Last December, the Peoria Holiday Festival set up its stages between Osuna Park at 10510 N. 83rd Avenue and the William L. Patena Community Center at 8335 W. Jefferson Street. Directly across Jefferson Street from the community center sits 8310 W. Jefferson. On that lot, crews set shipping containers into place in June and put a black-steel canopy over them. A block south, a Texas-style smokehouse now runs where city-owned land used to sit empty. A block north, a two-room schoolhouse from 1906 has spent the spring, summer and fall behind construction fencing.
The 2026 festival is Saturday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 9 p.m. It's free and open to all ages. Since 2022, the City of Peoria has budgeted nearly $15 million for its historic downtown. Nearly all of that work lands within a short walk of the festival's footprint, and the city has scheduled its most symbolic project to open on festival night.
The Festival Map and the Construction Map Cover the Same Blocks
The city's festival page promises an official 2026 event map. The 2024 and 2025 festivals both centered on Johnny E. Osuna Memorial Park, along 83rd Avenue between Washington and Jefferson streets. Using those years as the template, a walk through this year's downtown covers every major project in a few minutes:
- Caldwell County BBQ, 8315 W. Washington St. This is the 6,600-square-foot smokehouse between the Fire House Event Center and the former downtown hotel site.
- Osuna Park, 83rd Avenue between Washington and Jefferson. The park has hosted the tree lighting, which started at 7:15 p.m. last year.
- Jefferson House, 8310 W. Jefferson St. It's on the northwest corner of 83rd Avenue and Jefferson Street.
- The Patena Community Center, 8335 W. Jefferson St. Last year it marked the other end of the festival.
- The historic Schoolhouse, 83rd Avenue and Madison Street. It's the oldest building on the list and the newest venue.
Two smaller changes from earlier this year also fit into that loop. In March 2026, Peoria unveiled a new City Hall front yard with a grassy oval and a berm built to host community events. The City Council approved $2.4 million in capital funds for the project. The 2nd Saturdays shop-local directory also lists a Fire House Bar as coming in fall 2026, at the Fire House Event Center.
A 1906 Schoolhouse Gets Its Opening Night
The Schoolhouse traces back further than any other building in this year's work. The community formed the Peoria School District in 1889, and the county recognized it as School District #11. Classes first met in a brick building on Washington Street that had been the McLaughlin Brothers store and the Hiram C. Mann family's first house in Peoria. The two-room Central School, built in the Mission Revival style, was finished in 1906. It is listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Peoria Register of Historic Places.
The restoration is a $3 million project. Construction started April 13, 2026. When it's done, the building will have exhibition space, classrooms and room for receptions and events. A new annex will hold updated restrooms, storage, offices and internet and phone service, which a 1906 schoolroom was never wired for.
The city's Aug. 31 update set the timing. Construction was expected to finish in late October, with a grand opening planned for December during the Downtown Peoria Holiday Festival. The city has also asked residents what should happen inside. It ran a series of community conversations through early September, ending Sept. 5 at Mountain Vista Clubhouse, and opened an online survey about future classes, performances, workshops and family activities. Marylou Stephens, the city's Arts, Culture and Library Services director, explained the purpose in a release quoted by the Peoria Independent:
"We want this space to reflect our community, and these conversations are an opportunity for residents, businesses and community partners to help shape the experiences, programs and activities they'll enjoy."
So the festival's centerpiece this year may be a building residents helped program, opening on the same night as the tree lighting a block away.
What Goes Inside the Shipping Containers on Jefferson
Jefferson House is the larger of the two new buildings near the festival. The city cleared the former NAPA building in late 2023 to free up the land. City leaders broke ground with the owners on Sept. 18, 2025. The project is a partnership between Peoria's Banquet Hospitality Group and the team behind The Churchill in downtown Phoenix. Its designers say the shipping containers nod to the 1895 railway that put Peoria on the map, and the black-steel canopy recalls the ironworks that once stood on the site. Under the canopy are three chef-run kitchens, six retail and eatery spaces, a bar, a live stage, a splash pad and seating for more than 300, with heaters, fans and misters for the courtyard.
On July 25, the team announced November 2026 as its opening month. In October, Phoenix New Times listed the lineup:
- Stoop Kid, the Phoenix bagel and smashburger shop that opened at The Churchill in 2020. This will be its third location.
- Local Hive Pizza Co., a family-run mobile pizzeria with a wood-fired oven. Many of its pies get a hot-honey finish.
- Hope's Frybread, the West Valley outpost of Hope Peshlakai's Mesa restaurant, with sweet and savory stuffed frybread.
- Chewk's Cookies, from Uptown Phoenix. In Peoria it will serve its cookies à la mode with soft-serve.
- JOOS, a juicery that started at Arrowhead Farmers Market, with cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, smoothies and fruit cups.
- Good Trouble, the courtyard bar, with 20 beers on tap and specialty cocktails.
- The Book Haul for fantasy, romance and other fiction, Lovely Goods for vintage housewares, furniture and clothing, and Fade & Blade Studio, a barbershop and hair salon.
In the same piece, Stoop Kid owner Steven McMillen said the team is "stoked to bring burgers and general nonsense west." Peshlakai said she looks forward to sharing "a taste of Navajo culture and tradition" in Peoria. She started a roadside frybread stand in 2011 using her grandmother's recipe and opened the Mesa restaurant in 2022.
Phoenix New Times also reported that the city built both Jefferson House and Caldwell County BBQ as part of its downtown revitalization effort. Both sit on city-owned land that Peoria bought for this purpose. The City Council approved the two projects unanimously on April 2, 2024.
Caldwell County BBQ Opened First
Caldwell County BBQ is the one new spot that has already been through a full downtown season. City leaders broke ground with the owners on April 1, 2025, and the restaurant opened in 2026 as the smokehouse's first West Valley location. Its menu is Texas-style barbecue smoked over mesquite and pecan wood. In KTAR's opening preview, the menu included sliced prime brisket by the pound, house-made sausage, St. Louis ribs, corn casserole, lemon-poppy-seed coleslaw and a pecan-smoked maple old fashioned. When Phoenix New Times ate there in July, the plates included turkey, burnt ends, green-chile mac and cheese and Texas sheet cake.
Its address puts it at the south edge of the festival footprint. Caldwell's will be most diners' first stop before the 7:15 tree lighting if this year's schedule follows last year's.
Two Saturdays on the Same Blocks
Peoria's 2nd Saturdays is a free music and art night that runs downtown from 5 to 9 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month, October through April. The city lists the 2026-27 dates as Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, followed by Jan. 9, Feb. 13, March 13 and April 10, 2027. The December date doubles as the Holiday Festival.
That gives Saturday, Nov. 14 the feel of a dress rehearsal on the same blocks. The event's shop-local directory lists the businesses that held downtown together before any of this year's projects: Driftwood Coffee, Carniceria Sonora, Peoria Cafe, 808 Social and Coop's Bar & Grill for food; Bikers Edge, The Peoplez Champion Vintage and Blossoms Boutique for shopping; The Monastery AZ and Axiom Venue among the galleries; and Theaterworks at the Peoria Center for the Arts. Driftwood's owners are also partners in the Jefferson House project, according to the city.
Last year's festival offers a template for Dec. 12: Candy Cane Lane and Holiday Boulevard, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, Peoria Unified high school choirs, Nutcracker ballerinas, aerial acrobatics, the Jam Tram Karaoke Truck, an artisan market, food trucks, and a sensory trailer next to the community center. Parking near the festival was free. In 2024, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived on a Peoria fire truck at 6 p.m.
For this year's map, the city's Holiday Festival page is the place to watch. The downtown project page covers the Schoolhouse, and Jefferson House's news page posts its own updates.
When neighbors want to talk about what all this new activity on 83rd Avenue means for homes nearby, 1912 Realty is happy to walk those blocks with you, with or without the frybread. Book an Appointment, and we'll bring what we know about downtown Peoria.
