From the Turkey Trot to the Luminarias: Del Ray's Holiday Season on Mount Vernon Avenue
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
At 7:30 on Thanksgiving morning, the doors open at George Washington Middle School, 1005 Mount Vernon Avenue, and runners start coming in with canned goods. The Alexandria Turkey Trot asks each runner to bring two nonperishable food items for ALIVE!, an Alexandria nonprofit that serves neighbors in need. Two and a half weeks later, the last big event of Del Ray's December, the Candy Cane Bar Crawl, takes over the same avenue. Last year the crawl's beneficiary was also ALIVE!.
The rest of the season fits between those two dates. Every event on the Del Ray Business Association's November and December calendar is on Mount Vernon Avenue or a few steps from it, and most of them are at one public square in the middle of the avenue. Last year, the holidays here worked like a fundraiser that moved up and down one street, with the same food nonprofit at both ends.
The 51st Alexandria Turkey Trot runs on Thursday, November 26, 2026. It's a flat, USATF-certified five-mile course that starts and finishes at George Washington Middle School. The race-day schedule, according to the official registration page:
By the time this post is published, the cheapest registration tier has already closed. Late online pricing runs November 1 through 24, and the highest prices are for registering in person on race day, where cash or a check is preferred:
| Age on race day | Online, before Nov. 1 | Late, Nov. 1 to 24 | In person, race day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 or under | $10 | $15 | $25 |
| 13 to 21 | $20 | $25 | $35 |
| 22 and over | $25 | $30 | $40 |
For an adult, registering this week instead of in the school lobby on Thanksgiving saves $10. Online registration stays open until 6 a.m. on race day. In-person registration closes at 8:30. Mail-ins, refunds and transfers aren't accepted. The optional $15 shirt is worth ordering online, because the race says race-day shirts usually sell out by 9:30.
There are two packet pickup sites outside Del Ray. Jack Taylor's Alexandria Toyota and Pacers Running Old Town both hand out packets from 2 to 5 p.m., Sunday, November 22 through Tuesday, November 24. GW Middle School handles pickup from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, and again at 7:30 on Thanksgiving morning. You can check the route on the race's course page, which links an interactive Strava map and the technical drawing for the certified course.
One correction to keep in mind: the race's preliminary final-instructions page lists Thursday as November 27. That's a holdover from last year's calendar, and that page says to check back November 1. Thanksgiving 2026 is November 26, the date on the registration page.
Head north from the school and the center of the season is Pat Miller Neighborhood Square, at the corner of East Oxford and Mount Vernon Avenues. The square hosts the Del Ray Farmers' Market every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. The City of Alexandria lists it as open year-round, selling meats, eggs, fresh pasta and sauces, cheese and baked goods after the summer produce is gone.
The DRBA calendar lists the market every Saturday through the end of the year: November 7, 14, 21 and 28, then December 5, 12, 19 and 26. Because Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, the race and the November 28 market land in the same long weekend.
November 14 is the busiest market Saturday before the holidays. Three events line up that day:
All three are within a few blocks of each other. If you plan to buy handmade gifts in Del Ray this year, this is the first Saturday when the Avenue is set up for it.
The tree goes up at that same square. The Del Ray Holiday Season Kick-Off is on Sunday, December 6, at 6 p.m., with the Christmas tree and Menorah lighting. After the lighting, people can walk Mount Vernon Avenue past hand-painted holiday windows, with the street lit by thousands of luminarias in honor of the late Nancy Dunning.
The 2026 listing starts an hour later than last year's. As ALXnow reported, the 2025 Kick-Off was the 15th annual and started at 5 p.m. The Alexandria Children's Chorus sang, city leaders and Santa Claus appeared, and volunteers placed the luminarias in memory of Nancy Dunning, known in the neighborhood as the "Queen of Del Ray." Last year's 36-foot tree, donated by Bill Blackburn and "Mango" Mike Anderson of the Homegrown Restaurant Group, was the largest Del Ray had lit. Event organizer Gayle Reuter told ALXnow:
"Families are able to go and see their neighbors, and everyone is able to sing their favorite holiday songs. The excitement of this countdown to see a beautiful real tree lit up is indescribable."
Volunteers set out the luminarias, so the lighting depends on people from the neighborhood signing up. Last year, organizers recruited for setup, cleanup, handing out song sheets and placing the luminarias along the Avenue. They sent shift details through Visit Del Ray's email list. The Zebra reported last year that local artists would hand-paint the storefront windows.
Four days after the lighting, the Shops of Del Ray Holiday Sip & Shop keeps participating stores open from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, December 10, with wine while you shop. The DRBA's event page says more details are coming, so this year's list of participating shops hasn't been posted yet.
The evening timing is the point. The Saturday markets serve the morning crowd, and the Sip & Shop is the one December event scheduled for after the workday. It falls on a Thursday, when the windows painted for the Kick-Off are still up and the stores are open past their usual hours.
December 12 repeats the three-event pattern of November 14, but the third event is the crawl:
The DRBA hasn't posted this year's crawl details yet, so last year's edition is the best guide. According to ALXnow's coverage of the 10th crawl, it had raffles, trivia, a photo booth, a costume contest and trolley transportation. Tickets cost $17.85 in advance and $25 on the day of the event. The first 250 registrants got a swag bag with a 16-ounce souvenir cup, and volunteers who worked a two-hour shift got a free ticket and a T-shirt. DRBA board member Pat Miller described it to ALXnow:
"People dress up, they have their ugly sweaters, all of that Christmassy stuff comes out and it's just fun. Grab your neighbors and walk the Avenue, try a drink and have the food. You get a sampling of Del Ray, and it's really great."
Last year's 18 participating restaurants show how far the crawl covers. At the north end were Northside 10 at 10 E. Glebe Road and Hops N Shine at 3410 Mount Vernon Avenue. Around the square were Los Tios Grill, Piece Out, Cheesetique, Pork Barrel BBQ, Joy on the Avenue and St. Elmo's Coffee Pub with Market2Market. Toward the 2200 block were Del Ray Pizzeria & Draft House and Gustave Boulangerie & Brasserie. Evening Star Cafe, Pak Soii Izakaya & Bar and Rosemarino D'Italia were in the 1900 and 2000 blocks. Farther south were Junction Bistro, Bar & Bakery, Matt & Tony's All Day Kitchen, The Garden Del Ray and Bella Napoli at 1310 Mount Vernon Avenue, and Lena's Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap was just off the Avenue at 401 E. Braddock Road. The southernmost stop on that list is a few blocks from the middle school where the Turkey Trot starts.
The 2025 crawl's proceeds went to ALIVE!. The 2026 beneficiary hasn't been announced. Last year, though, the season's two biggest crowd events, a five-mile race on Thanksgiving morning and an afternoon crawl in ugly sweaters, both supported the same Alexandria food nonprofit. The crawl is followed only by the last two market Saturdays, December 19 and 26, back at the square where the season's events started.
If you're planning a move around these dates, or deciding when to list a Del Ray home, Herbert Riggs and the Riggs & Co team know how the calendar affects showings, parking and foot traffic on Mount Vernon Avenue between Thanksgiving and mid-December. For a plan built around your timeline and the Del Ray blocks you care about, Request a Strategy Consultation.
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