"Whenever you dig in Hinsdale, there might be some surprise," Village President Greg Hart told The Hinsdalean in early October. He was talking about a large stormwater culvert the contractor hit while digging for the new pavilion at the west end of Burlington Park.
That same park is where Hinsdale holds its December. The Chamber's 60th annual Christmas Walk and the Village's Hinsdale for the Holidays both use Burlington Park. The holiday train trip leaves from Hinsdale too. None of those dates moved for the dig, and none moved for the renovation work along First and Washington streets. The 2026 season goes ahead on schedule past two projects that aren't done yet.
The culvert under the west end of the park
The Village knew the culvert existed. Hart told The Hinsdalean that it runs west beyond Washington Street. The surprise was where exactly it sat. At the Oct. 6 board meeting he described it this way:
"During initial excavation, the contractor encountered the existing underground stormwater culvert that requires some additional coordination."
Two options were on the table. One was to move the pavilion closer to the sidewalk. The other was to keep it where it was planned and build over the culvert. Hart prefers the second, and he said a steel beam or a similar fix could make it work. He put the added cost at $15,000 or more and said he would make phone calls to raise that money so no taxpayer dollars go into the project. Trustee Neale Byrnes said he was glad the vote on an option came off the agenda, because the plan "needs more work."
That's still where it stands. The Oct. 6 board minutes record that the item was held while staff looked at the options. The Oct. 20 board agenda didn't include the pavilion at all. The goal Hart gave The Hinsdalean is to have it ready for the Uniquely Thursdays concert series in 2027. Patch reported the delay on Oct. 7 as well.
The Christmas Walk's host is also a pavilion donor
Trustees hired Dave Knecht Homes in July to build the permanent pavilion as part of the village's celebration of America's 250th anniversary. The $526,000 project is paid for entirely with private money. The two largest gifts are $175,000 from UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale and $100,000 from the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber also runs the Christmas Walk. So the group that put six figures into a permanent stage at the west end of Burlington Park will hold its 60th Walk in that park in December, before the stage exists. The pavilion is meant to be built for the summer concert series, and the Walk has gotten along without one for six decades. This year the two just happen to share the same ground.
Four dates, one park and the train line
The season starts before Thanksgiving weekend ends and runs through mid-December. In order:
- Sunday, Nov. 29: Holiday Express. A train trip from Hinsdale to the Two Brothers Roundhouse with holiday guests, a meal and activities. Tickets are $55 and it's open to Hinsdale residents only. There are four trip windows: 9 a.m. to 12:40 p.m., 10 a.m. to 1:40 p.m., noon to 3:40 p.m. and 1 to 4:40 p.m. The Village notes that times can change with the Metra schedule. Registration opened Oct. 5 through the Village's park events page.
- Nov. 30 through Dec. 7: Santa's Mailbox. Children can drop off letters at Village Hall, 19 E. Chicago Ave. The parent form is on the Village's Santa's Mailbox page.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 5 to 7 p.m.: the 60th Christmas Walk. It covers downtown Hinsdale and Burlington Park.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Hinsdale for the Holidays. Free activities in Burlington Park, including visits with Santa and horse-drawn carriage rides. Details are on the Village's Celebrate the Season page.
Dec. 4 is the night with the most going on. According to the Chamber's attendee page, Santa arrives at Memorial Hall at 5 p.m. for the tree lighting. Visits with Santa, carousel rides, train rides and visits to downtown businesses then run until 7. The Chamber points drivers to the Upper and Lower Washington Street lots and to the Village lot between Lincoln and Washington, north of the tracks. Those lots sit on the same Washington Street corridor as the culvert and as most of the downtown renovation work described below.
The storefronts on the Walk are changing hands
Some of the businesses you'll pass on Dec. 4 have new owners or are about to get new neighbors.
Toni's Patisserie & Café changed owners this year. The Hinsdalean reported that Craig Zoberis, Mark Konieczka and Tom Wake bought the café from Toni Cox and Paul Pell. Cox stayed on through the transition, and operations director Steven Rennau is staying. The new owners told The Hinsdalean they had no immediate plans to change the business. They are thinking about expanding liquor options and expected a new village liquor license that month. For a café on a holiday-shopping route, that could change what it serves on an evening like the Walk. It depends on whether the license was approved.
The bigger change is at First and Washington. Pete Tortorello's Fairfield Properties is renovating four downtown properties there into updated retail space and apartments. He made his first downtown purchase in November 2025. According to The Hinsdalean's report, here is where each building stands:
- 8–10 W. First St., the "yellow house," will be home to Frame Bridge, a national online custom framing shop, once work on the building is finished.
- 102 S. Washington St. has Alixandra Blue and Studio W. as retail tenants, with a two-floor apartment planned above them.
- 104–106 S. Washington St. will see the second-floor offices above My Eye Doctor converted into four one-bedroom apartments as the current leases end.
- The former salon building behind 8–10 W. First St. will also be upgraded and still needs a tenant. Tortorello said it could become food or retail.
Tortorello also told The Hinsdalean, "I think we need more food options for quick bites in Hinsdale." Whether the former salon ends up as one of them is still open, and the Walk goes right past it.
A former school on Vine Street now has a public pocket park
A few blocks from the busiest corner, another downtown project is finished. The Vine Hinsdale, at 125 S. Vine St., turned the former Zion Lutheran School building into six condominiums. The project includes a pocket park that is open to the public. The Hinsdalean's Oct. 14 story quoted developer representatives Craig Ross and Mike Doyle and reported that some residents have already moved in.
Of all the downtown projects covered here, it's the only one fully done before the holidays. If you need a quieter place to stop between the tree lighting and the carousel, it's a small piece of public open space that didn't exist a year ago.
What's still open as December gets closer
The board hasn't chosen between building over the culvert and moving the pavilion toward the sidewalk. Hart estimated the added cost at $15,000 or more and said he hopes to raise it privately. The Village's event pages describe both December gatherings in Burlington Park without mentioning the dig. Plan on the published times and the Chamber's listed parking lots, and check the Village board agendas for the pavilion decision. It would come before the Uniquely Thursdays concerts return.
If you're watching how First and Washington is changing, or wondering what the Burlington Park pavilion and the downtown renovations could mean for a Hinsdale home over the next few seasons, Heidi Picard Properties is happy to talk it through over coffee, before or after the Walk. Get a free home valuation and consultation whenever it suits you.
