White Bear Lake's Holiday Calendar Runs Through the Armory This Year
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
"Special Open House Events will also be hosted in conjunction with Winterfest – December 5 & December 12!" That line is near the bottom of the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society's Festival of Trees 2026 page, under a list of public hours. Downtown White Bear Lake's holiday events and the Festival of Trees are published on two separate calendars, but this year almost every big downtown date also falls on a day the Armory is open. On each of those days, the trees and the street overlap for at least a few hours.
The Armory sits at 2228 Fourth Street. It's a five-week holiday stop that costs nothing to visit, and if you plan around its hours, the rest of downtown fits in easily.
The Festival is the Historical Society's fourth annual. It runs November 19 through December 19, and the trees are decorated by local businesses and nonprofits. Admission is free for the community. Its weekly schedule is the thing to plan around:
Thursday is the only evening it's open. That matters, because downtown's Holiday Open House and the Armory's own Music in the Trees concert are both on Thursday evenings.
The trees themselves are a small fundraiser. According to the Society's 2026 participation guide, businesses pay $100 to enter a tree and nonprofits pay $50, and those fees support the Society's community programs and its work preserving local history. When you walk the rows in the Exhibit Hall, each tree is a local name that paid to be part of it. The Society's own description of the visit is short: "Check out who has the best tree this year!"
The Festival brings people inside, but many may not know the building has changed. The Armory's cornerstone was laid on September 27, 1922. White Bear Press reported that it formally opened as a National Guard armory on February 27, 1923. The Society says the hall was hosting community events by 1925, so a holiday crowd in that room is an old local habit.
The newer history is the part worth knowing. The Society bought the Armory from the City of White Bear Lake in 2022 and replaced the aging elevator in 2023. Through the spring and summer of 2025, Langer Construction restored the masonry on the headhouse. Crews took down the parapets at the top, cleaned the century-old brick and rebuilt the parapets with fresh mortar. During the work, the Society found the western parapet in better shape than expected but discovered water getting in above the main doors on the north side. It moved money from one problem to the other and, by its own account, finished on time and slightly under budget.
So if you come in for the trees this year, you'll walk past a front that was covered in scaffolding a year ago. Inside, the old gym is now the Exhibit Hall. It holds the semi-permanent exhibit X Marks the Spot, a gift shop of local items and space for traveling exhibits. Staff offices have moved to the main level. The Society calls all of this the start of a longer plan to turn the Armory into a museum, with classrooms, a library and new exhibits still to come.
The gift shop in the Exhibit Hall carries local items, and the Festival is open Wednesday through Saturday. Holiday shopping and the trees fit in the same visit.
Downtown White Bear Lake Main Street published its 2026 events lineup in a White Bear Press ad on June 3, and it closes with a note that event times and promotions may vary by store. If you put that list next to the Society's calendar, here's how the season lines up.
The lighting comes the night before the Festival opens to the public. Press Publications' fall 2026 listings put it at 5 to 7 p.m. at Railroad Park. The city lists Railroad Park at 4752 Highway 61, with the gazebo among its amenities. Last year's ceremony shows what to expect. White Bear Press covered the second annual lighting and described holiday music from a DJ, photos with the Clauses, cookies and cider served by Rotary, and a crowd in the hundreds. Its preview of the same event mentioned carolers and a 6 p.m. countdown led by the mayor.
The Armory has its own event that night. The Society scheduled a preview of the Festival for members and tree participants only, 6 to 8 p.m., timed to match the lighting. If you're not a member, go to the gazebo and save the trees for the next day.
This is the night the two calendars line up most closely. The Festival opens to the public on a Thursday, its 2 to 8 p.m. day. Downtown's Holiday Open House runs from 5 to 8 p.m. the same evening. So both are open for three hours together. You can see the trees on their first public evening and then walk to the shops before closing. The order doesn't much matter, since everything ends at 8.
Downtown lists Small Business Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Armory closes at 3 p.m. on Saturdays, so go to the trees first. The shops stay open two hours after the Armory closes.
Winterfest runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. both Saturdays. The schedule lists Santa, carriage rides, holiday carolers and an Elf Hunt. The Society's Festival of Trees page adds special open houses at the Armory on the same two days, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free photos with Santa, cookies, cocoa and family activities. Press Publications' coverage of an earlier Winterfest listed the Festival of Trees right beside the carriage rides, ice sculptures and the EAT! @ Banning 5th Street Soup Kitchen Benefit. The Armory open house runs an hour after Winterfest ends, so you can do the street first and still have time for the trees.
The last evening event is Music in the Trees featuring The John Eckhardt Trio. It runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Armory, it's free, and there will be cookies and cocoa. It falls on a Thursday, during the Festival's late hours, two days before the trees come down on December 19.
You'll be on foot between the gazebo, the Armory and the shops, and you'll be walking on newer pavement than last winter. The city's 2026 pavement rehabilitation project covered Second Street from Banning to Lake, Third Street from Cook to Stewart, Cook Avenue from Second to Fourth, Banning Avenue from Lake Avenue to Second Street, and an alley south of Second. The construction phase had finished by the time the city noticed its assessment hearing for August 25.
Fourth Street gives you warm-up stops near the Armory. Keys Café & Bakery is at 2208 4th St., a few addresses down from the Armory at 2228, and serves breakfast and lunch along with its bakery menu. Farther down the street, the downtown business directory lists Cajeta Coffee at 2179 4th St., GoodThings, a gift and home-goods shop, at 2184 4th St., and Pizzeria Pezzo at 2143 4th St.
Third Street is where the directory lists most of the sit-down meals and small shops. Brickhouse Food & Drink is at 2140 3rd St. and Cobblestone Café at 2150 3rd St., Suite 10. Haus Theory, with vintage and modern goods, is at 2182 3rd St., Ban Thai Restaurant at 2186 3rd St., Suite 111, and Orso Bianco Gelato at 2216 3rd St. Anchor Coffee is at 4742 Washington Square. Each shop sets its own hours for the Holiday Open House and Small Business Saturday, so check with the ones you plan to visit before those days.
If you have family coming for the holidays, the Armory is an easy outing to plan around the calendar. Pick a Wednesday through Saturday, see the trees and the newly restored headhouse, then walk to Fourth or Third for lunch. The Festival is closed Sunday through Tuesday, so plan on another downtown stop for guests who arrive early in the week.
I'm drawn to places like the Armory, a 1920s building that's being cared for with a long future in mind. If you'd like to talk about older homes around White Bear Lake, or what it takes to look after one well, I'd be glad to hear from you. Bailey Sivanich | Let's Connect
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Licensed in both Wisconsin and Minnesota, I know the St. Croix River Valley inside and out. From historic homes to horse properties and sprawling acreage, I specialize in what makes this region truly special.
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