Kennett Collaborative’s Light Up the Square tree lights and lighted garlands will create a magical setting for the annual Tinsel on the Town holiday shopping event on Friday, Dec. 10, from 4 to 8 p.m. This family-friendly evening offers something for all ages—including Santa and Mrs. Claus, a town-wide holiday bingo game, s’mores, a selfie banner created by the merchants, carolers from the Kennett High School choir, and a DJ playing holiday tunes. In addition to all of the shops and boutiques on State and Union Streets, there will also be pop-up market vendors selling handmade gifts and holiday décor as well as local beer and wine. And restaurants are taking reservations for window-side seats to all of the festivities. State Street will be closed from Broad to Center Streets, as will the 100 blocks of North and South Union Street.

This year’s Tinsel on the Town event will be the town’s third, and after a hiatus last Christmas due to COVID concerns, merchants are excited to bring back the popular event. The community has embraced Tinsel on the Town, with its popular holiday bingo game. Bingo cards cost only $1 each and make a fun treasure hunt for the whole family. This year, not one but two lucky winners will receive prizes of Kennett Square gift cards worth hundreds of dollars. In addition, GFG is offering a free piece of chocolate cake with the purchase of a meal item, and everyone over 21 who brings a completed bingo card into Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen will receive a complimentary rail cocktail, house wine, or draft beer.

Shops and eateries that have opened since the last Tinsel on the Town event in 2019 include Rainbow Soap Company, Fab and Boujee Boutique, Take Care Apothecary, Living My Best Cigar Life, Bamboozled, GFG, and Candle Studio 1422. Tinsel on the Town participants can sample Christmas in Kennett Square tea from Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop, enjoy the new “Wrap it Up!” show featuring original paintings, pottery, and jewelry at Square Pear Gallery, leave letters to Santa in his mailbox in front of Penny Lane Emporium, and shop a beautifully curated selection of one-of-a-kind gifts, apparel, accessories, and more at Kennett Square’s unique and diverse independent businesses that won the town the “Best Suburban Shopping” award from Philadelphia Magazine in 2019.

The KSQ Farmers Market is also on this Friday at The Creamery, from 3 to 5 p.m., with local produce, meats, dairy, mushrooms, breads and baked goods, prepared foods, and more. Tinsel on the Town kicks off a weekend of festivities as the Kennett Square Holiday Village Market returns for its second weekend of artisan and vintage shopping with food trucks, ice sculptures, live music, Santa, and more, on Saturday and Sunday December 11 and 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Creamery, 401 Birch Street.