The last show of the 2026 Pleasantville Concert Series took place at the Memorial Plaza Civic Space on October 24. That evening had live music, rotating food trucks and beer from SOUL Brewing Company, according to the Village's September/October update. Two things keep the plaza busy through the winter. The Saturday farmers market stays outdoors all year, and last year the village's holiday lighting moved there and added an ice rink. Until 2025, December in Pleasantville centered on a spot near Manville Road. It now centers on the Civic Space by the train station lot.
The Saturday market stays outside
The Pleasantville Farmers Market says on its own visitor page that it is "outdoors all year" at 10 Memorial Plaza, on the Metro-North parking lot. The market doesn't stop for the winter. Its hours get shorter:
- April through December: Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- January through March: Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to noon
You get the full Saturday schedule through the end of December. The first Saturday in January is the first one on the winter schedule. The market opens an hour later, closes an hour earlier and runs two and a half hours.
Parking has changed too. The market recommends Cooley Street, behind the post office, which is now a two-way street with a new free parking lot and more metered spaces a short walk from the stalls. It also asks people to walk when they can and to use the outlying lots once the Memorial Plaza lot is full. Cold-weather Saturdays put more strain on parking because of what's planned for the plaza in December.
December 6, the plaza's second holiday lighting
Pleasantville has held a tree lighting since 2010. For most of that time it was near Manville Road, and the crowd usually ran between 100 and 400 people, according to The Inside Press. In 2025 the event moved to the newly created Civic Space near the train station lot, and the village added skating.
The Inside Press described the rink this way:
- Surface: synthetic ice, installed by a company the village hired that had done similar work in nearby towns
- Size: 24 by 60 feet, with a changing area
- Setup: put in and taken down on the same day
- Cost to skate: free, with free skates provided
Paul Alvarez, a village trustee and vice president of the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce, told The Inside Press, "It's all free. So, people can just come and enjoy themselves." The Village's Parks & Recreation department organized the 2025 event, and the Chamber co-sponsored it with a $2,500 donation.
The evening part of the event stayed the same in its new spot. The Inside Press described a band on stage, Pace University students handing out hot chocolate, cookies and candy canes from the village, and middle school choirs leading the sing-along. Around 7 p.m. came a countdown, and the holiday tree and menorah were lit. News 12's coverage of the December 7, 2025 event mentioned live music, hot cocoa, photo booths and the rink.
In 2025 the Village calendar listed skating and the lighting separately. Skating ran from noon to 4 p.m., and the ceremony was set for 6 p.m. For 2026 the Village calendar lists a single combined event, the Ice Rink/Community Holiday Lighting Ceremony, on Sunday, December 6, from 2 to 8 p.m. That's one six-hour block, where last year had a four-hour skate followed by a ceremony later in the evening. The listing doesn't give separate rink hours or say whether skates will be provided free again. Last year's details describe the format the village used once. They aren't promises for this year.
The first weekend of December has three stops
The lighting falls on a weekend when the market and the Jacob Burns Film Center are both running. Here's how that weekend lines up:
- Saturday, December 5: the farmers market on its full schedule, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 10 Memorial Plaza.
- Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6: the Frozen Sing-Along in the Jacob Burns Film Center's All Ages series, with a photo op with Anna and Elsa after both screenings.
- Sunday, December 6, 2 to 8 p.m.: the rink and holiday lighting at the Civic Space.
All three are close together. In its October story on the new Pleasantville Tavern, The Examiner News described its location as near the train station and the Jacob Burns Film Center. On that weekend you can walk the whole loop of film, market, rink and dinner without moving the car. With the plaza lot likely full, that helps.
November at the Burns, before the rink goes up
The Burns has a full November leading up to the lighting. After The Witches on October 31 and November 1, its All Ages weekends run as follows:
- The General, November 7–8
- Peter Pan from 1953, November 14–15
- KPop Demon Hunters (Sing-Along), November 21–22
- City Lights, November 28–29
The December holiday lineup follows the Frozen weekend. The Nightmare Before Christmas plays December 12–13 and The Muppet Christmas Carol plays December 19–20. For adults, the Burns' Starring Amy Irving series runs through January 9, 2027. On November 7 it shows The Competition on 35mm and Yentl, each followed by a Q&A with Irving moderated by JBFC board member Kenneth Bowser.
What's opened around the plaza
The plaza's winter calendar gets busier as the businesses around it fill in. The Village's September/October update lists several openings within a short walk of Memorial Plaza:
- Pleasantville Tavern at 446 Bedford Road, in the former Lucy's space. It opened in June, and The Examiner News covered its Chamber ribbon cutting on October 8. The Examiner wrote that turning a music venue into a neighborhood tavern meant joining two formerly separate areas into one room.
- Pvolve at 41 Washington Avenue, a workout studio that fills the last ground-floor commercial space in the apartment building at 39 Washington.
- IV Nutrition at 62 Wheeler Avenue, a health and wellness business in part of the former pharmacy space.
- Ariane's Jewel Box on Marble Avenue, a jewelry shop in the small space that used to be a convenience store.
- Olive Tree Middle Eastern Supermarket at 4 Pleasantville Road, which the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce recently welcomed.
Two more proposals are under review with the Planning Commission and haven't opened. One is a Café Nero at 70 Memorial Plaza, which would take the last vacant ground-floor space at that address. The other is The Goddard School, proposed for half of the ground floor of the former Key Food at 35 Pleasantville Road. If the Café Nero application is approved, Memorial Plaza would have a café within a short walk of the Civic Space. That would serve Saturday market shoppers and anyone who comes for the lighting.
One project on the way into downtown is moving. NYSDOT plans to repave Manville Road/Route 117 from Setters Lane to Bedford Road as part of a larger resurfacing project. The Village says construction is expected to start in 2026 and continue through summer 2027, and the timing for the Pleasantville section hasn't been announced. The Village's September/October update is the place to watch for that schedule before December's busy weekends.
For the plaza itself, the dates are set. The market runs every Saturday on its full hours through December. The rink and lighting are on Sunday, December 6, from 2 to 8 p.m. Winter market hours start with the first Saturday in January.
I grew up in Westchester, and the village calendars are a big part of what I like about living here. If you'd like to talk about Pleasantville, or any town near you, over coffee after a Saturday market, Chris Tulotta is glad to meet you there. Let's Connect.
