Marin Art and Garden Center has the busiest stretch of its calendar ahead. Winter Wonderland runs December 4 through 23, 2026. The program covers wreathmaking, gingerbread houses, ornament painting, a Shop Local Winter Market, a winter puppetry show and a Crown & Crumpet holiday tea. This year the season shares the 11-acre campus at 30 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard with a construction site. Since August 11, fencing has surrounded the area between the Livermore and Northgate buildings. MAGC calls that area its largest community entertaining space.
MAGC's project page says the rebuilt Celebration Area will "enable year-round use, easier access and enhanced aesthetics." The center is building a courtyard for cold-weather months like December, and it's doing that work during December. If the schedule holds, this is the last holiday season MAGC runs without that space.
What sits behind the fence
The project is called Sowing the Seeds. It's the first phase of MAGC's master plan, and most of the work is on the lower, western half of the site. If you know the garden mainly from weddings, celebrations of life or seated dinners under the oaks, this is the part that's changing. MAGC lists all of those uses for the Celebration Area.
The plan reconnects the Livermore and Northgate buildings, which MAGC describes as restoring their original relationship. The Celebration Courtyard and its covered areas get larger, and the outdoor dining areas get new ground cover. Most of the specifics are in the Livermore Building:
- The dropped ceiling comes out, exposing the original roof structure.
- A non-original awning is removed.
- The decks are replaced so more of Kittle Creek is visible.
Out in the courtyard, the plan calls for a larger, more open space with better separation from the rest of the grounds, so a celebration and other visits can happen at the same time. New Valley Oaks will provide shade and recall the center's early landscape. That separation has a practical purpose. Right now a private event and a public workshop share the same part of the campus. The finished design gives each its own room.
You'll see a new set of entry signs along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to help visitors find the entrance. Matching signs on Laurel Grove Avenue will point deliveries, event loading and back-entrance visitors where they need to go.
What isn't moving
A garden renovation raises a fair question about what will be gone when the fencing comes down. MAGC has answered it directly for the water features. Under a tree management plan, some trees in the work areas will be removed and replaced with new trees and landscaping. Those are the trees identified as diseased or nearing the end of their lives.
| Changing | Staying |
|---|---|
| Livermore Building ceiling, awning and decks | The fountain |
| Celebration Courtyard size and covered area | Both ponds |
| Outdoor dining ground cover | Kittle Creek, a tributary of Corte Madera Creek |
| Some diseased or aging trees in work areas, replaced with new plantings | The garden's public opening during construction |
| Entry signs on Sir Francis Drake and Laurel Grove |
Visiting the garden this fall
The garden is open throughout construction. MAGC asks visitors to follow on-site signs for areas that are off limits. The center also says access, parking and pathways may change while work continues. For a December visit, that means arriving prepared to follow the signs instead of your usual route, especially if you'll be carrying a finished wreath or a gingerbread house back to the car.
The regular weekday programs are still on the schedule. MAGC's October calendar lists a recurring American Mah Jongg beginners class on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Integrative Qigong on Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 10:30, and a Knitting Meetup. October's seasonal events, Fall Bulbs for Spring Color, Paper Marbling and the Pink Halloween Tea with Crown & Crumpet, were set for October 23 and 25. Even in the last weeks of fall, the center's calendar was mostly gardening and handcraft, the same mix that fills Winter Wonderland.
Winter Wonderland, and when to plan for it
MAGC says Winter Wonderland registration opens at the end of October. The center hasn't posted individual session times or prices, so the Winter Wonderland page is the place to check as registration opens. The announced lineup:
- Botanical Collage
- Holiday Card Making
- Ornament Painting
- Shop Local Winter Market
- Wreathmaking
- Immersive Winter Puppetry Show
- Gingerbread Houses
- Botanical Printmaking
- Winter Sound Bath
- Crown & Crumpet Holiday Tea
Nearly every item on that list is indoor or tabletop work, and those activities fit a garden working around a fenced courtyard. In a few years, the same program could have a covered courtyard set up for winter.
Before December, the Ross Recreation calendar lists the Ross Turkey Trot for Sunday, November 8, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon. The Town of Ross events page still lists the Turkey Trot as date TBD, so confirm details with Ross Recreation before the morning of the race.
How long this took to reach the fence
The Celebration Area courtyard has been in planning for a decade. The master plan process began in 2016, and the board approved the overall site plan in 2021. MAGC's project milestones page lays out what followed:
- December 17, 2024: Presentation to the Ross Advisory Design Review Board
- January 9, 2025: Ross Town Council approval
- March 13, 2026: Final designs submitted to the Town Building Department for permits
- August 11, 2026: Construction fencing goes up
- Spring 2027: Expected completion and grand opening of the renovated Livermore Building, Northgate Building and Celebration Plaza
The Council vote was 4-0-1, with one member absent, according to the Town of Ross January 2025 newsletter. The Council's January 9, 2025 agenda described the full application. It covered the Livermore Pavilion renovation, a replacement celebration platform and storage structures, seven-foot site fencing, work within 25 feet of a creek, and new decks, planting, paving, lighting and paths.
The construction start came later than first forecast. In June 2025, around MAGC's 80th anniversary, the Marin Independent Journal reported that work was expected to begin at the end of 2025. The same article said phase one would cost about $7.5 million and that nearly 40% had been raised. It credited Fairchild Broms Design with the Livermore Pavilion and Celebration Area rendering. MAGC's campaign page now lists a $6.5 million goal with more than $6.2 million raised. The center says that's enough to finish the essential parts of the project, and any further gifts would pay for upgrades or additional items. The start slipped about eight months from that forecast, and fundraising went from under half the reported budget to nearly all of the current goal.
What spring 2027 should bring
If construction finishes on schedule, the renovated Livermore Building, Northgate Building and Celebration Plaza open next spring. The Livermore Building will have its original roof structure exposed and new decks over Kittle Creek, and Valley Oaks will be planted in the courtyard. MAGC offers site tours of the project through Executive Director Iris Lax and Director of Development Kelly Miller, at 415-455-5260, extensions 116 and 117.
Kim and Eric Morgan have watched Marin Art and Garden Center hold Ross's weddings, holiday markets and everyday garden visits for decades. If you have a question about how a place like this fits into your plans in Ross, Morgan Team Real Estate is glad to talk it through. Book an Appointment whenever it suits you.
