Glidden's Hometown Holiday Lands on Deer Season's Last Saturday. Here's How the Day Works

Hometown Holiday returns to Glidden on Saturday, November 28, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Glidden Area Development Corporation lists crafters, music on the street, a parade, the Santa Run and the Beary Crafty Corner on its events calendar. That same Saturday also falls in the final weekend of Wisconsin's gun deer season, which the Wisconsin DNR sets for November 21 through 29 this year.

So the town's small-business day falls in the middle of a hunting week, two days after Thanksgiving, in a month known for bad roads. Since it began, the event has been rebuilt nearly every year to handle exactly that. Last year's version is the clearest example. Organizers limited the Santa Run to in-town stops, centered the day on the school campus on Grant Street and shortened the hours.

A one-time event that kept getting rebuilt

The GADC started Hometown Holiday in 2019 to encourage the community to decorate for the season. It picked the Saturday after Thanksgiving because that is Small Business Saturday. According to the organizers' own history of the event, it was meant to happen once. It came back because of positive feedback, which kept coming "even through a strong snowstorm."

Here is how the day has changed each year, according to the GADC:

For five years, most changes made the day bigger. The 2025 changes made it tighter.

The 2025 version was built for bad roads

The GADC explained the main 2025 change plainly. The Santa Run was limited to in-town locations "to prevent unnecessary travel in case of bad weather." Out-of-town spots that used to be Santa Run stops didn't get dropped. They hosted meat raffles that ran for weeks instead of a single afternoon.

Last year, those raffles ran from November 1 through November 28 at Drop Tine and Northern Lure. Squares cost $10, and the prize was a $300 gift certificate to O'Dovero's Meat Market in Mellen. Drop Tine Bar & Grill is at 29253 Railroad Ave in Mellen, where it hosted a Winter Bash in January 2026. Northern Lure is a resort and campground on Preib Road. With that setup, businesses outside town were part of the event for the whole month without asking anyone to drive out on the day itself.

The hours changed for the same reason. The 2025 schedule started and ended earlier, with the main activities running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and raffle drawings at 3:30 p.m. In late November, an earlier finish means people get home before dark.

The in-town route

Last year's Santa Run stops were spread across Grant Street, Broadway, York Road, Zach Street and Lenz Road. Here is the full 2025 list:

• Glidden School Campus, 64 S Grant St, with two ticket spots
• Jacobs Town Hall, 23 N Grant St
• Lena's Bar & Grill, 71 N Grant St
• Dead Squirrel Bar, 24 N Grant St
• Bear Crossing Gas Station, 171 W Broadway/Hwy 13
• Bear Necessities, 122 E Broadway/Hwy 13
• Senior Center and Lauri Jean Zach Center, both at 337 York Rd
• Assembly of God Church, 123 Zach St
• Trinity Lutheran Church, 76372 Lenz Rd

That list counts as 11 locations because the school had two spots. Taverns, a gas station, a retail shop, the town hall, the senior center and two churches all hand out tickets on the same day.

Last year, the Santa Run worked like this:

1. Pay the $5 entry at the Glidden School Campus.
2. Visit as many participating locations as you can, collecting a different colored ticket at each one. Every ticket counts as another raffle entry.
3. Visit every location to earn a special raffle ticket for an extra prize.
4. Participants had to be 18 or older.

The rest of the day also centered on the school. Free family photos ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Santa visits ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., both at the school campus at 64 S Grant St. The mystery money, 50/50 and "1876" raffles were held at the Town Hall at 23 N Grant St. The Crafty Kid's Corner and Fun Zone was at the Assembly of God Church at 123 Zach St. Crafters and vendors set up at the school, the Town Hall, Lena's, Dead Squirrel, the Senior Center and Lauri Jean Zach Center, and the Lutheran Church on Lenz Road.

If you need lunch on the route, Lena's Bar & Grill serves lunch and dinner seven days a week starting at 11:30 a.m., according to the Ashland County visitor guide.

Who pays for the day

The GADC's thank-you list for 2025 shows who funds the event. Sponsors and donors included Northern State Bank, Dead Squirrel Bar, Lena's Bar & Grill, VFW Post 7300 and its Auxiliary, Forest Fitness Gym Bar, Northwoods Wax Co., Pieces of Our Past Antiques, Brittany Eichmann Photography, The Girl Garage, The Glidden Enterprise, Kwik Trip, and a long list of local families. Northwoods Wax Co. sells wax melts and other home-fragrance products online and offers local pickup in Glidden.

The organizers describe the event's purpose in one line. Hometown Holiday is "about supporting our local small businesses first and foremost, both brick and mortar businesses and home-based crafters," and the raffles, music and parade "are there to help fulfill the day." Read that way, the 2025 changes add up. Keeping the route in town, with businesses along it, makes it easier for people to stop in and shop.

What's set for November 28, and what's still coming

For 2026, the GADC has announced the date, the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours, and the general lineup of crafters, street music, a parade, the Santa Run and the Beary Crafty Corner. The detailed program on its Hometown Holiday page still describes the 2025 event, from stop locations to raffle terms to the sponsor list. The parade time, this year's Santa Run stops, vendor locations and any meat raffle terms are still to come.

The GADC meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Town of Jacobs Hall, 23 N Grant St. It skips January and February. The next meeting is Wednesday, November 11, about two weeks before the event, and you're welcome to attend. Questions can also go to [email protected].

The same stretch of the calendar nearby

Several other events around the region fall in the same weeks of deer season and early holiday shopping. The night before the opener, Friday, November 20, Iron River hosts its "Deer Widow: Ladies Night Out" from 6 to 9 p.m. Entry is a $5 donation to the Iron River Food Shelf, according to Visit Ashland's November calendar.

A week after Glidden's event, on Saturday, December 5, Ashland holds its Garland City of the North Christmas Parade at 4:30 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. tree lighting in Pearson Plaza. The same evening, Iron River's "A Dickens of a Christmas" fundraiser for the Iron River Library takes place at White Winter Mead, Cider, Spirits, per Visit Ashland's December calendar. Ashland's firefighters' toy drive takes sign-ups from November 16 through December 9, and toys go out December 15.

In Glidden, the day to mark is Saturday, November 28. Last year, entry was $5 at the school campus, and the route was 11 in-town stops, five of them on Grant Street.

We're Matt and Brittany Schultz, based just down Highway 13 in Park Falls, and we like seeing a small town keep reworking its biggest weekend so it holds up in November. If the long holiday weekend gets you thinking about land, a cabin or a place of your own around Glidden, the team at United Country Real Estate | Northern Wisconsin Lifestyle Properties is happy to walk it with you, timber, access and all. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready.