On Saturday, Nov. 21, Ida Lee Park's festival field is the start line for the Freeze Your Gizzard Cross Country 5K at 9 a.m. A one-mile fun run follows at 10 a.m. Two weeks later, the Recreation Center's basketball courts and hallways fill with handmade candles, stained glass and carved wood. The week after that, Santa's parade lines up at the same park and heads down King Street.
The town's holiday calendar runs out of one 138-acre park on the north side of downtown. Most of the dates that call for action come in the first half of November. The race fee goes up after this Saturday. Loudoun Hunger Relief's Thanksgiving bag drive, which works alongside the race, closes the following Wednesday. Here is the season in order, starting with the dates closest to today.
One Park Carries Most of the Calendar
The Town of Leesburg's 2026 event schedule puts three of its four big seasonal events at Ida Lee Park, 60 Ida Lee Drive NW:
- Freeze Your Gizzard 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run, Saturday, Nov. 21, on the park's cross-country course
- 35th Annual Holiday Fine Arts & Crafts Show, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5 and 6, inside the Recreation Center
- Christmas and Holiday Parade, Saturday, Dec. 12, which starts at the park and travels down King Street
The fourth is the Holiday Tree Lighting on Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. It's the one held downtown, on Town Green at 25 West Market Street. That puts two events on the same Saturday at either end of the season's route. The first step, though, falls this weekend.
The $30 Race Fee Ends This Saturday
Freeze Your Gizzard is in its 24th year, and the Town prices registration in steps. The 5K costs $30 through Saturday, Nov. 7. From Nov. 8 to Nov. 18 it's $35, and from Nov. 19 through race day it's $40. The one-mile fun run costs $20 through Nov. 18 and $25 on Nov. 20 and 21.
Signing up early also gets you something besides the lower price. The Town guarantees a long-sleeve performance shirt only to 5K runners who pre-register, and one-mile finishers get a commemorative medal. Waiting until race week costs $10 more and risks the shirt.
The race has a charity partner, and that partner's own deadline comes even sooner.
The Food Drive Behind the Race Closes Nov. 11
The Town asks every runner to bring two or more canned items for the Loudoun Hunger Relief food bank. Donations can be dropped off at packet pickup or on race day, and the organization hosts the post-race celebration with refreshments and door prizes. Those cans arrive after Loudoun Hunger Relief's biggest November collection has already closed.
The 2026 Thanksgiving Dinner Bag Drive is underway, and every bag must reach the pantry by Wednesday, Nov. 11. That's 10 days before the race. Each reusable grocery bag should hold nonperishable items:
- 1 to 2 bags or boxes of stuffing mix
- At least 4 cans of vegetables
- Boxed potatoes
- Gravy, with no glass jars
- Cornbread or biscuit mix
- Cranberry sauce
- Dry dessert mix or ingredients, with no ready-made pie crusts
One thing has changed this year. Loudoun Hunger Relief is not asking for grocery gift cards. It plans to add frozen protein to the bags donors build and asks for monetary donations to pay for it. Groups building more than 10 bags are asked to fill out a commitment form first.
Bags go to 750 Miller Drive, Suite 110, in Leesburg. Follow the donation signs to the garage bay door. Food donations are accepted 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The organization asks donors not to leave food outside when it's closed. With Nov. 11 on a Wednesday, the last Saturday drop-off window is Nov. 7, the same day the $30 race fee ends.
Demand has grown this year. On Oct. 16, 2026, Loudoun Now reported that the Maximus Foundation awarded Loudoun Hunger Relief grants totaling $150,000 over three years. The outlet described the organization as Loudoun County's primary provider of emergency food, serving more than 14,000 people a year. In that article, President and CEO Jennifer Montgomery gave the growth figure:
"With local demand for food assistance up 24% over the past year, sustained multi-year funding is essential to keeping pace."
A 24% jump in one year is why the bag deadline and the race-day cans both count. The bags cover Thanksgiving dinners, and the cans arrive afterward, when the pantry needs restocking.
Race Morning Starts on North King Street
Most race-day mix-ups at Ida Lee happen before the start. Race parking is in the park's front grass field, and you reach it from North King Street. The Town asks drivers not to turn onto Ida Lee Drive, and there's no race parking at the Recreation Center.
Packet pickup has new times this year. The first window is Thursday, Nov. 19, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Ida Lee Park Recreation Center. On race morning, the tents in the field are open from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Thursday pickup lets you drop off your cans two days early and skip the morning line.
The course is cross-country across the park, with several steep hills. It starts and finishes at the gazebo. Because the ground is uneven, the Town doesn't allow dogs, wagons or strollers on the course, and it encourages runners to bring their own water bottle. Awards go to the top three male and female finishers overall and to the top three in each 5K age group: 14 and under, 15 to 19, each decade from 20 to 69, and 70 and over.
Five days later, the Recreation Center keeps its own holiday hours. On Thanksgiving Day it's open from 5 a.m. to noon, so a morning workout fits in before the afternoon's cooking.
Dec. 5 Moves From the Park to Town Green
The first Saturday in December is the season's longest day, and it has two parts. The 35th Annual Holiday Fine Arts & Crafts Show opens at the Ida Lee Park Recreation Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 5. It's open again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6. The Town lists more than 95 local and regional artisans for the show.
The show is entirely indoors and fills the basketball courts, the aerobics room, the main hallway and the lower level. The lower level opens to vendors only for this holiday show. Everything on sale has to be handcrafted by the artist selling it, with no wholesale or resale goods allowed. The Town lists candles, stained glass, carved wood, jewelry and table linens among the items. Admission and parking are free.
The show closes at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Two hours later, the Holiday Tree Lighting starts on Town Green in front of Leesburg Town Hall, with lights, live music and holiday characters. The Town lists that date as subject to change, so check the Town's Holidays in Leesburg page the week before. On Dec. 5 you can shop at Ida Lee in the afternoon and walk over to Town Green for the lighting.
The Parade Leaves From the Same Park
One week after the tree lighting, the Christmas and Holiday Parade steps off from Ida Lee Park at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12, with a rain date of Sunday, Dec. 13. It brings Santa and his friends down King Street through historic downtown Leesburg. Entry is free and open to the public, and the Town has posted a 2026 Holiday Parade Entry Form for groups that want to march.
Last year's setup is a useful guide to how the evening runs. In its December 2025 parade announcement, the Town closed King Street to traffic at 5:15 p.m. from Battlefield Parkway to Catoctin Circle and reopened it after Public Works finished cleanup. Spectator parking was at the Town Hall Parking Garage, the Pennington Parking Garage, the Loudoun County Government Center Parking Garage and the Liberty Street Parking Lot. The Town keeps a parade detour page with directions to the County garage and the Pennington lot. The 2025 notice came out on Dec. 5, eight days before that parade. If 2026 follows the same timing, the closure details should arrive around the weekend of the tree lighting.
For questions about any of the Town's holiday events, the Parks and Recreation line is 703-777-1368.
At Sell Buy NOVA Homes, we're Leesburg neighbors too, and this calendar starts with a Thanksgiving bag due at Miller Drive by Nov. 11. If you'd like a hand finding your way around town this season, or just want to talk about what's coming to your corner of Leesburg, let's connect.
