Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District Will Be Filled with Holiday Happenings

The Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District has a season full of holiday events to enjoy this winter. Upcoming events in Silver Spring include activities from the more than 100 arts and humanities organizations, popular arts venues, attractions and entertainment businesses in the Arts and Entertainment District.

Reservations or tickets are required for many of the events. The schedule includes:

• Wreath Making Workshop in Downtown Silver Spring on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 1-2 p.m.  The Blue Ribbon Floral Flower Truck shows participants how to create custom wreaths to welcome in the holiday season. All supplies will be provided and participants will be able to take their wreath at the end of the event. 
• Silver Spring Christmas Market and Holiday Craft Fair will occur on Veterans Plaza on Sunday, Dec. 5, from noon to 4 p.m. 
• Maryland Youth Ballet is presenting The Mini-Nut, an abbreviated version of The Nutcracker, at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center on Saturday, Dec. 11, and Sunday, Dec. 12, at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The Mini-Nut, a one-hour version with no intermission, is a wonderful introduction to ballet for families with young children. 
• The Akhmedova Ballet Academy is presenting a bold remastering of Nutcracker this holiday season in a special production of “Equal-Rights Night” presented at Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18.  

Downtown Silver Spring also has a “Gifting Tower” as an unexpected and anything -but-ordinary holiday display by Design Foundry. The whimsical Gifting Tower, with its precariously stacked packages on a classic camper van, invokes fond memories of the joy and chaos of traveling home for the holidays. Enjoy the Sounds of the Season with holiday concerts by community groups every weekend through Saturday, Dec. 18. Performances include:  

• Saturday, Dec. 4. 3 p.m.: Drop the Mic Acapella 
• Saturday, Dec. 11: Noon: Powerhouse Brass Quintet; 3 p.m.: Six Degrees Singers 
• Saturday, Dec. 18: Noon: Montgomery Blair’s InToneNation; 1:30 p.m.: Banneker Middle School Concert Choir; 3.p.m.: Drop the Mic 

Other holiday opportunities will include: 

• The Cheer Station by The Eleanor. Cozy cocktails or spiked hot cider from noon to 6 p.m. through Dec. 18. 
• Lumina Theater will be holding a holiday canned food drive at their performances of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist on at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10,  and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre. The food drive will support Tommy's Pantry and the Capital Area Foodbank. 
• The Majestic Theater is showing holiday movies Gremlins on Saturday, Dec. 4, Elf on Saturday, Dec. 11, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on Saturday, Dec. 18, and the Metropolitan Opera’s The Magic Flute Holiday Encore on Saturday, Dec. 11.  

The Silver Spring Ice Skating Rink is scheduled to open this winter. A date has not yet been set for the opening. 

For more information on Silver Spring events, visit the Silver Spring website.