The Overholser Mansion Is Fenced Off This December. Heritage Hills' Holiday Season Heads South.

A temporary chain-link fence now runs around the 1903 Overholser Mansion at 405 NW 15th Street, with banners for QUAD Construction hung along it. Behind the fence, crews have broken up the patio concrete to find where the house needs waterproofing. They are laying new drainage to carry water away from the foundation, and they have taken off the kitchen porch, which was a later, non-historic addition.

The mansion is closed to tours and events for the whole holiday season. Its own site says Phase 1 covers masonry, window restoration, roof restoration, and new gutters and flashing, is expected to take about 10 months, and is paid for by the Legacy Capital Financing Fund created by the Oklahoma Legislature. The Oklahoma Historical Society says it looks forward to "welcoming you back in 2027."

That leaves Heritage Hills without its one public holiday landmark this December. Everything else on the neighborhood's calendar now sits a few blocks away, and most of it lands on the same Saturday.

What the fence takes off the calendar

Last December the mansion held "Christmas at the Overholser," with evening tours on December 26 and 30, 2025, and daytime tours on December 27. Those dates fell in the quiet week between Christmas and New Year's, when most other holiday programming has already ended. The OHS December 2026 calendar has a Christmas-preparation event at Fort Gibson from December 1 to 5 and no Overholser program.

The restoration work goes past the interior rooms. According to the OHS construction updates page, every exterior door and window will be restored, the basement windows and doors will be restored or replaced, and both the mansion and the carriage house will get roof restoration. Anyone who usually walks NW 15th to see the house lit up will find a work site this year.

The season moves three blocks south

Historical Preservation, Inc. places Heritage Hills between NW 13th Street and NW 23rd Street. The nearest holiday programming this year is just south of that NW 13th edge, plus one event in the neighboring historic district.

Midtown Holiday Pop-Up Shops, 399 NW 10th Street. The pop-ups open Friday, November 27, and run Fridays through Sundays until December 20. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, and admission is free. The Downtown in December pop-up page lists rotating local shops, Katiebug's hot chocolate, The Big Friendly, a Christmas tree lot run by Bishop John Carroll, live music, Santa visits, and wrapping paper from The Curbside Chronicle. All 2026 vendor spaces and the waitlist are already full.

Light & Airy, at the 10th and Walker roundabout. This one is new. The illuminated sculpture by Sander Henriksen and the team at Heavy looks like an oversized slice of layer cake, and Midtown OKC describes cake as a symbol of hospitality and gathering. VeloCity reported that it went up this spring, so this is its first holiday season. Money left over from the former Medical Business District's public art fund for the 10th Street corridor got the project started. SSM Saint Anthony, Midtown Renaissance, Midtown Rotary, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, and others also contributed. Midtown OKC owns and maintains it.

Santa Paws at Midtown Mutts Dog Park, Sunday, November 22. Santa poses for free pet photos from 1 to 3 p.m. A photographer takes professional shots, and an attendant helps with phone photos.

The Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour. This is the closest thing to a historic-homes holiday event this year, and it's run by the neighboring district. The tour is December 5 and 6, from 1 to 5 p.m. both days, and starts from Perle Mesta Park. Tickets cost $25. The night before, Friday, December 4, The Blue Note at 2408 N. Robinson Avenue hosts a Holiday Home Tour Cocktail Party from 7 to 9 p.m. for $50 per person.

December 5 carries most of it

Taken together, these dates cluster on one weekend. Here is Saturday, December 5, within a short drive of NW 15th:

1. Morning. The Saints Santa Run at SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, 535 NW 9th Street, has a 5K run/walk, a 1-mile fun run, a free Kids' Dash, and a costume contest. Midtown OKC lists it from 10 to 11:30 a.m., but check the registration page for start times by distance.
2. All day. The Midtown pop-ups at 399 NW 10th Street are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
3. 1 to 5 p.m. The Mesta Park Holiday Home Tour's first day.
4. 4 to 7 p.m. Lights On Broadway in Automobile Alley. Shops and restaurants put up window displays and run pop-up activities and giveaways. Santa is on the 1001 N. Broadway Avenue lot south of Shop Good with his 1929 Mercedes Benz from 4 to 6 p.m. Bring your own camera.

The Mesta Park tour's last hour overlaps with Santa's first hour on Broadway. Anyone planning to do both will need to choose an order.

Shorter in some places, longer in others

Automobile Alley's Lights On Broadway has been cut back. In 2025 it ran on three Saturdays: November 29, December 6, and December 13. This year it runs on two, December 5 and December 12. That leaves December 5 as the only Saturday when the open house and the Mesta Park tour happen on the same day.

Downtown programming also changed shape. Here is how this year's schedule compares with last year's:

The SPARKLE row matters most for the week after Christmas, which is the week the Overholser tours filled last year. SPARKLE is a ticketed walk that runs Thursdays through Sundays from November 19 to December 13, then every night from December 17 to 31, always 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. That means it covers December 26, 27, and 30, the three dates the mansion used last year, and then closes on New Year's Eve. Last season it stayed open until January 4.

The Devon Ice Rink at Myriad Botanical Gardens, 125 Ron Norick Boulevard, is now in its 15th season and runs well into January. Admission is $15 with skate rental, $12 with your own skates, $10 with military ID, and $12 for Gardens members with rentals included. The rink is open Monday through Thursday 3 to 9 p.m., Friday 3 to 11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The second Saturday has its own lineup

December 12 doesn't stack up as much as December 5, but it fills the evening. Lights On Broadway returns from 4 to 7 p.m., with Santa on Broadway from 4 to 6. The Sparkle Holiday Market sets up on the Promenade in Scissortail's Upper Park from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. with local vendors and holiday food and drinks. It also runs on November 28. OKC Ballet's The Nutcracker is at Civic Center Music Hall from December 11 to 21, with 12 performances including a sensory-friendly show. The next afternoon, Sunday, December 13, the Plaza District holds its last LIVE! on The Plaza block party of the year at 1745 NW 16th Street, from noon to 4 p.m.

Before all of that, the 25th Oklahoma City Tree Lighting Festival starts the season on Thursday, November 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Mickey Mantle Plaza at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Mayor David Holt lights the tree at 6 p.m., and it stays up through New Year's Day. Admission is free.

Back on NW 15th in 2027

The Overholser's restoration is more than a cosmetic refresh. Phase 1 covers masonry, windows, roofs, gutters and flashing, and crews are already putting in new drainage to carry water away from a house finished in 1903. The Oklahoma Historical Society owns the mansion and Preservation Oklahoma, Inc. manages it. Updates come through the mansion's social media and the OHS construction updates page, which posted its most recent entry on October 19, 2026. Until it reopens in 2027, Heritage Hills' nearest holiday events are a few blocks south, and the busiest day is December 5.

If you're planning a Heritage Hills home sale or purchase around the holidays, or you'd like to know what a year of restoration work on NW 15th could mean for your block, David Oliver Real Estate Group can walk you through it. Request Your Home Valuation and we'll start with your street.