Kirkwood's Holiday Season Now Starts at a Restored Depot and Ends Two Weeks Later

The copper spire on top of the Kirkwood Train Station went up on June 18, 2026. Crews had finished the station's slate roof the November before, on November 21, which is the date of this year's Downtown Kirkwood Holiday Walk. At 8:40 a.m. that Saturday, Santa's train pulls up to a depot that looks more like its 1941 self than it has in decades.

That's the familiar part. The new part is what happens after Santa leaves the platform. This year the morning at the station opens a two-week holiday stretch that moves indoors to the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center and ends on Friday, December 4.

What the depot got back this year

Kirkwood celebrated the restoration on September 15 with a ribbon cutting on the station's new outdoor patio. The Webster-Kirkwood Times reported that the ceremony rededicated the 1893 building for "its next 133 years of service." The city has owned the station since 2003. Grants and donations covered the whole project: more than $4.2 million in grant funding and another $1 million from local donors.

Here's what you'll see on Holiday Walk morning, according to the Times:

• A new slate roof with copper flashing
• A rail platform roof extended east from the main building, restoring how the station looked in 1941
• A new storage building
• Larger, accessible restrooms
• A geothermal heating and cooling system

The interior is getting murals by Kirkwood native Bryan Haynes as part of its finishing touches. In the Post-Dispatch story republished by Mass Transit, Kirkwood Arts Commission chair Zoe Perkins said the new displays and murals are meant to make the depot a place that tells Kirkwood's history.

The station is also busier than its size suggests. The City of Kirkwood calls it the third-busiest Amtrak station in Missouri, and it doubles as a trailhead for cyclists heading to the Katy Trail and the future Rock Island Trail. The Times reported that about 46 volunteers staff the stop whenever a passenger train comes in.

The restoration was also meant to make the building a gathering place. At the ribbon cutting, Art McDonnell, a former mayor who now leads the Historic Kirkwood Train Station Foundation, told the Webster-Kirkwood Times:

"The station is an icon of Kirkwood, a symbol of the economic vitality of Kirkwood and its citizens."

The city's project goals list annual events, civic ceremonies and the monthly "Art at the Station" exhibits, which the Kirkwood Arts Commission has sponsored since 2015. Santa's arrival is the first Holiday Walk since the ribbon cutting.

Saturday morning, November 21, at the station

Downtown Kirkwood's Holiday Walk page shows the day's usual format. Check that page for this year's exact times before you head out:

1. 8:40 a.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive downtown by train.
2. 9 a.m. to noon. Santa poses for photos with kids, traditionally at the train station. Bring your phone if you want a shot for this year's Christmas card.
3. 9 a.m. to noon. Mrs. Claus tells stories and sings in Ken Connor Park, and Youth-in-Action trades cookies for donations. Pioneer Bakery has donated the cookies in past years.
4. 10 a.m. Downtown shops open for holiday shopping, and many run sales.
5. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Caroling St. Louis sings around downtown.
6. Noon. The Lucille Rapp Tumblers and Dancers perform at Station Plaza.
7. Evening. 4 Hands & Peacemaker has hosted a tree lighting and ugly sweater contest at 5 p.m., with seasonal cocktails and photos with the Grinch.

In past years the Walk's morning has stayed close to the depot, Station Plaza and Ken Connor Park. In 2026 the afternoon has a second destination.

Saturday afternoon moves to East Monroe Avenue

The first-ever Kirkwood Festival of Trees opens the same day as the Holiday Walk, in the lobby of the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center at 210 East Monroe Avenue. Kirkwood-area businesses, organizations and community partners are decorating trees and wreaths in their own style. Some will come with gift cards, products or themed decorations.

If you missed Santa at the station, he's at KPAC from 1 to 2 p.m. for the festival kickoff, which also has hot cocoa and coffee. The Downtown Kirkwood SBD festival page explains how the raffle works:

• Tickets are $5 each and sold online.
• When you buy, you pick the tree or wreath you want to win.
• Each display is labeled with the business or organization that made it and the display's name.
• Winners take their tree home on December 4 and keep it up for the holidays.

Proceeds go to the Kirkwood Arts Foundation and KirkCare. Judges will also give out awards, including Best in Festival for one tree and one wreath, plus Best Theme.

If you're coming at night, the viewing hours fit with KPAC's calendar. The lobby is open one hour before and during every KPAC performance. That makes the trees an easy add-on to a show. PINK'D plays the Walk night, November 21. During the festival, KPAC also has Carmen Bonner on December 1.

The two weeks between

The festival's daytime hours are tight, so plan around them. Here's how the stretch looks on the calendar:

There are only two Saturdays when you can see the trees from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and they're a week apart. Otherwise you need a weekday lunch hour or a KPAC ticket. The tree lot and Gingerbread Shoppe keep going after the festival ends and stay open through December 23.

If you'd rather eat out than cook on the Walk weekend, Lona's Lil Eats opened its second location in August at 612 W. Woodbine Ave.

December 4, when it all ends on the same day

The season that starts with a train on November 21 wraps up on Friday, December 4. The Festival of Trees raffle is drawn at 2 p.m., and the winning trees and wreaths leave the KPAC lobby that day for their new homes. That same evening, the annual tree lighting at the Downtown Kirkwood Triangle runs from 5 to 9 p.m., with a tree, a menorah and a kinara lit later in the evening, according to the Kirkwood Business Owners Association and the event's own site.

Trees go up at KPAC on the morning Santa reaches the restored depot. Two weeks later they're carried out to the homes of raffle winners, a few hours before the Triangle lights up.

If you go to the depot on the 21st, take a look at the new canopy reaching east toward Kirkwood Road. Then ask Stacy what moving to a house near downtown Kirkwood looks like this season. Stacy Deutschmann is glad to talk through timing, nearby streets and what your current home could be worth before the new year. Let's connect: find your next home or get a free valuation.