Five Montgomery County museums and historic sites run "A Pennsylvania German Christmas" together. It's a single weekend of Christmas markets, displays and candlelight house tours. The Harleysville stop opens first. On the shared Pennsylvania German Christmas schedule, the Mennonite Heritage Center at 565 Yoder Road runs Dec. 4–5. Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsburg and the Goschenhoppen Historians at Red Men's Hall in Green Lane both run Dec. 5–6. Peter Wentz Farmstead in Lansdale is open only on Dec. 5.
That staggered calendar decides how the weekend goes. On Friday only two sites are open, and one of them is a short drive down Yoder Road. By Saturday, all five heritage sites and Souderton's Holiday Parade are competing for the same daylight. If you live in Harleysville, Friday is the morning to plan around.
Friday Morning Belongs to the Heritage Center
The Mennonite Heritage Center's 2026 Christmas Market runs Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Local musicians play holiday music on both days. The vendor list leans heavily on Pennsylvania German crafts. You'll find Emily Smucker-Beidler's fraktur, Dennis Flannery's Shaker-style furniture, Rodney Gehman's wooden puzzles and trains, Karen Wychock's basketry, Dennis Maust's pottery and Milford Lyndaker's wood inlay.
The food table is just as local:
- Awckland's Sugar Shack and Apiary
- Sandy Reese, with vanilla extract and vanilla sugar
- Ridge View Farm, with baked goods
- Mary Slemmer, with clear toy candy and chocolate-covered mints
- The Heritage Center itself, with mincemeat and cheeses
The proceeds go to the Mennonite Heritage Center, which collects, preserves and shares the Anabaptist and Mennonite story through museum exhibits and a historical library and archives. The market doesn't end on Saturday afternoon, either. Some of the vendors, including Lynn Sommer's fraktur and Jill and Bill Rattigan's knit items, sell in the store, and the center says extra specialty crafts will stay on sale there through December.
The only other site open that Friday is Historic Trappe. Its Weihnachtsmarkt, a German Christmas market, is held at the Education Center behind the Muhlenberg House, 201 W. Main St., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It sells redware, feather trees, ornaments and springerle cookies, with apple cider and cookies while you shop. Starting at Yoder Road in the morning and ending in Trappe in the afternoon covers both Friday sites before the weekend crowds arrive.
Friday evening has two options closer to home. North Penn Now reported in mid-October that Mama Ro's Pizza had opened in the former Harleysville Meat Wagon BBQ space at The Vault Town Center, 483 Main Street. It makes small-batch New York-style pizza from slow-fermented dough, is open until 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and recommends ordering ahead. The Souderton Tree Lighting is the same night, Friday, Dec. 4, at 6:15 p.m. It takes place in the Univest Town Center Courtyard at Broad Street and Washington Avenue, and Santa is scheduled to attend.
Saturday Is When Everything Overlaps
Saturday, Dec. 5 is the only day all five Pennsylvania German Christmas sites are open. It's also the morning of Souderton's parade. Laid out by the clock, the day looks like this:
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m.–4 p.m. | Mennonite Heritage Center Christmas Market | 565 Yoder Road, Harleysville |
| 10 a.m.–9 p.m. | Historic Trappe Weihnachtsmarkt, with longer hours on candlelight day | 201 W. Main St., Trappe |
| 11 a.m. | Souderton Holiday Parade | Starts at the Summit of Main Street, Souderton |
| 3–9 p.m. | Historic Trappe Candlelight Tours, free | Muhlenberg House, Speaker's House, Dewees Tavern |
| 4–8 p.m. | Peter Wentz Farmstead Candlelight Tours, $2 suggested donation | 2030 Shearer Road, Lansdale |
| Dec. 5–6, check sites for hours | Schwenkfelder and Goschenhoppen Christmas Markets | Pennsburg and Green Lane |
The parade has a theme this year, "A Hometown Christmas Through Time," and Harleysville Bank is the presenting sponsor. The route starts at the Summit of Main Street, runs through "The Hollow," then heads east on Broad Street to School Lane, and Santa rides in on a fire truck. If you go to the parade, your Saturday morning is set. The Heritage Center market closes at 4 p.m. Saturday, so getting to it after the parade means a short visit. Going on Friday means no rush.
Once the markets close, Saturday turns into an evening event. At Peter Wentz Farmstead, the county's candlelight evening includes holiday music, a cooking demonstration and the oxen, plus the Belsnickel, who decides whether each visitor has been naughty or nice. It's open to all ages and free, with a suggested $2 donation per person. At Historic Trappe, costumed interpreters lead tours of the Muhlenberg House and the newly restored Speaker's House, and a hearth cook works by the kitchen fire. The Dewees Tavern galleries are decorated with German Erzgebirge woodcarvings, a Moravian Christmas pyramid and antique Noah's arks. Wentz closes at 8 p.m. and Trappe's tours run until 9, so if you drive between them, start at Wentz.
Sunday Shifts to the Upcounty Markets
The Heritage Center is closed Sunday, Dec. 6, and Peter Wentz Farmstead is open only on Saturday, so Sunday is the day for the Perkiomen Valley sites. The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center at 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, has its market both weekend days, with vendors, a basket raffle, a rummage sale, live music and a LEGO giveaway. The shared Pennsylvania German Christmas schedule lists the Goschenhoppen Historians' market at Red Men's Hall, 116 Gravel Pike, Green Lane, for Dec. 5–6. Neither group lists hours on those pages, so look at the Schwenkfelder calendar and the Goschenhoppen Historians' market page before you go.
Historic Trappe is open Sunday too. The candlelight tours run noon to 4 p.m., and kids can make seasonal crafts in the Visitor Center from noon to 2. The Weihnachtsmarkt also has a second weekend. It runs Friday through Sunday, Nov. 27–29, the weekend after Thanksgiving, in addition to Dec. 4–6. That first weekend lets you visit Trappe before the big weekend and save Dec. 4–6 for everything else.
Two Events Book-End the Big Weekend
A month earlier, Saturday, Nov. 7 has a scheduling overlap of its own. The 10th annual Holiday Marketplace of Harleysville runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 2211 Mainland Road, near Turnpike exit 31, with free parking in the church lot. The artisan spaces for 2026 are sold out. Santa takes photos from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and again from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. There's also a homemade pie sale, specialty food trucks and a raffle corner. Raffle proceeds go to Todi's Place of Hope, a new homeless shelter in Lansdale run by RHD Montgomery County Homeless Services. That same Saturday, Peter Wentz Farmstead holds its Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with cider pressing, candle dipping, cooking demonstrations, house tours and a lunch food truck. It's free, with a suggested $2 donation. The marketplace closes an hour before the farmstead, so you can do the church in the morning and Lansdale in the afternoon.
After the big weekend, Pennypacker Mills, 5 Haldeman Road, Schwenksville, keeps its holiday season going into the new year. It isn't part of the shared weekend. The county offers Holiday Tours there from Nov. 24 through Jan. 3, 2027, Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m., free with a suggested $2 donation. Its Victorian Christmas Open House on Saturday, Dec. 12, runs from 2 to 8 p.m., with live music from 2 to 6 and a demonstration of clear toy candy making. If you bought Mary Slemmer's clear toy candy at the Heritage Center on Dec. 4, you can watch the same candy being made in Schwenksville eight days later.
A Route That Begins on Yoder Road
Put the dates in order and you get a three-day plan:
- Friday, Dec. 4. The Mennonite Heritage Center at 10 a.m., the Weihnachtsmarkt in Trappe in the afternoon, then dinner on Main Street or the 6:15 p.m. tree lighting in Souderton.
- Saturday, Dec. 5. The Souderton parade at 11 a.m. if you're going, candlelight at Peter Wentz Farmstead from 4 p.m., and Trappe's candlelight tours until 9.
- Sunday, Dec. 6. The Schwenkfelder market in Pennsburg and the Goschenhoppen market in Green Lane, or Trappe's Sunday tours from noon to 4.
The Heritage Center has the shortest drive of the five sites from most Harleysville streets, but it's also open the fewest weekend days. On Friday morning, the only other site open is Historic Trappe, and there's no parade or candlelight schedule to work around.
If you're thinking about how your own plans fit into the next year, The Andrea Szlavik Team would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a consultation whenever it suits you, even if that's after the markets close on Dec. 6.
