Yellow Springs' Holiday Stroll Lands on the Ceramics National's Last Afternoon

How long does Art School Road have both the Holiday Stroll and the Ceramics National open at the same time this year? Two hours, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 13, the exhibition's last day. The rest of the season in and around Chester Springs leads up to that afternoon.

Two Hours on Art School Road

Historic Yellow Springs has set its 2026 Holiday Stroll for Sunday, December 13, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. It's free, it covers the whole village, and it includes refreshments, decorated historic buildings and a visit with Santa. The event page includes a note about the schedule:

"Please note this event start time has shifted to accommodate other events in the village"

The Camphill Village Kimberton Hills is listed as the Stroll's Tinsel Sponsor.

The same afternoon, just down the road, the Yellow Springs Ceramics National has its final day at the Lincoln Building, 1685 Art School Road. The exhibition runs November 6 through December 13, 2026. Admission is free, and weekend hours are noon to 4 p.m. The Stroll opens two hours before the gallery closes for good. If you arrive at 4, you've missed the exhibit.

The village's working studios clear the day too. Chester Springs Studio and Fraley Studio both list Sunday, December 13 as a no-open-studio date "for Holiday Stroll." Those sessions are for students enrolled in a full-semester ceramics class. Both studios also blocked earlier dates for HYS's Fall Festival and for Veteran's Art Day on November 14. On Stroll day, the whole campus is given over to visitors.

How the Exhibit's Calendar Gets There

From the Ceramics National's hours you can work out most of the season. On weekdays the Lincoln Building is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on weekends it's open noon to 4. Thanksgiving week is the exception: the gallery is closed all week except Saturday, November 28, from noon to 4.

That one Saturday lines up neatly with something else. When the gallery closes at 4 on November 28, Upper Uwchlan Township's 10th Annual Township Tree Lighting begins at Upland Farm Barn, 301 Pottstown Pike, and runs from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The tree is lit at dusk. Here's the lineup the township has posted:

• Outdoor caroling by A Cappella Pops
• Cookies from Kristen's Kreations and hot chocolate from Montesano Bros Restaurant & Catering
• Face painting by Paintings on People and a booth from Marsh Creek Photo Booths
• Letters to Santa with the Park & Recreation Board, plus holiday music from the Moondawgs
• Santa Claus

New this year, the Historical Commission is hosting story time at the Farmhouse Museum next to the barn, at 4:15, 4:45 and 5:15 p.m. Those three times fall in the hour before dusk, while families are still waiting for the lighting.

The township is also collecting donations this season. New, unwrapped Toys for Tots donations can be dropped off at the Township Office through December 11. Drop-off hours are Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The holiday food drive for the Chester County Food Bank wraps up sooner, on November 24, at the Township Building, 140 Pottstown Pike. Requested items include canned fruit, tuna, chicken, beans and 16-ounce bags of rice.

The Weekend in Between, Up Route 100

Between November 28 and December 13 comes the first weekend of December, and that's when the handmade side of the season takes over. It splits between Pottstown Pike and Art School Road.

At the north end of Route 100, the Chester County Craft Guild holds its Holiday Fine Craft Fair at Ludwigs Corner Fire Hall, 1325 Pottstown Pike, Glenmore. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 6. Adult admission is $5. Participating artists listed include Tom Stoltzfus, Timothy Roth, Robin Timpson, Robert Antonishak and Pamela Jacques.

Back in the village, the HYS studios offer short classes that let you make some of the season's gifts yourself. Here are the December classes at Fraley Studio, 1671 Art School Road, and Chester Springs Studio, 1668 Art School Road:

The Ornament class and the craft fair's Saturday hours fall on the same morning. December 12 has the most going on, with two classes on Art School Road the day before the Stroll. Before any of that, the $65 "Throw & Go" beginner pottery class runs Sunday, November 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Fraley Studio, the morning after the tree lighting.

The village's cafe has its own event that weekend too, held off campus. Life's Patina, whose Mercantile & Cafe sits in the Jenny Lind House at 1657 Art School Road, is holding its Holiday Barn Edit December 4 through 6 at Willowbrook Farm, 1750 N. Valley Road, Malvern. It's free, but you'll need a timed reservation.

The Building on the Village Map That Stays Dark

The Stroll will lead visitors past one historic building with no holiday programs inside. The Chester Springs Library operates in a building it leases from Historic Yellow Springs. According to the library's own update from September 2025, the building has been closed to the public since February 17, 2025, when a large sycamore fell against it and a branch came through the roof before opening time. The same update says that on July 8, 2025, a "Gustnado" swept through the village. It damaged the roof at the other end of the building and left puddles in the program room and children's area. The library's account of the July storm adds that it brought down or damaged nearly 100 trees across the Historic Yellow Springs property.

The library's homepage still says the building is closed "until further notice" and asks patrons to return books to any other Chester County Library. Its 2026 Annual Appeal says the cleanup is done and every item in the library has been removed and put into storage. The rebuild is planned around "a fresh new look and a more welcoming, accessible layout." The appeal's goal is $25,000, which would cover children's toys, craft supplies, bookshelves, story time equipment, new flooring, story time rugs and extended storage of the book collection beyond what insurance pays for.

Even without its building, the library has kept its programs going this season at other spots around the area. Here's what's on its calendar:

1. Play Dough Morning, Friday, November 13, at Pine Creek Park, 1488 Yellow Springs Road.
2. Makin' Music, Tuesday, November 24, at St. Matthew's Church, 2440 Conestoga Road on Route 401.
3. Storytime, Monday, November 30, 10:30 to 11:15 a.m., at the West Pikeland Township Building, 1645 Art School Road.
4. Makin' Music again, Tuesday, December 22, 10:30 to 11 a.m., at St. Matthew's Church.

The library is closed for Thanksgiving on November 26 and 27. The Board of Trustees meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, in the Henrietta Hankin Branch Library Annex, and a Zoom link is posted. The November 30 storytime is held at the township building on Art School Road, the same road the Stroll covers two weeks later.

Planning Sunday the 13th Around the Clock

Since the overlap is fixed, the day is mostly about getting the order right:

1. Life's Patina posts weekend hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., so a late lunch at the Jenny Lind House needs to fit before 3.
2. The Stroll begins at 2.
3. The Ceramics National at the Lincoln Building closes for the season at 4, so it should come first.
4. From 4 to 5, the Stroll keeps going with the decorated buildings, refreshments and Santa.

If you'd like to see the ceramics without a crowd, the exhibit is open weekdays from 10 to 4 through December 11 and weekends from noon to 4. The one exception is Thanksgiving week, when it's open only on Saturday the 28th.

Whenever a client asks what their weekends will look like in Chester Springs, our team pulls up a calendar like this one: a tree lighting on Pottstown Pike, a craft fair at Ludwigs Corner, and one Sunday on Art School Road. If you'd like to talk through what living near Yellow Springs is like, Anne Townes and our team are happy to help. Contact Us.