Cohasset's Calendar from Veterans Day to the Holiday Market: Art Openings, a Militia Lecture, and a Thanksgiving Morning Run

On Thanksgiving morning in 2018, the Cohasset Recreation road race started in a wind-blown 14 degrees. Another year it ran in fog at 48. In 17 years, counting a virtual run in 2020, nearly 10,000 runners and walkers have lined up for it outside Town Hall. The race holds Cohasset's late fall together, and it doesn't stand alone.

From Veterans Day to the second Saturday of December, nearly every event on the town calendar is run by a Cohasset group. That means the veterans, the South Shore Art Center on Ripley Road, the Historical Society, Cohasset Recreation, and a holiday market at Deer Hill School. Nearly every date is already posted, so you can put the whole stretch on the fridge today. One date is still missing, and it's covered below.

Here's the stretch in order, with the details you'll want before heading out the door.

A deadline comes first, for anyone selling at the market

The first date isn't an event. If you make candles, knit, bake or paint and want a table at the Cohasset Holiday Market on December 12, New England Open Markets lists the vendor application deadline as Tuesday, November 10, 2026. That's five days after this post goes up, and a month before shoppers arrive. Anyone thinking about a table should apply this week.

November 11: the ceremony, then lunch at the Legion

Cohasset's Veterans Day observance starts at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, November 11, at Veterans Memorial Park. Afterward there's a lunch for veterans at American Legion Post #118, according to the Cohasset Anchor's announcement. It falls on a weekday this year, so the crowd at the park depends on who can step away from work for an hour before noon.

The day after brings the art center's opening, and three days after that the Historical Society goes back two and a half centuries to Cohasset's first citizen soldiers. In one week the calendar moves from present-day veterans to the town's Revolutionary-era militia.

November 12: Full Circle opens on Ripley Road

South Shore Art Center's juried national exhibition, Full Circle, runs from November 12 to December 19, 2026. The opening reception is Thursday, November 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 119 Ripley Road.

A few details on the exhibition page give it some shape:

• The juror is Andrew Fish, a painter and printmaker who teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Lesley Art + Design. His work has been shown at Childs Gallery in Boston and The Painting Center in New York.
• The prizes are $350 for first, $250 for second and $100 for third.
• The work covers acrylic painting, watercolor, fiber arts and digital media. Titles on the accepted list include "Sailing Around" and "Kingsley Parc, Summer."

You may see an online event calendar list a "Fall 2026 National Juried Show" opening November 5. Go by the art center's own page, which gives November 12. The show stays up until December 19, a week after the Holiday Market. So you can catch it any weekday in late November or December if the opening night is too crowded.

November 15: who marched from Cohasset in 1775

The Cohasset Historical Society is hosting "From Meetinghouses to Revolutionary Battlefields: Militias South of Boston" on Sunday, November 15, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Panagia Greek Orthodox Church, 811 Jerusalem Road. It's free and open to everyone.

The speaker is Richard Pratt, a local historian and the curator at the Stoughton Historical Society. He'll cover the colonial militia system, the Lexington Alarm mobilization and how Militiamen, Minutemen and Continental soldiers differed. He'll also use local soldiers' own letters and diaries to show what people in Cohasset and nearby towns south of Boston thought about the Patriot movement as it grew.

The letters and diaries put Cohasset's own soldiers at the center of the evening. Coming four days after Veterans Day, the lecture gives the month a through-line. Jerusalem Road is also a pleasant drive at dusk in mid-November, before the evening turns cold.

November 26: the morning that draws the crowd

Most of the events above draw a room or a small gathering. Thanksgiving morning draws a crowd.

The 18th annual Cohasset Recreation Thanks-for-giving Road Race starts from Town Hall at 7:30 a.m. sharp on Thursday, November 26, rain or shine. The course loops around Little Harbor and Sandy Beach, climbs Beach Street and finishes back where it started. Cohasset Recreation's registration page has the same start time and place.

Last year's numbers explain why it tops the list. Recreation Director Ted Carroll told the Cohasset Anchor that 2025 was "our biggest race ever, with 1,266 official registrants, an estimated unofficial runner count of over 200, and more than 1,500 spectators." Add those up and you get close to 3,000 people around Town Hall, Little Harbor and Beach Street, all before 9 a.m. on a holiday. The same report mentions Waflbar as one of the new additions at the finish line.

The Anchor calls it a challenging, hilly course for runners, walkers and rollers of all ages. It says the race also brings former residents back to their hometown and draws runners from other towns. Here's the practical side for anyone not running:

1. Thanksgiving errands along the course loop are easier before 7:30 or after the last walkers come in.
2. If you're hosting family who are running, go by the Town Hall start time. Nobody waits for latecomers, and "promptly" is right there in the announcement.
3. Plan for the weather. Race mornings have ranged from 14 to 48 degrees, so bring a layer for anyone cheering along Beach Street.

December 12: the Holiday Market, and the date still missing

Two weeks after the race, the Cohasset Holiday Market fills Deer Hill Elementary School on Saturday, December 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's on a Saturday afternoon and lasts six hours, so you can go after a morning walk and still be home before dark. Since Full Circle is up until December 19, you can stop by the art center on Ripley Road the same day.

The missing date is the Cohasset Village Holiday Stroll. In 2023, the Cohasset Chamber of Commerce hosted it on a Saturday evening in December, and Santa arrived by fire truck for the tree lighting on the Common. The 2026 date hasn't been announced. If it follows the usual pattern, it will land near the market on the calendar. Leave an early-December Saturday evening open until it's posted.

Getting around: Route 3A on weekdays

If you're driving in from the Scituate side or using Route 3A to reach any of these, there's one ongoing factor. MassDOT is rebuilding Justice Cushing Highway from Beechwood Street to the Scituate town line. The project includes a new signal at Henry Turner Bailey Road, an upgraded signal at Beechwood Street, and new sidewalk and bike accommodations. As of MassDOT's October 28 update, the job was 45% complete. Crews were installing water mains and widening the road, with granite curbing up next. Expect periodic lane closures Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Those work hours matter for planning. The Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday falls inside them. The art opening, the lecture, the Thanksgiving race and the Saturday market all fall outside them. A May 2026 MassDOT report listed October 24, 2027 as the project's completion date. So work on the corridor is scheduled to run into next fall, and the posted hours may change before then.

I'll be watching for the Holiday Stroll date, and I'll probably be somewhere along Beach Street on Thanksgiving morning with a coffee, cheering on the hill. If you hear the stroll date before I do, or you'd like to talk over what a winter in Cohasset looks like from a particular street, William Tierney is easy to reach. Let's Connect.