Pearlridge's Holiday Season Fills In Around Its Two Saturday Markets

At 9 a.m. on Thursday, November 19, Pearlridge Mauka marks the start of the season with a short opening ceremony for the Giving Machines, held between Ben Bridge and Cookie Corner. An hour and a half later, over in Wai Makai, the regular Thursday Zumba Gold class starts in front of Jeans Warehouse, just like any other week.

That's how the whole holiday calendar at Pearlridge works this year. The holiday events get added on top of the weekly routine, and the two sides of the center keep their usual jobs, and the busy days are the ones where both calendars land on top of each other.

Saturday already had two markets before the holidays showed up

Every Saturday, the street-level parking lot on the Kamehameha Highway side of Wai Makai turns into a market twice. From 8 a.m. to noon it's the Pearlridge Open-Air Farmers' Market, with about 30 vendors selling locally grown produce, plants, baked goods and fresh treats. FarmLovers Markets runs it, and its own page points to sugarcane juice, organic mushrooms, papayas, Mexican food, sustainably raised meats, shave ice, gluten-free bread and croissants. Aloha State Daily included the Saturday morning market in its November 3 weekend guide.

From 5 to 9 p.m. the same lot becomes the Village Market, with food trucks, craft and retail vendors, seating, live music and a beer garden. The center's calendar lists the farmers' market on every Saturday in the holiday stretch, including November 21, November 28, December 5 and December 12.

So on Saturdays, Wai Makai's outdoor lot is booked in the morning and again in the evening. Most of the new holiday events are set up somewhere else.

The holiday layer mostly lands in Mauka

Pearlridge lists the Giving Machines in Mauka, or Uptown, near Beer Lab. They run November 17 through December 31, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Instead of buying snacks, you use the machines to donate things like meals, hygiene kits and school supplies to local and global charities. One local partner is Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi, which confirmed its spot in the 2026 machines on November 5. It also takes donations online if you can't make it to the mall, starting with a $25 hygiene kit.

The Pearlridge Express holiday train starts Saturday, November 21, in Mauka Center Court and runs through Sunday, January 10, 2027. Rides are $6 per child. A 10-ride booklet costs $41 and comes with a Santa photo. The pop-ups fill in around the train. The Made With Aloha Island Craft Fair brings island-made gifts, jewelry, apparel and snacks to the Mauka Center Court area November 21 and 22, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Bit of Sugar Pop-Up sells holiday sweets by Cookie Corner in Mauka Center Court from November 27 to 29, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Santa is the main exception. Photos with Santa run in Wai Makai Center Court from November 27 through December 24. On a Saturday, that puts the Santa line inside Wai Makai while the markets run in the lot outside. A family can do the farmers' market and Santa on the Wai Makai side, then walk across to Mauka for the train.

Here's how the weekends stack up through the first half of December:

December 5 is when both calendars land at once

On the first weekend of December, both calendars hit their busiest point together. Hawaii Pacific Expos is putting on A Very Merry Fest on Saturday, December 5, and Sunday, December 6, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with vendors and exhibitors inside the former Toys "R" Us space and out in the parking lot around it. The Kawaii Friends Craft Fair, a weekend of handmade kawaii-style crafts from local artisans, is on the calendar for the same two days.

Saturday's normal routine still runs alongside all of it. The farmers' market is listed for December 5. The train runs in Mauka, and Santa is in Wai Makai. That makes December 5 the one day when every part of the season is happening at the same time: the morning market, two holiday fairs, the train and Santa photos. A Very Merry Fest adds an outdoor footprint in its own lot too, so on that Saturday, plan your parking around where you're headed first.

The train runs on its own schedule

The Pearlridge Express has its own rules, and they explain a lot about how holiday days at the center flow.

1. It pauses every day from 2 to 3 p.m. while the crew takes lunch.
2. It's closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, and on Christmas Day.
3. On Black Friday, November 27, keiki ride free from 8 to 10 a.m.
4. Hours change starting Saturday, December 19, for the last stretch through January 10.
5. It closes at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Santa takes the same 2 to 3 p.m. break most days, except December 12 through 18, when sessions run without it. Session hours vary by day, so check the Photos with Santa page before you go. For a train ride and a Santa photo on the same afternoon, skip 2 to 3 p.m. at both ends of the mall on most days. From December 12 through 18, only the train stops for that hour, so those dates give Santa visits the most room.

Black Friday morning is the one time the two line up neatly. The free keiki train rides end at 10 a.m., and that's also the first day of Santa photos.

Weekdays keep their own routine nearby

Outside the weekends, the regular weekday routine keeps going. Zumba Gold is free, open to all experience levels, and led by certified Zumba master Dale Delos Reyes on Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Wai Makai's second level. The center's calendar also lists Zumba With Gavin, an all-ages class at 10:15 a.m. in the same spot in front of Jeans Warehouse, on Saturday, November 21.

A short drive away at 96-045 Ala ʻIke Street, The Pearl, Leeward Community College's student-run restaurant, serves lunch Wednesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., through December 4. That last lunch falls on the Friday right before the Very Merry Fest weekend, so the Pearl's fall service ends just as Pearlridge's calendar gets busiest. For a weekday breakfast or a late dinner, Kam Bowl has been open since August 1 in the old IHOP space at Times Square Shopping Center, 98-1264 Kaʻahumanu Street, serving daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., as reported by Aloha State Daily.

After December, the calendar thins out in reverse. The Giving Machines leave December 31, the train makes its last runs January 10, and the Saturday market in the Wai Makai lot keeps going through it all.

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