Dupont's Holiday Market Is Already Doing the Plaza's Job
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The DC Holiday Market opens today, Thursday, Nov. 12, on the 1500 block of New Hampshire Avenue NW. That's the closed stretch between the circle and Q Street, and it runs through Dec. 23. One block west, under the same short span between the circle and Q Street, DDOT's crews poured the last concrete on the Connecticut Avenue deck-over in October. That deck is a new public space, and the Dupont Circle BID describes it as meant for "a farmer's market, outdoor movies, music, plays, and cultural events."
The plaza won't be finished before early summer 2027. So for six weeks the job it was designed for is being done next door. Market stalls and holiday shoppers fill a car-free street, and the plaza sits fenced beside it, poured but not yet paved. This is the last holiday season Dupont runs its outdoor gathering space as a temporary setup. It's also the clearest preview yet of what the block becomes once the plaza is done.
The first Dupont season was 24 days long. This one is 40. In three years the market has gone from a short pre-holiday run to one that opens before Thanksgiving week and stays until two days before Christmas. Hours are noon to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Michael Berman, president of Diverse Markets Management, calls Dupont "a neighborhood that has been exceptionally supportive of us" in the 2026 market announcement. He also describes the market as "a natural complement to the area's retail and dining community." The BID backs the market, and PoPville covered its return in October.
The organizers advertise more than 35 small businesses. The exhibitor page lists them by category:
Category | Named exhibitors |
|---|---|
Art | Salgu, FreehugsDC, Marcella Kriebel Art & Illustration, Terratorie Maps + Goods |
Clothes | Native Inca Art Creations, LittleTibet Boutique, Lila n' Berry, Fuzzy Ink, Giftsie, KORA Designs |
Craft | Alyssa Bazaar, New York Puzzle Company, Kerri Henry Pottery, Ramuri, KVZ Designs, Chic and Ethnic, TORO MATA |
Jewelry | Pia & Co., New World Glass, Leyu Ambare |
Specialty | FarEast Antiques, Fairy Greens, AubScents Bath & Body Care, Raw Blossom, Faith & Grace Co., The Narrow Passage Store, Smell of Love Candles, Retro Cool Stufff |
Food and edible gifts | The Capital Candy Jar, Migue's Mini Donuts, Choco Berry, Sublim' Tea, A Little Slice Of Europe, Mondepice Spices and Teas |
Two names in the food row link this season to the last one. Last year the BID called Migue's Mini Donuts and The Capital Candy Jar's hot roasted nuts "returning favorites." Both are on the 2026 roster again.
The Nov. 30 turnover day matters if you have a particular stall in mind. The organizers have set that Monday aside for exhibitor changes, so the lineup in early December may not match opening week.
The building most tied to the deck-over sits right on it. Kramers, at 1517 Connecticut Avenue NW, turned 50 this fall in the middle of the work zone. The Washington Blade traced its history. Bill Kramer, Henry Posner and David Tenney founded it in 1976 as Kramerbooks. The café came soon after, and the three sold the business to Steve Salis in 2016. The Blade also put the anniversary in context: the deck-over project "progresses, just outside the doors of Kramers."
The anniversary community day on Oct. 24 previewed the kind of event the block is heading toward. Relume did custom book stamping, Aslin Beer Company poured a tasting, the DuPont Little Flea Market set up a pop-up vintage market, and 20% of that day's bookstore sales went to Everybody Wins DC. DDOT's construction blog took a moment out of its own update to congratulate Kramers on "50 years(!) in business, a true staple in the Dupont Circle community."
Kramers keeps regular hours, generally 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. It still runs weekly book clubs and trivia nights, plus poetry readings, writing workshops and author talks. On a market afternoon, that puts a bookstore, a café and a bar about a minute's walk from the stalls.
DDOT's construction updates say businesses keep normal hours with access at all times. Crews are working around entrances and coordinating with merchants on when sidewalk furniture comes out. The agency's Oct. 7 update suggested holiday shopping at businesses "that have construction surrounding them" as "a good way to start marking off your shopping list while supporting our local neighborhood."
DDOT and the BID name these businesses on the blocks closest to the work:
Sette Osteria shows what comes next. Its block got new pavers first, and the outdoor seating came back after them. The 1500 block is a few steps behind on the same sequence. The BID also offered a third round of streetscape relief grants this fall, up to $10,000 per eligible business on both sides of the 1500 and 1600 blocks. Details are on the BID's site.
The market isn't the only outdoor event already doing what the deck-over is meant to host. Put together, Dupont's current calendar reads like a draft program for the plaza:
Farmers market, music, seasonal market: the BID lists the first two by name as intended uses for the deck-over. For now, all three happen on a side street, in the park and on a closed avenue.
Crews poured the deck's five spans in three overnight pours, starting in late September and finishing with the fifth span on a Friday evening in early October. More than 20 concrete trucks rolled through the overnight pours. The large round gap left in the deck isn't unfinished work. It's a 50-foot-wide opening that ventilates the tunnel below, ringed by a concrete barrier with a mounted rail, and it stays part of the final design.
Next come pavers laid over the concrete, then the service lane and sidewalk in the 1500 block, which runs through the new plaza. Up the avenue, the 1600 block work is moving north toward R Street, where the intersection gets new traffic signals and sidewalk improvements. The wider project also brings new streetlights, stormwater upgrades, trees, landscaping and street furniture along the corridor. Questions go to DDOT's project inbox, [email protected].
DDOT's target for finishing is early summer 2027, depending on weather and unforeseen conditions. If that holds, next year's holiday season will be the first with a finished plaza beside the market block.
Owning a home within a few blocks of Dupont Circle means following changes like these as they happen: a holiday market that keeps growing, a fifty-year-old bookstore still open in the middle of a work zone, and a plaza that will change how the blocks between the circle and Q Street are used. If you're weighing what this new public space could mean for a home nearby, the Fleur Howgill Team would be glad to talk it through. Request a Confidential Home Valuation and we'll look at your property with that context in mind.
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