The fireplace at Lachat Town Farm is three years old. It sits in the Daniel E. Offutt III Education Center, a new building on the eastern hillside of the Juliana Lachat Preserve that opened on Sunday, September 3, 2023. The farm built it new because the historic dairy barn was considered unsuitable for insulation and heating. Three winters later, a lot of Weston's holiday calendar takes place around that hearth: the Thanksgiving table, the wreath night, and the classes in between.
Most of those seats are claimed in November. By the third week of the month, two Lachat December evenings already have waitlists, and the Thanksgiving feast and the Kneads bake sale both close their sign-ups before Thanksgiving week starts. The events that are still easy to get into are the older, plainer ones: the Grange hall on Goodhill Road, the Town Green at dusk, and a Sunday market where parking is first come, first served.
The sign-up dates come first
Here is the season sorted by the date that matters most, which is often the deadline rather than the event.
| What | Where | Event date | Deadline or status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kneads Thanksgiving Sale | Lachat Town Farm | Pickup Wed., Nov. 25, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Orders close 10 a.m., Sat., Nov. 21 |
| Thanksgiving Community Feast | Offutt Center, Lachat | Thu., Nov. 26, noon–3 p.m. | Register by Fri., Nov. 20 |
| Wreath Decorating Party | Norfield Grange, 12 Goodhill Road | Mon., Nov. 23, 7–9 p.m. | Contact the Grange |
| Holiday Music Festival & Tree Lighting | Town Green, 56 Norfield Road | Thu., Dec. 3, 5–6:30 p.m. | Open to all |
| Winter Greens Wreath Decorating | Offutt Center, Lachat | Fri., Dec. 4, 6:30–8:30 p.m. | Waitlist |
| Block Print Gift Wrap Class | Lachat Town Farm | Tue., Dec. 8, 7–9 p.m. | Waitlist |
| Winter Market 2026 | Lachat Town Farm | Sun., Dec. 13, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | No parking reservation needed |
The two dated deadlines fall on back-to-back days, Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st, and two of the four December rows are already waitlisted.
Thanksgiving week runs through Lachat
The first deadline falls on the bread. Kneads is a family-run bakery, café and flour mill in Westport that mills local grain and bakes on site. For Thanksgiving it sells through Lachat, and part of the proceeds goes to the farm. The Kneads Thanksgiving Sale offers breads, pies, cakes, pastries and sides. Orders go through the linked shop until 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 21, and pickup is at Lachat on Wednesday, November 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. So a Westport bakery's pies get picked up on a Weston farm the day before the holiday.
The next day, the Offutt Center hosts the Thanksgiving Community Feast, from noon to 3 p.m. on November 26. The farm's page describes a family-style, casual dinner with "a fire glowing in our fireplace." Lachat provides the turkey, sides and dessert, and guests are asked to bring a bottle of wine or some apple cider to share. AMG Catering prepares the meal, and the Family of Brian Gordon and the Howard & Katherine Aibel Foundation sponsor it.
The feast has a specific purpose. It is for individuals and families who would otherwise be alone for the holiday, and registration is capped at four per group so that large families and groups of friends don't fill the room. The dining table seats 75 at most. Registration costs $25 per person, children under 12 eat free, and sign-ups close Friday, November 20, online or by phone at 203-984-8403. The page also says that anyone for whom cost or transportation is a problem can reach out to Weston Social Services. If you know a neighbor who will be home alone on the 26th, the deadline that matters is the 20th, not Thanksgiving Day.
Two wreath nights, eleven days apart
The town has two wreath parties this year, and they differ in almost everything except the greens.
The first is the older one. Norfield Grange #146 was organized on January 6, 1896, and still meets monthly at its hall on Goodhill Road, according to the Connecticut State Grange. The Town's community calendar lists its Wreath Decorating Party for Monday, November 23, from 7 to 9 p.m. at 12 Goodhill Road.
Last year's version gives a good idea of the format. The Town's November 2025 Town Hall Happenings described a party open to all. Guests brought artificial or live decorations from their own gardens, plus extra to share, and a "Bow Pro" was on hand with DIY how-to help. The 2025 ticket was $50 per person and included a live wreath, drinks, appetizers and sweets. A live wreath had to be prepaid by the Friday before, and proceeds went to the WHS Grange Scholarship Fund. Those were last year's terms. For this year's ticket and prepay details, the Grange's contact is [email protected].
The second wreath night moves indoors to the newer building, at a higher price. Lachat's 4th Annual Winter Greens Wreath Decorating Event is Friday, December 4. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the Jingle Bar, snacks and mingling, and decorating runs 6:30 to 8:30. Tickets are $85, or $75 for seniors, and include the wreath, greenery, decorations and a charcuterie board from Lachat's own Traci Baker. Cocktails and wine are for sale at the bar. It is adults only, every attendee needs a ticket, workspaces are first come, first served, and groups that want to sit together can reserve a full table for five. Proceeds go to Lachat's Giving Garden, Pollinator Garden and the Pulling Together invasive plant workshops.
Registration for the December 4 event had moved to a waitlist by mid-November. So the Grange's Monday night, the earlier and older of the two, is the one this calendar shows you can still plan around. Same for the other December Lachat evening: Christy Gibb's Block Print Gift Wrap Class on December 8, 7 to 9 p.m. and $40 per person, was also on a waitlist. Participants make four to five sheets of wrapping paper and eight to ten gift tags, and the class is open to ages 12 and up when a minor comes with an adult.
What the Offutt Center changed
Those waitlists make sense once you look at the room. The farm's old dairy barn was judged unsuitable for insulation and heating, so the Offutt Center went up as a separate building. It added a gathering space with a fireplace, an art studio and classroom, a demonstration kitchen, a pantry, public restrooms and an audio-visual system. Without that building, the farm couldn't host a Thanksgiving table for 75, a ticketed wreath bar or an evening printmaking class.
06880 described it as a $4 million project when it opened. CT Insider reported that the Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust first gave $2 million, then another $1 million to match funds the farm raised, and that the Town put in some ARPA money alongside grants and gifts from more than 50 donors. Much of that donor money now shows up each year as a few December evenings that sell out early.
The two events with no guest list
Two events in the season don't use a registration form at all.
On Thursday, December 3, the Holiday Music Festival & Tree Lighting takes place on the Town Green in front of Town Hall at 56 Norfield Road. The Town describes it as its annual event. The Weston Public Schools calendar lists the Weston Town Tree Lighting from 5 to 6:30 p.m. That's the night before Lachat's wreath event, so the two land on back-to-back evenings.
Ten days later, Lachat opens its gates for Winter Market 2026 on Sunday, December 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The farm describes local gift, food and craft vendors, hot food, baked goods, and a Barn Bar serving cocktails, wine and cocoa. Parking doesn't need a reservation. It is first come, first served on the lower field, and staff direct the overflow. 06880's November 8 roundup lists the same 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. window. For anyone who missed the wreath and gift-wrap lists, this is the Lachat event of the season you can still go to.
One more stop comes before any of these. The Weston History & Culture Center holds a Coley House & Weston at Work open house on Thursday, November 19, from 1 to 4 p.m., with farm and mill tools, looms and hands-on activities. The tools and looms on display come from the same working-farm Weston that produced the 1896 Grange and the Lachat dairy.
Our team at M & D Properties keeps these November deadlines on our own calendars, too. If you're planning your season around Lachat, the Grange or the Green, or you'd like to know how a home on one of these roads compares this winter, we're glad to talk it through. Request a Home Valuation and we'll start with what's around you.