Quogue Lights Its Tree a Week After Westhampton Beach: The Village's Holiday Calendar, Thanksgiving Through Mid-December

Westhampton Beach lights its tree on Saturday, November 28, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on its Village Green at Main Street and Mill Road. Quogue lights its own one Saturday later, on December 5, on a different green. The two villages are neighbors, and their holiday weekends are a week apart.

Quogue's season is the work of four local institutions, and each one holds its events at its own building or on the Village Green. The Quogue Library opens the season the day after Thanksgiving. The Quogue Fire Department follows on Sunday morning. The Quogue Association takes the first Saturday in December, and the Hampton Theatre Company finishes with a mid-December weekend. The events are spread over three weeks, no two of them overlap in time, and none conflicts with Westhampton Beach's lighting.

The Season on One Page

Friday After Thanksgiving, the Library Gallery Goes First

The first event of the season is an art reception. On November 13, the Gallery at Quogue Library opened a show of work by twin brothers Geoffrey and Stuart Disston. The library describes the brothers' lifelong connection to Quogue as something that "has shaped their experience and perspective as artists." The reception at the library is on Friday, November 27, from 3 to 5 p.m. The library is at 90 Quogue Street.

The timing works for anyone hosting guests. The day after Thanksgiving is often the slowest afternoon of the long weekend, and this gives visiting family a reason to get out of the house. The work is by two artists from the village, shown at the village library. The exhibit stays up through January 7, so anyone who misses the reception can still see it over the holidays.

Sunday Morning Belongs to the Fire House

Two days later, the season moves to Jessup Avenue. In his October 23 update to residents, Mayor Robert Treuhold announced the Quogue Fire Department's annual Pancake Breakfast for "the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 29th from 8:00 am until 12:00 pm." He added that it "raises needed funds for the Fire Department's Benevolent Association." The breakfast is at the Quogue Fire House, 117 Jessup Avenue.

This is also the reason the two villages don't overlap. Westhampton Beach used Saturday, November 28 for its lighting. Quogue's Thanksgiving weekend event is on Sunday morning, and the village saves its own lighting for the next Saturday. A household can be on Westhampton Beach's green Saturday evening and at the Fire House Sunday morning without having to choose between them.

December 5 Fills a Whole Afternoon

The first Saturday in December is Quogue's busiest day of the season, and it begins before dark.

From 3 to 4:30 p.m., the Quogue Library hosts its Annual Holiday Tabletop Tree in the Shinnecock Room. At 5 p.m., the Quogue Association's Holiday Event at the Village Green starts at 7 Village Lane and runs until 6:30. Families can go from the library program to the green as it gets dark.

Like every other event on the calendar, the lighting brings together several village groups. Here is who will be there, according to the Quogue Association's event page and the mayor's update:

• The Quogue School Chamber Choir, singing at the tree and menorah lighting
• Local businesses, with Schmidt's and the Quogue Shop named by the Association, providing goodies for all
• Tables with activities and information from the school, the library and other local nonprofits
• Treats, raffles and a Santa appearance

The Association asks people to RSVP on its event page.

Westhampton Beach is close enough for a morning trip that same day. Every Saturday from November 28 through December 26, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Greater Westhampton Chamber of Commerce lists Holiday & Winter Markets at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 40 Main Street. A December 5 that starts at the market and ends on Quogue's green covers both villages in one day.

A Midweek Tea, Then a Radio Play on Jessup Avenue

After the lighting, the calendar slows down. On Wednesday, December 9, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., the library holds its Annual Festive Holiday Tea in the Shinnecock Room. Sign-up details for each program are on the library calendar.

The season ends on Jessup Avenue, the same street as the Fire House. The Hampton Theatre Company presents A Christmas Carol from December 11 to 13 at Quogue Community Hall, 125 Jessup Avenue. The company calls it its annual "family-friendly holiday classic," staged as a live radio broadcast "complete with sound effects and period commercials, complimentary cookies and cocoa, and a rousing holiday sing-along." All tickets are $18, and the show is included with a subscription package. Performances:

1. Friday, December 11, 7:00 p.m.
2. Saturday, December 12, 2:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
3. Sunday, December 13, 2:30 p.m.

Before December 15, One Village Deadline

One village date in this window is a deadline, not an event. Village Highway Department leaf pickup started on Monday, November 16, and leaves must be on the shoulder of the street by December 15 to be collected. The Village posts its full "dos and don'ts" on its website. The mayor's update also asks residents to consider delaying or skipping their fall cleanup, since leaving the leaves benefits the environment. Owners with floating docks they aren't pulling for the winter are asked to mark them with a house number and contact information, because each spring the Village finds unmarked docks washed up on shore, where they become the problem of whoever owns that property.

That deadline falls two days after A Christmas Carol closes. By the time the library's Disston exhibit comes down on January 7, the season is over.

At Stoebe & Co., we help owners in Quogue and Westhampton Beach keep up with the village calendar, including the leaf deadline for an empty house and the right weekend to invite family out. Get on the VIP list, and we'll keep you posted on what's coming up in both villages.