What do you do with the 75 minutes between the end of the Mount Baker Holiday Party and the moment the Christmas Ship's choir reaches Mt. Baker Beach?
That gap is new this year. On Thursday, December 3, 2026, the Mount Baker Community Club holds its free Holiday Party at the clubhouse from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., then leads a community walk down to Mount Baker Beach for the Argosy Christmas Ships. Argosy's 2026 Christmas Ship Festival schedule has the ship's shoreline performance at Mt. Baker Beach from 8:45 to 9:05 p.m. that night. The neighborhood's holiday season runs through the clubhouse at 2811 Mount Rainier Drive S, but its two biggest days run on the boat's clock, and the club and the boat aren't on the same schedule.
Here is how the stretch from mid-November to early December fits together, built around the dates that actually move.
The clubhouse sets the opening date
The season opens indoors with the Holiday Arts & Crafts Sale. It runs Friday, November 13, from 4 to 8 p.m. with drinks, and Saturday, November 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free cookies and cocoa. The club's calendar promises handmade gifts from more than 40 local artisans at the clubhouse. The event page calls the sale all-ages and doesn't mention an admission fee. The vendor names it shows are from last year, and the club says this year's list is still being updated.
The Friday evening slot is easy to plan. It's on the club's schedule alone, with no lake event competing for the same hours. That changes three weeks later.
December 3, hour by hour
The Holiday Party listing promises Santa, cookie decorating and card-making for kids, holiday crafts, and hot cocoa, tea, beer and wine, all as a free neighborhood event. The beach end of the evening comes from Argosy. The same boat and choir, In the Mix, sail twice from the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington that day. The earlier sailing performs at Pritchard Island Beach from 5:35 to 5:55 p.m. The later one, an 8:00 to 9:45 p.m. cruise, reaches Mt. Baker Beach at 8:45.
Put the two schedules side by side and the evening looks like this:
- 6:00 p.m. The Holiday Party opens at the clubhouse on Mount Rainier Drive S.
- 7:30 p.m. The party's listed end time.
- 8:00 p.m. The evening cruise leaves the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington.
- 8:45 to 9:05 p.m. The shoreline performance at Mt. Baker Beach.
Argosy says people on shore hear a 20-minute choir performance broadcast from the ship. The Mt. Baker Beach listing has an asterisk, which Argosy uses for a planned public bonfire, lighting or other onshore event. The schedule doesn't say which one this is, and Argosy notes that schedule details and onshore activities can change.
The page that still shows an older plan
Below the 2026 summary, the body of the club's party page still describes an earlier year. That text sends everyone to Colman Park Beach at 7:30 to hear the Jet Cities Chorus. It says the Mount Baker Beach stop was canceled because the bathhouse was closed. Since then, Seattle Parks has reported that the Mount Baker Beach bathhouse reopened for the summer swimming season, which ended September 7, 2026. Argosy's 2026 schedule, published in September, lists Mt. Baker Beach. Until the club rewrites that page, the Argosy times are the most current. A quick check of the club's page the week of the party will confirm where the walk is headed.
Filling the gap on S McClellan
The stretch between 7:30 and 8:45 lands on a Thursday. Two places on S McClellan St, steps from the park, have listed hours that cover it.
Mioposto, at 3601 S McClellan St, describes its flagship as a historic brick building whose accordion windows open onto Mount Baker Park, just steps from the shores of Lake Washington. It opened in 2006. Its listed Monday through Thursday hours run 11:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., so on December 3 it closes about 15 minutes after the ship arrives. It also takes names through an online waitlist, which helps on a night when the party lets out all at once.
Next door, The Velvet Elk at 3605 S McClellan St lists Tuesday through Thursday hours of 5 to 11 p.m. That makes it the one option on the block that's still open after the 9:05 finish. It's a craft-cocktail bar that serves corn dogs and bar snacks.
Both listings come from the businesses' own sites. Holiday hours can change, so check them before the evening.
December 5 puts three things on one Saturday
Two days later, the clubhouse and the lake overlap again, this time over a full day.
The 39th Mount Baker Home Tour runs Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The club describes a lineup of stately historic residences, newly remodeled homes and family homes, and traces the tour back to 1971. The same day, Argosy's afternoon and early-evening sailings stop at two shoreline sites farther south on the lake.
| Time on Dec. 5 | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 9:50 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Home Tour Will Call | Clubhouse, 2811 Mount Rainier Drive S |
| 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. | Home Tour homes open | Throughout Mount Baker |
| 2:35 to 2:55 p.m. | Christmas Ship, Touchstone Quartet | Ferdinand Street Boat Launch |
| 5:35 to 5:55 p.m. | Christmas Ship, Touchstone Quartet | Seward Park |
The Ferdinand Street stop falls in the middle of tour hours. The Seward Park stop comes about 90 minutes after the last homes close. Because homes can be visited in any order, a tour day can be planned around either one.
The tour logistics are specific enough to plan for ahead of time:
- Tickets. Early-bird tickets are $35 per person and day-of tickets are $40, sold at the Community Club. Groups of 10 or more can email the club for discount details.
- Will Call. Inside the Community Club. Ticket holders pick up a shoe bag, brochure and wristband.
- Getting around. A free shuttle is available, and the clubhouse hospitality suite has drinks, cookies and restrooms.
- Who can attend. No children under 10 and no animals.
- Refunds. All sales are final. The club treats an unused ticket as a donation to its mission, and tickets can be transferred.
The age limit matters most for families who were at the December 3 party, where the program is built around kids. The two events, two days apart, are planned for different groups.
The rest of the lake calendar
After December 5, the ship keeps working along the west shore of Lake Washington. The stops closest to Mount Baker give the neighborhood a few more nights.
- Sunday, December 13. Stan Sayres Memorial Park, 7:45 to 8:05 p.m.
- Saturday, December 19. Madison Park, 2:35 to 2:55 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 22. Madrona Beach Park, 8:40 to 9:00 p.m.
Leschi doesn't appear anywhere on the 2026 schedule. The full festival runs November 27 through December 23. On the club's side, the published calendar for November and December lists only the crafts sale, the Holiday Party and the Home Tour. There's no separate tree lighting or holiday market.
The beach end of the boulevard is changing too
The holiday walk ends where a city project begins. Seattle Parks' Lake Washington Boulevard Renovations page, last updated August 27, 2026, says construction on three new swing gates began at Mt. Baker Beach. Work then moves south to S. Horton St and 43rd Ave. S. Parks expects installation to be finished by fall 2026, in time for the 2027 Bicycle Weekends. The gates will handle road closures for those weekends and other uses as needed. The same page says every planned speed cushion is in, and the restriping and flex posts at Lake Washington Blvd S and S Orcas St are done. So the December 3 walk will likely pass new gate hardware at the beach entrance. Parks hasn't posted a date confirming the work is finished.
The Home Tour is also a good look at how Mount Baker houses are prepared for guests, with historic homes and fresh remodels open on the same day. If you leave December 5 with questions about what your own home would need before it goes on the market, Nancy Wallace Homes can walk you through the prep, staging and timing behind a strong first showing. Let's Connect.
