Where will you be at 7 p.m. on Friday, December 4? The Great Lakes Center for the Arts screens Dear Santa at that hour, followed by a Q&A with its lead actor, David Haydn-Jones. Downtown Petoskey is an hour into its Holiday Open House, with Park Avenue's streets closed to traffic and the merchants' doors open. And Bay Harbor is running shuttles from its own holiday open house straight into town.
That shuttle is the clearest sign of how the second A Very Bay Harbor Christmas differs from the first. Last year the weekend ran December 4 through 7, and Petoskey held its open house on December 5. Northern Express listed them as two separate stops on a holiday shopping tour. This year the Village's weekend is a day shorter, December 4 through 6. It opens on the same night as Petoskey's biggest downtown evening of the season and connects to it by shuttle. Its two charity events raise money for a shelter in Petoskey.
What Changed Between the First Year and the Second
Bay Harbor called the 2025 edition its "first annual" event. The partners were the Village at Bay Harbor, the Inn at Bay Harbor and the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, and the program centered on a Hallmark star meet-and-greet, the Grinch run, the Kris Kringle Holiday Market and a tree fundraiser. The 2026 edition is billed as the 2nd Annual, and Village Suites Bay Harbor has joined as a fourth partner.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | December 4–7 | December 4–6 |
| Partners | Village, Inn, Great Lakes Center | Village, Village Suites, Inn, Great Lakes Center |
| Celebrity element | Hallmark star meet-and-greet | Dear Santa screening plus Q&A with David Haydn-Jones, and a separate VIP evening at the Inn |
| Petoskey's Holiday Open House | December 5, the weekend's second day | December 4, the weekend's opening night, with Bay Harbor shuttles |
Some pieces are older than the weekend itself. Maple + Batter's Jingle Ball Brunch on Saturday is in its sixth year, so the weekend festival has been built around a brunch the Village was already hosting.
Friday Is Built for Overlap
Friday is the busiest day on the schedule, and the events overlap.
| Time | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 3–6 p.m. | Great Lakes Center for the Arts lobby | Decorating the Evergreen Elegance trees |
| 5–10 p.m. | Inn at Bay Harbor, Village Suites, Village at Bay Harbor | Holiday open house, listed as free to guests, with shuttles to downtown Petoskey |
| 6–9 p.m. | Downtown Petoskey | Holiday Open House, with streets closed to traffic and the Petoskey High School Steel Drum Band |
| 7 p.m., doors 6:30 | Great Lakes Center for the Arts | Dear Santa, free admission with a ticket, followed by a Q&A with David Haydn-Jones |
Bay Harbor's open house window starts an hour before Petoskey's and ends an hour after it. That leaves room to shop the Village, ride into town for the steel drums and come back before the Village wraps up at 10. The film is the one event that pulls in the other direction. Petoskey's open house runs 6 to 9, and the screening starts at 7, so anyone who wants the Q&A with Haydn-Jones has to choose.
The film itself fits the weekend's cause. Dear Santa is a 2011 TV-PG romantic comedy. Haydn-Jones plays Derek, a widowed father who runs a local soup kitchen, and the plot starts when his seven-year-old daughter writes Santa asking for a new wife for him. It's an apt opening-night film for a weekend that raises money for a shelter.
Where the Saturday Money Goes
Saturday morning is when the weekend's charity events happen, and both send their proceeds to the same place. The Nehemiah Project in Petoskey describes itself as the only year-round shelter in northern Michigan, and the only shelter for women and children, between Traverse City and Marquette. Its emergency shelter runs overnight from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. and includes breakfast, dinner, showers, clothing and laundry. Its What We Do page lists the full range of services.
Here is Saturday, in order:
- 8:30 a.m. Grinch Fun Run registration opens at the Village Suites Bay Harbor front desk on Main Street, and runners line up at 8:45. The route goes from the Village to the Inn at Bay Harbor and back. Registration costs $15, and Bay Harbor says the proceeds go to the Nehemiah Project "to help men, women and families in need this holiday season." Costumes are encouraged. Bay Harbor's registration page says it will be "green with envy" to see them.
- 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The 6th annual Jingle Ball Brunch at Maple + Batter.
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Kris Kringle Holiday Market in the Great Lakes Center's Community Engagement Room.
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Evergreen Elegance silent auction in the Great Lakes Center lobby. Local businesses donate the themed trees, and the auction benefits the Nehemiah Project.
- 4 p.m. A Christmas Carol, a one-man show adapted, staged and performed by Broadway veteran Allen Fitzpatrick. Theater doors open at 3:30, and tickets start at $32.
- 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Spirits & Small Bites at Mammoth Distilling in the Village.
- 8 to 11 p.m. A ticketed Cocktails & Dessert VIP event with David Haydn-Jones at the Inn at Bay Harbor.
The auction trees are meant to be kept, too. Bay Harbor pitches Evergreen Elegance as a chance to find a tree "for your home and business to have for years to come," while supporting the Nehemiah Project. Local businesses decorate the trees in the Great Lakes Center lobby on Friday afternoon, so they're ready when bidding opens Saturday at 10.
Sunday Is Mostly Pay-What-You-Choose
Sunday is quieter and costs less. At 11 a.m., Sweetwater Floral leads a wreath-building workshop with bubbles at the Elevation Event Center in the Village. The Great Lakes Center then shows two films at pay-what-you-choose prices. At 2 p.m. it's The Man Who Invented Christmas, the 2017 PG film about Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol. At 7 p.m. it's Die Hard, the R-rated 1988 action film set at Christmas.
The Sunday matinee pairs with Saturday's show. If you saw Fitzpatrick perform Dickens's story at 4 p.m. Saturday, the 2 p.m. Sunday film shows Dickens writing it, in the same building, for whatever you choose to pay.
The Weeks on Either Side
The weekend sits in the middle of a busy stretch at the Inn and the Great Lakes Center.
- November 26: Thanksgiving buffet at noon in the Inn's Sagamore Room, with a to-go option.
- November 27: Holiday at The Spa, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with prosecco, special offers, a prize drawing and gift wrapping.
- December 10 and 11: The Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra's Messiah by Candlelight at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts.
- December 18 through January 3, 2027: The Inn's holiday program, with daily ice rink sessions planned, holiday teas, bonfires with s'mores, family movie nights and a New Year's Eve at Vintage. The Inn notes that outdoor activities depend on the weather.
For everyday plans, the Inn's posted hours list breakfast in the Sagamore Room daily from 7 to 11 a.m., lunch and dinner at Vintage daily, and the Inn Café daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Cabana Bar and outdoor pool are closed for the 2026 season, and the Inn says dining hours can change with the season. The Great Lakes Center is open year-round. Bay Harbor notes that some individually owned Village businesses keep seasonal hours, so check a shop's hours before you plan around it.
Pat Leavy has watched Bay Harbor's calendar fill in through December, and a Village that stays busy on a winter weekend affects what a home here is worth. If you own near the Village or on the shore and want to know how a year-round season shows up in your property's value, Pat Leavy can walk you through it. Schedule a free consultation.
