This Year, Woodinville's Winterfest Keeps Going After the Tree Lighting

The brick building at 13205 NE 175th Street has been many things since 1909. It was Woodinville's first brick school, and later it was City Hall. Since Saturday, Oct. 17, its entire second floor has been a putting course. KIRO 7 reported that Flatstick Pub took its ceremonial first putt at noon that day, in what the company calls its largest location to date.

The timing matters for one Saturday in particular. Celebrate Woodinville's Winterfest falls on Dec. 5, and it runs on three sites again this year: DeYoung Park, the Schoolhouse District and Woodin Creek Village. The 5:30 p.m. tree lighting is the headline event. On the schedule, though, the Schoolhouse District opens the day, holds its latest event, and now has a building that stays open well after the park empties.

The building came back before the holidays did

The schoolhouse has been the center of the Schoolhouse District since the district opened. The district is the civic-campus project that also brought District Flats, Festival Street and the renovated Carol Edwards Center beside City Hall. In 2022, its first restaurant tenants included Walla Walla Steak Co., inside the old school. In August 2025, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported that the steakhouse was closing. 425 Magazine later reported that Flatstick would fill the vacated 12,208-square-foot space, and that it was aiming to open by the end of the year.

The opening came in October 2026. That makes this Winterfest the first since the steakhouse closed with the centerpiece building open on festival day. Last year's Winterfest, on Dec. 6, 2025, used the same three locations. The layout is the same this year. What has changed is what stands in the middle of it.

What is inside now

Flatstick built its course into the second story itself instead of laying it over the existing floor. Co-founder and CEO Andy Largent calls it a links-style course, closer to a putting course than traditional mini golf, with longer, free-flowing holes. What Now Seattle carried his explanation of the design:

"People in Woodinville grew up in this building. They went to school here, and some of them worked here when it was City Hall. We didn't want to cover that up. We wanted to play through it."

Here are the details for planning a visit:

• Games: mini golf, Duffleboard, a game Flatstick developed that combines golf and shuffleboard, plus shuffleboard, darts and a golf simulator.
• Food and drink: this location has Flatstick's largest kitchen. The company is building a Woodinville-specific menu that starts with smash burgers and stacked sandwiches, and it pours more than 30 taps of Washington beer from independent breweries.
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, according to Flatstick's Woodinville page.
• Reservations: tee times are recommended but not required, and Duffleboard is first-come, first-served.
• Parking: free with validation in the Schoolhouse District garages.

The Saturday hours are what change the shape of Dec. 5. Under the schedule Flatstick posts, the building will be open from 11 a.m. until 1 a.m. that day.

How Dec. 5 runs, site by site

Celebrate Woodinville publishes each site's activities separately. Put in order by time, the afternoon looks like this:

1. 1 p.m.: Woodin Creek Village opens with horse and carriage rides, a petting zoo, face painting, balloon twisters, a photo booth and live music, all running until 6 p.m. The Schoolhouse District's farmer's market opens at the same hour and runs until 5 p.m.
2. 2 p.m.: Winter Wonderland begins in the Schoolhouse District and runs until 4 p.m. Across town, Love That Red at 9501 144th Ave NE holds an ornament-making workshop from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
3. 3 p.m.: The Holiday Fair opens at DeYoung Park with pictures with Santa, wreath-making, ornament-making, holiday treats and local school performances. There is also a toy drive for the Forgotten Children's Fund at the Woodinville Chamber booth.
4. 5 p.m.: Sky River Mead begins its wreath-making evening, which runs until 7 p.m.
5. 5:30 p.m.: Tree lighting at DeYoung Park. The park program wraps up at 6.
6. 6:30 p.m.: Candy cane hunt in the Schoolhouse District.

The Schoolhouse District also has s'mores at fire pits and a YMCA holiday breakfast, which requires registration through the Seattle YMCA.

The Schoolhouse District's farmer's market is one of the first things to open, and its candy cane hunt is the only scheduled activity after the park closes. The rest of the district's tenants sit along the same walk. The district directory lists Ballard Pizza Co., Jackson House, SheChill Patisserie, Sip & Scoop and Oasis Medspa & Salon, along with L'Ecole, McQueen Champagne Bar and Pour Decisions for wine and beer. Across the street, Eastrail Flats adds HÁKO SAN Café and Bar and Garlic Crush. Families who stay for the candy cane hunt are already in the district, and the schoolhouse is open next door.

The smaller nights on either side of Winterfest

Dec. 5 is the public day. Most of the rest of the season happens in rooms that hold a set number of people, and the Woodinville Wine Country calendar lists them by name and date. From mid-November, these are the ones still ahead:

• Sunday, Nov. 15, 2:30 to 6 p.m.: The PNW Holiday Heritage Grand Affaire at The SOMM Hotel & Spa, 14800 NE 144th Street.
• Thursday, Nov. 19, 5 to 8 p.m.: Sip & Mosaic holiday ornament night at Tinte Cellars, 19495 144th Ave NE, led by workshop guide Arunima.
• Sunday, Nov. 22, 2 to 4 p.m.: Thanksgiving pumpkin centerpiece class at Chelan Ridge Winery, 19151 144th Ave NE.
• Friday, Nov. 27, 3 to 5 p.m.: Sky River Mead's Black Friday wreath-making session, in the same 144th Avenue building as Chelan Ridge.
• Sunday, Dec. 13, 1 to 4 p.m.: A holiday cookie decorating class in the Chateau Ste. Michelle Theater, taught by Michelle Lyon of Hungry Lyon Cookie Co.
• Sunday, Dec. 20, starting at 2 p.m.: A Christmas tree and northern lights paint and sip at Chelan Ridge Winery.

Read together, the calendar is mostly about making things. Ornaments, wreaths, centerpieces and cookies account for most of the Warehouse District's holiday schedule. Several of these classes repeat in the same few buildings along 144th Avenue NE, and Sky River Mead runs wreath sessions both before and on Winterfest day.

Two days the schoolhouse stays dark

Flatstick's FAQ says the company is open on every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas. On Thursday, Nov. 26, Thanksgiving dinner in Woodinville moves to the hotel district, and two options share one address at 14580 NE 145th St. Barking Frog serves Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 9 p.m. Willows Lodge holds a buffet from 1 to 7 p.m., with seatings at 1, 1:30, 4 and 4:30 p.m.

For a work party or a family gathering on any other December night, the Woodinville location takes bookings for holiday parties through its events page. The second floor of the town's first brick school can now be booked for a holiday party.

If you have your own memories of the old schoolhouse, from classes or from City Hall business, and you're thinking about the house that comes next, I would be glad to help you plan it around the life you already enjoy here. Anastasia Miles knows these Woodinville blocks well. Work with Anastasia.