In the kitchen at Hiss United Methodist Church, 8700 Harford Road, the jars are already labeled. Quarts of homemade beets sell for $9 and pints for $5. Bread-and-butter pickles are $4 a pint. The sale started Tuesday and runs through Dec. 15. The church's own listing promotes them for the Thanksgiving table and calls them "Hiss Church famous." Its description of the beets is hard to beat: "You can taste the sunshine!"
Most of Parkville's holiday season works this way. From now to New Year's, three public buildings strung along Harford Road set the calendar: Hiss, the Parkville-Carney library and the Parkville Senior Center. Their events are free or close to it. For a few of the best ones, the date to remember is the morning registration opens, which falls weeks before the event.
Hiss sets the pace in November
The first big date is Saturday, Nov. 21. Hiss is holding its Vendor and Craft Fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch comes out of the church kitchen, and there's a Bake Table too. The event listing on Parkville Patch says admission is free and describes handmade crafts, local products and gifts, all indoors.
The fair also lands at the end of the church's November giving drives, so one trip can cover several of them:
- Victor's Vittles is collecting holiday foods and other nonperishables at Hiss through Nov. 22.
- Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection at Hiss wraps up the same weekend as the fair.
- Beets and pickles stay on sale until Dec. 15, or until the jars run out.
If you bring a donation bag, buy a quart of beets and stay for lunch, you've done Thanksgiving errands and gift shopping at the same address.
The library's calendar runs on sign-up dates
A mile or so up Harford Road, the Parkville-Carney Branch at 9509 Harford Road has its busiest stretch of the year coming up. Many of its December programs are drop-in. The ones aimed at small kids and gamers use registration that opens on a set date and time, and the opening date matters more than the event date.
| Program | Event date | Registration opens |
|---|---|---|
| Paws to Read, reading to a Pets on Wheels animal, ages 6 to 11 | Sat., Dec. 5, slots from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. | Opened Nov. 5 |
| Teen Gaming: Super Smash Bros. Tournament, ages 12 to 17 | Tue., Dec. 8, 6 to 7:30 p.m. | Opened Nov. 8 |
| One Bean Seed with Baltimore County Master Gardeners, ages 3 to 5 | Mon., Dec. 21, 10 to 10:45 a.m. | Sat., Nov. 21, 10 a.m. |
| Cotton Obby: Roblox With Arrayscape Gaming, ages 6 to 11 | Tue., Dec. 29, 10:30 a.m. to noon | Sun., Nov. 29, 10:30 a.m. |
Two of those openings fall on holiday weekends. The Master Gardeners session opens to registration at 10 a.m. on Nov. 21, an hour after the Hiss fair starts. Preschoolers dissect a bean seed to find the baby plant inside, then take one home to grow. The Roblox session opens the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The teen tournament winner gets a gift card, and those spots opened back on Nov. 8.
Plenty happens at the branch without a sign-up:
- International Games Month Jigsaw Puzzle Swap, all day Nov. 16 through 20. Bring new or gently used puzzles to trade.
- Free Community Flu Vaccination Clinic, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 3 to 7 p.m. on the second floor. University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center runs it for anyone 9 and older, with standard-dose trivalent vaccine only.
- Parkville-Carney Book Club, Nov. 17 at 10 a.m., on Time of the Child by Niall Williams. On Dec. 15 the club does poetry, and members bring a poem to share.
- Chess for Kids, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2 to 3 p.m., drop-in for ages 6 to 17.
- Winter Snowflakes, Monday, Dec. 28, 2 to 3 p.m., a show for ages 1 to 8 with Nicicle Icicle the penguin, Louis Walrus and his Sardine Chorus, Jingle Belle the ice skater and Jolly Holly the snowman.
- Noon Year's Eve, Thursday, Dec. 31, 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., counts down to noon with New Year's crafts for ages 1 to 8.
For anyone with toddlers, Noon Year's Eve is the house rule that matters: the countdown ends before naptime.
The Senior Center keeps a weekly rhythm all the way to the holidays
The third building is the Parkville Senior Center. Baltimore County notes that it belongs to the Parkville Business and Professional Association. Membership is open to adults 60 and older and their spouses of any age, and participation is open to all seniors as space allows.
Most of its schedule is weekly and runs right up to the holidays. The Train Garden and the Nature Walking Club meet Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon through Dec. 18. Model Railroad meets in the same Friday slot through the end of the year. The Ballroom Social runs on the third Wednesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m., which puts the last two of the year on Nov. 18 and Dec. 16. The Eating Together lunch is served at noon Tuesday through Friday with advance registration and a requested $4 donation.
The holiday centerpiece is Wednesday, Dec. 9. The Capitol Carolers perform from 10:30 a.m. to noon, and a Music and Memory Hour follows from 1 to 2 p.m. Between the two, lunch is served.
Dec. 12 is the one day to block out
The calendars overlap on Saturday, Dec. 12, and that day makes a full holiday afternoon and evening without leaving the area.
- 2 p.m., Parkville-Carney Branch, third floor. Local artist Mariah Bethke hosts the Holiday Fairy Houses and Art Reception, an art reception paired with a beginner workshop on holiday-themed fairy houses. It's listed for adults and runs until 3 p.m.
- Dinner on Harford Road. Seyo's Sports & Grills opened this fall in the Parkville Shopping Center at 7609 Harford Road. It's the second location of a Nigerian restaurant based in Randallstown that has served the region for more than nine years. The online menu lists jollof rice at $7.99, plantain at $4.99, suya at $22.75, combo shawarma at $22.99 and egusi with pounded yam at $25.99. Check the restaurant's current hours before you go.
- 7 p.m., Overlea-Fullerton Community Center, 7209 Belair Road. The Overlea Community Association's Holiday Tree Lighting welcomes neighbors from all the surrounding communities. This year the association is marking the event's 10th anniversary. Raymond Geddes & Co. donates hundreds of toys and gifts for children. Carrabba's Overlea pours free hot chocolate and hands out cannolis. Area Boy Scouts bring a fire pit, Holt Park & Center for the Arts runs kids' activities, and Santa arrives on a fire truck with the sirens going.
The library workshop and the tree lighting are five hours apart, which leaves time for dinner and a coat change in between.
A short list of dates for the fridge
Collected in one place, the dates that need action in the next few weeks are these:
- Now through Dec. 15: beets and pickles at Hiss
- Nov. 17, 3 to 7 p.m.: flu clinic at Parkville-Carney
- Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Hiss Vendor and Craft Fair
- Nov. 21, 10 a.m.: registration opens for One Bean Seed
- Nov. 22: last day for Victor's Vittles food donations at Hiss
- Nov. 29, 10:30 a.m.: registration opens for the Dec. 29 Roblox session
- Dec. 9, 10:30 a.m.: Capitol Carolers at the Parkville Senior Center
- Dec. 12, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.: fairy houses at the library, then the Overlea tree lighting
- Dec. 31, 11:30 a.m.: Noon Year's Eve
Our team follows Harford Road all year, from church kitchens to new restaurants to the corner of the shopping center that just got busier. If you have questions about your Parkville home, or about what a move in 2027 could look like for your household, Dan Cohen Homes would be glad to talk it through. Get a Free Consultation.
