Falls Church is closing Little Falls Street for a holiday market for the first time. The Little City Holiday Market is set for Saturday, December 12, 2026, from 3 to 9 p.m., on Little Falls Street between Broad Street and Park Avenue in downtown Falls Church, and it is free to attend.
The city is pairing it with a holiday edition of Little City Sips, the sip-and-stroll program that let adults carry drinks from downtown restaurants through a marked area this summer. Visit Falls Church says makers and small businesses from Falls Church and across Northern Virginia will sell locally made goods, gifts and food. Official holiday market page.
Little City Holiday Market: Quick facts
What the Little City Holiday Market will look like
The market runs on the block of Little Falls Street that sits between Broad Street and Park Avenue, right beside City Hall. Visit Falls Church describes an outdoor market of local makers and small businesses selling locally made goods, gifts and food, with the holiday Sips program running at the same time. The city’s own note on the page is worth repeating: it is outdoors in December, so dress for it.
A 3 to 9 p.m. window means the market starts in daylight and runs three hours past sunset, which lands the busiest stretch under the downtown lights. If you want to shop with room to move, go early. If you want the drinks and the crowd, go after dark.
How the holiday Little City Sips works
Little City Sips is Falls Church’s designated outdoor refreshment area. The rules from the summer events carry over: you buy a featured drink from a participating restaurant, it comes in an official Little City Sips cup, and you can carry it through the marked downtown area and into shops displaying a welcome sign. You cannot bring your own alcohol in, carry a drink past the boundary signs, or take a drink from one restaurant into another. Everyone buying or holding an alcoholic drink has to be 21 or older with valid ID. Little City Sips rules.
The market itself is open to everyone. The drinks are the only part with an age limit, so families can shop the vendors while the adults in the group do the sip-and-stroll.
This is not the Holiday Gift and Craft Show
Falls Church already runs an indoor holiday market: the Holiday Gift and Craft Show at the Community Center, 223 Little Falls Street, on Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6, 2026, with more than 50 crafters and free admission. That show is indoors and a week earlier. The Little City Holiday Market is the city’s first outdoor holiday market, on the street, the following Saturday. Craft show details.
Why Falls Church is doing this
The summer Sips pilot is the reason this exists. The Falls Church News-Press reported that the June 13 pilot drew more than 4,300 people over about two and a half hours, peaking around 2,800 at 8 p.m., and that participating restaurants saw meals up about 20 percent and beer sales up 12 percent. Economic Development Authority chair Ross Litkenhous called it “the perfect amount of people,” and a holiday market was already on the list of follow-ups the city was discussing in July. News-Press report on the pilot.
The city ran a second Sips on August 22 and a Summer Restaurant Week in between. The December market is the first time the drinks program gets attached to a shopping event.
Vendor applications are open
Visit Falls Church is taking applications from makers and small businesses through a form linked on the holiday market page. No deadline is posted, and the page does not list booth fees or a vendor count, so apply early if you sell something local. Apply on the holiday market page.
Parking and getting there
Visit Falls Church lists free public parking on the street, in the City Hall lot and in three garages: George Mason Square, Broad and Washington, and the Kaiser Permanente garage. Little Falls Street itself will be the market, so plan to park a block or two out and walk in. The West Falls Church and East Falls Church Metro stations are each about a mile from downtown.
What has not been announced
For more holiday shopping around the region, see the DowntownDC Holiday Market’s 22nd season and this month’s things to do in Northern Virginia.
Frequently asked questions about the Little City Holiday Market
When is the Little City Holiday Market in Falls Church?
Saturday, December 12, 2026, from 3 to 9 p.m., according to Visit Falls Church.
Where is the Little City Holiday Market?
On Little Falls Street between Broad Street and Park Avenue in downtown Falls Church, next to City Hall.
Is the Little City Holiday Market free?
Yes. Visit Falls Church says the market is free to attend and open to everyone. Drinks through Little City Sips are purchased from participating restaurants.
Can I drink alcohol at the Little City Holiday Market?
Only through the holiday edition of Little City Sips. You must be 21 or older with ID, buy a featured drink from a participating restaurant in an official cup, and stay inside the marked area. Outside alcohol is not allowed.
Is this the same as the Falls Church Holiday Gift and Craft Show?
No. The craft show is indoors at the Community Center on December 5 and 6, 2026. The Little City Holiday Market is the city’s first outdoor holiday market, on Little Falls Street on December 12.
How do I become a vendor at the Little City Holiday Market?
Visit Falls Church has a vendor application form linked on its holiday market page for makers and small businesses. No deadline or fee is posted yet.
Feature image courtesy ajay_suresh via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped. It shows downtown Falls Church, not the market itself.
Last updated September 5, 2026. The date, hours, street location, free admission, vendor call, parking options and the Little City Sips pairing were checked against Visit Falls Church’s holiday market page. Sips rules were checked against the city’s Little City Sips page. The June pilot attendance and business figures come from the Falls Church News-Press, July 8, 2026. The Holiday Gift and Craft Show dates come from the City of Falls Church. The vendor roster, entertainment, Sips hours for December and a weather plan have not been published.
