park, will spend the same weeks playing Christmas ballads on a farmhouse piano and helping kids make paper-chain ornaments.
The two schedules hardly collide. Bell Works covers the Wednesdays and most weekend days, and Longstreet fills the gaps. The one Saturday the Bell Works market takes off is the day the farm opens its holiday season, and Santa shows up at the farm a full week before he sits for photos at Bell Works. Lay the two calendars side by side and you can plan a whole month of Holmdel weekends without leaving town.
The Market Changes Shape the Saturday After Thanksgiving
Until Thanksgiving, the weekly market in the Bell Works atrium runs under its everyday name. Wednesday markets are listed for November 18 and November 25 on the Bell Works Calendar of Happenings. On Saturday, November 28, it becomes the Bell Works Fresh Holiday Markets, with 11 dates listed on the FRESH Markets series page. Every date runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, November 28, and Sunday, November 29
- Wednesday, December 2
- Sunday, December 6
- Wednesday, December 9
- Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13
- Wednesday, December 16
- Saturday, December 19, and Sunday, December 20
- Wednesday, December 23
FRESH Markets bills the series as "the region's largest series of shopping events featuring a curated collection of 75 local handmade artists & makers." Bell Works' own listings put the vendors in the Main Atrium with live music.
Four of the 11 dates fall on Wednesdays, and the last one, December 23, is a weekday close enough to Christmas to fix a gift list that came up short. No market is listed for Christmas Eve.
December 5 Is the Gap, and the Farm Fills It
On the FRESH list, Saturday, December 5, is missing between Wednesday, December 2, and Sunday, December 6. Bell Works isn't empty that morning, though. The Jingle Bell Run, the Arthritis Foundation's charity race, is on the Bell Works calendar from 9 to 11 a.m. The RunSignup registration page lists three in-person options, along with a Virtual Jingler entry for people who can't make it to Holmdel.
| Race option | Fee | Start time |
|---|---|---|
| 5K, timed | $50 | 9:00 a.m. |
| 5K, untimed | $45 | 9:00 a.m. |
| Kids Run | $30 | 10:15 a.m. |
Two hours after the 5K starts, Longstreet Farm begins its holiday season. According to the Monmouth County Park System's Longstreet Farm page, Holiday Tree Trimming runs at the farm's Visitor Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on December 5. Families make Victorian ornaments such as pipe cleaner candy canes and stars, paper chains and snowflakes, and the finished pieces go on the Visitor Center Christmas tree. The farm's gingerbread display opens the same day.
That makes December 5 the easiest Saturday on the calendar to plan. The race wraps up at 11 a.m., the hour the ornament tables open, and a kid who just finished the Kids Run has a tree to decorate before lunch is over.
Santa Makes Two Stops, and the Free One Comes First
The Park System says "Father Christmas" will visit Longstreet Farm on Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13, from noon to 3 p.m. Families can bring letters for him to read, no appointment is needed, and pictures are encouraged. The farm is open to visitors free of charge, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Bell Works schedules its Santa photos for the following weekend, December 19 and 20, from 1 to 3 p.m. both days during the holiday market. The listing says the photos are open to kids, families, friends and pets.
Pets make the difference between the two venues. The Park System says pets are not allowed within Longstreet Farm. Bell Works has given dogs their own day: Dog Photos with Santa Paws at the Wednesday holiday market on December 2, from noon to 3 p.m. One more Bell Works character is on the calendar: Photos with the Grinch at the December 9 market, around midday.
Put in order, that's a dog photo on December 2, the Grinch on December 9, a free Father Christmas visit at the farm on December 12 or 13, and a market-day Santa photo at Bell Works on December 19 or 20. A family that wants every photo can get them all without driving out of Holmdel.
Weekend by Weekend
Both calendars on one grid show how little the two venues compete for the same block of time.
| Weekend | Bell Works | Historic Longstreet Farm |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 28–29 | Holiday market Sat and Sun, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.; Holiday Jazz at Bar Bella Sat, 5–8 p.m. | Cookstove Demonstration Sat, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. |
| Dec 5–6 | Jingle Bell Run Sat, 9–11 a.m.; holiday market Sun only | Holiday Tree Trimming Sat, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.; 19th Century Christmas Ballads Sun, 1–3 p.m. |
| Dec 12–13 | Holiday market Sat and Sun | The Sounds of Christmas Sat, 1–3 p.m.; Visit with Santa Sat and Sun, noon–3 p.m. |
| Dec 19–20 | Holiday market Sat and Sun; Santa photos both days, 1–3 p.m. | 19th Century Christmas Ballads Sun, 1–3 p.m. |
Two of these programs share a stage. The December 12 Sounds of Christmas has Max Rowland and the Stark & Steady band playing Victorian-era carols in the Longstreet farmhouse. The farmhouse, furnished in late-Victorian style, is open from noon to 3:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays from March through December. All of the farm's music sits inside that window, so you can browse the market in the late morning and still reach the farmhouse piano by early afternoon.
Before Any of That, Mid-November Is Already Busy
Readers who see this on November 12 have Bell Works' Après Ski on the Roof Deck with DJ CFAVZ that evening from 6 to 9 p.m. The farm's November calendar is quieter but steady: Cookstove Demonstrations and Piano Ballads from the Turn of the Century on Saturday, November 14, and Accordion Melodies of the 1890s on Saturday, November 21, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Bell Theater gets into the holiday season early with A Carole King Christmas on Sunday, November 22, from 3 to 5 p.m. Bell Works lists Bar Bella as closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 26. Two days later, Holiday Jazz with A Real Human Jazz Band plays Bar Bella from 5 to 8 p.m., closing out the first day of the holiday market.
If someone at home bakes, one Longstreet deadline falls before Thanksgiving. Registration for this year's gingerbread contest, "Star Spangled Gingerbread," runs November 9 through 23 by phone at 732-946-3758. The theme celebrates America's years of independence, so entrants are encouraged to make farmhouses, barns and related scenes in red, white and blue. Entries are on display in the Visitor Center from December 5 through 13, and winners get award ribbons. The display opens on Tree Trimming Saturday and closes on the second day of Father Christmas's visit, so any visit to the farm in those nine days takes you past the gingerbread entries.
Where the Two Calendars Meet
Bell Works runs the shopping days, the midweek dates and the ticketed shows, while Longstreet runs the free weekend programs. When Bell Works hands its Saturday to a 5K, the farm opens its holiday season, and when the farm brings Santa, Bell Works waits a week. The two venues also share November 28: the holiday market opens in the Main Atrium at 11 a.m., the same hour the cookstove fires up in Longstreet's out kitchen. Historic Longstreet Farm is at 44 Longstreet Road, and Bell Works is at 101 Crawfords Corner Road.
If your plans for 2027 include a move, or you'd just like to know where your home stands before the new year, The Tully Group can put together a free home valuation and market plan built around Holmdel's spring calendar.
