Orland Park lights a Christmas tree on Friday, Nov. 6, and lights another one on Saturday, Nov. 28. Two different organizations run them, at two different addresses, and the gap between them is 22 days. The first is outside Orland Square, run by the mall. The second is on the Village Green, run by the Village. A third place, the Main Street Triangle near the 143rd Street Metra station, has a lit tree on neither night. It does get a café opening in between. Its development agreement, approved in June, calls for a winter ice skating rink in an expanded park there.
Nov. 6: the commercial center goes first
Orland Square's Santa Arrival Party & Tree Lighting takes place at the mall entrance near the Cheesecake Factory, 288 Orland Square. Visit Chicago Southland's event listing says Santa arrives by fire truck at 5 p.m. to light a 30-foot tree outside. Carolers, live reindeer and a hot chocolate truck are there from 4 to 6 p.m. At 5:15 p.m. Elevate Dance Co. performs in Center Court, so the crowd moves indoors right after the lighting. Admission is free.
The Village's own records carry this event too. A permit item on the Village Board's Legistar record lists the mall gathering from 4 to 6 p.m. If you're bringing small children for the reindeer, plan on 4 p.m. If you only want to see the tree light up, 5 p.m. is enough.
It makes sense that the mall goes first. Orland Square sits on the LaGrange Road retail corridor, and it has done the most new business here recently. The Regional News reported in August that a Banana Republic Factory Store had opened at 460 Orland Square Drive. A lighting in early November starts the shopping season at the largest shopping address in town.
The 22 days in between belong to smaller openings
Things are quieter between the two lightings, but some of what's new is worth a stop.
Mala Sweets, 9750 Crescent Park Circle, Suite A. This dessert and beverage café is opening in the ground-floor retail space at Ninety7Fifty on the Park. Patch reported that Ninety7Fifty is Flaherty & Collins Properties' 295-unit mixed-use apartment community in downtown Orland Park. The menu includes croffles, a croissant-waffle hybrid, plus cakes, pastries, gelato, coffee, matcha drinks and smoothies. Owner Latasha Martin scheduled a soft opening for Thursday, Oct. 29, and a grand opening for Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 10 a.m. The Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce lists a ribbon cutting from 10 to 11 a.m. that same morning.
Joey's Red Hots, 17259 Wolf Rd. Owners Anthony Nardo and Nick Iozzo moved their Orland Park hot dog stand across Wolf Road to a new space. The new location opened Friday, Oct. 2, at 10:30 a.m. and the old one closed, according to Patch. If you're used to pulling into the old lot, the address is the part that changed.
Mala Sweets shares its grand opening date, Nov. 11, with the Village's Veterans Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. The ceremony starts as the café's ribbon cutting is scheduled to end. The Village's November special events calendar also lists Lunch with Mayor Dodge, with State Senator Curran, on Nov. 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. The Turkey Trot runs on Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 26, from 8 to 10 a.m.
| Date | Event | Where | Run by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 6, 4 to 6 p.m. | Santa Arrival Party & Tree Lighting | Orland Square, 288 Orland Square | Orland Square mall |
| Wed., Nov. 11, 10 a.m. | Mala Sweets grand opening and ribbon cutting | 9750 Crescent Park Circle, Suite A | Mala Sweets and the Chamber |
| Wed., Nov. 11, 11 a.m. | Veterans Day Ceremony | Listed on the Village calendar | Village of Orland Park |
| Thu., Nov. 26, 8 to 10 a.m. | Turkey Trot | Listed on the Village calendar | Village of Orland Park |
| Sat., Nov. 28, 4 to 6:30 p.m. | Community Tree Trim session; decorating due Nov. 27 | Civic parking lot | Recreation & Parks |
| Sat., Nov. 28, 5 to 8 p.m. | Christmas Parade, Tree Lighting & Festival | Village Green, 14700 S. Ravinia Ave. | Village of Orland Park |
| Sun., Nov. 29, 2 p.m. | Petra van Nuis Quartet | Orland Park Public Library | Library |
| Mon., Nov. 30, 6:30 p.m. | John Lennon: The Solo Years | Orland Park Public Library | Library |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | HoHo Holiday Trolley Bar Crawl | Route to be announced | Orland Park Area Chamber |
Nov. 28: the civic center takes the evening
The Village's Christmas Parade, Tree Lighting & Festival runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, at the Village Green, 14700 S. Ravinia Ave. The parade starts at 5 p.m., and the tree lighting and festival follow. The festival also has a vendor market. The Village has been recruiting holiday-themed children's vendors, face painters, and food and drink vendors for indoor and outdoor spaces.
The lawn decorations for that night are done the day before. The Community Tree Trim works on this timeline:
- Before Thanksgiving weekend. Groups adopt a tree for $25. There are 20 trees, given out first come, first served. Each is about 5 feet tall and comes with lights and a sign carrying the group's name. Groups bring their own decorations.
- Friday, Nov. 27. All decorating has to be finished by this day.
- Saturday, Nov. 28, 4 to 6:30 p.m. The Tree Trim's listed session runs in the Civic parking lot. The finished trees are part of the lawn display at the festival.
- 5 p.m. The parade steps off, then comes the tree lighting, and the festival and vendor market run until 8 p.m.
- By Monday, Jan. 4. Groups take their decorations down.
Adoption forms and full details are available from the Village at 708.403.5000. The Village's festival page calls this the 12th annual Tree Trim, and the Recreation & Parks registration page calls it the 13th. Whichever count is right, families have been doing this for more than a decade.
The weekend continues indoors. The Orland Park Public Library has the Petra van Nuis Quartet on Sunday, Nov. 29, from 2 to 3 p.m. On Monday, Nov. 30, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., it has "John Lennon: The Solo Years." After that, the next date on the town calendar is the Chamber's HoHo Holiday Trolley Bar Crawl on Saturday, Dec. 12. The Chamber says more details are coming, and the route shown on its page now is from last year.
Why the Triangle has no tree this year, and what it plans to have
Mala Sweets' Nov. 11 opening is the only holiday-season event on the Main Street Triangle calendar. The Village's December listings skip straight to a Children's New Year's Celebration on Dec. 31, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For now, the downtown district near the Metra station sits between the two tree lightings on the calendar without hosting one.
The plan approved this summer would change that. The Village Board passed an amended and restated redevelopment agreement for downtown Orland Park on June 15, 2026, according to the Village's legislative record. The Regional News reported that the existing Crescent Park will be expanded into Heroes Park. Plans call for farmers markets, summer concerts, a pedestrian boardwalk and a winter ice skating rink. Construction was targeted to start in summer 2026, with completion planned for summer 2027. In the same news release, Mayor Jim Dodge called Heroes Park "the connective tissue of the entire district."
The plan also includes a few things that would matter on a December evening. Edwards Realty Group's commercial plan adds 140,000 square feet of pedestrian-oriented space connected to the 143rd Street Metra station. It includes a Weber Grill Restaurant with an interactive public cooking school. In a July follow-up, the same paper reported on parking for the expanded UChicago Medicine campus. UChicago Medicine would have exclusive use of the nearby 547-space garage on weekdays from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. The garage would open to the public for evening and weekend dining. The agreement also requires the Village to study a permanent performing arts center and bandshell and decide on it within three years. The final commercial buildings are scheduled for rolling completion in fall 2027.
None of this is open yet, and these dates are targets, not milestones the Village has reached. If the schedule holds, though, a December night downtown could one day include an ice rink, a Weber Grill table and a public garage a short walk from the 143rd Street Metra station. This year, the district's holiday-season event is a café opening at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday.
When a downtown district like the Triangle starts filling in, the blocks around it change too, and our team follows that block by block. If you'd like to know how the 2026 changes in downtown Orland Park affect the value of your own home, Christine Wilczek and Jason Bacza can prepare a current, data-backed assessment. Request a Free Home Valuation.
