Every event on the Hawthorn Woods calendar from October 23 through December 13, 2026, that has a confirmed location lists the same address: 2 Lagoon Drive. That's the Village Hall Barn. On a weekday it's where you pay a water bill or sit in on a board meeting. Over the next seven weeks it also hosts a family movie, two Lake County Symphony Orchestra performances, a holiday craft fair and a senior lunch. The building on the village logo is also the room where the village spends its winter.
Seven Weeks, Mostly One Address
Here is the calendar in order, as the Village of Hawthorn Woods lists it today.
- Movie in the Barn: Monsters, Inc. Friday, October 23. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the movie starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Barn. Admission is free.
- Village-wide trick-or-treating. Saturday, October 31, 4 to 8 p.m.
- Village offices closed for Veterans Day. Wednesday, November 11.
- Lake County Symphony Orchestra at the Barn. Saturday, November 14, 5:30 p.m.
- Monthly Senior Gathering. Wednesday, November 18, noon to 1 p.m., location to be announced.
- Holiday Craft Fair. Saturday, November 28, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Barn, with free parking and free admission.
- Hometown Holiday. Friday, December 4, 5 to 8 p.m., location to be announced.
- Monthly Senior Gathering. Wednesday, December 9, noon to 1 p.m. at the Barn.
- Festive Fanfare: A Holiday Concert. Sunday, December 13, 3:30 p.m. at the Barn, with the Lake County Symphony Orchestra.
Five of the nine entries name the Barn. Trick-or-treating covers the whole village, and the Veterans Day entry is an office closure, with no ceremony on the calendar. That leaves two entries still marked "TBD," and one of them is the season's biggest night. More on that below.
Movie night is tomorrow, the first one after this post goes up. Friday at 5:30, the same room that holds board meetings opens its doors for Monsters, Inc. You'll find more details on the village's Movies in the Barn page.
A Dairy Barn First, a Village Hall Second
The Barn hosts all this because Hawthorn Woods has kept running the village out of it for nearly sixty years.
In a November 2025 feature, the Daily Herald reported that the barn was built in 1898 for M.E. Davis, who owned 243 acres. That date comes from Phil Gardner of the Ela Historical Society. A photo caption in the same article calls it an early-1880s building, so either way it's a late-1800s dairy barn. The young village bought the property at Old McHenry Road and Lagoon Drive for $35,000 in 1967.
According to the Daily Herald, the building now holds the administrative offices, the police department on the lower level, meeting space and the community event center. An attached brick building, thought to have housed farmhands, was turned into village offices. Chief Operating Officer Pam Newton told the paper the barn is one of the oldest around that uses a Roman truss bracing system. Donated farm pieces are on display in the office area, including a barnwood bench with wagon wheels for armrests, a seed sorter that still works and a hand plow.
Newton described the building this way in the Daily Herald:
"Our barn is like a living museum that we share with the community so we don't forget where we came from."
The same article connects the barn to how the village started. Facing a large home and apartment proposal for the area, Hawthorn Woods incorporated on March 10, 1958. The Daily Herald reports that the Illinois Supreme Court ended that development plan in 1960, upholding zoning ordinances in Long Grove, Kildeer, Deer Park and Hawthorn Woods. Former Mayor Joe Mancino, who pushed to redesign the village seal around the barn, told the paper, "I wanted people to know that we were rural, by design." His list of what the barn has hosted over the years runs from board meetings and town halls to birthday parties, weddings and New Year's Eve parties.
The building also needs regular care. Last fall the village replaced the deteriorating cedar siding on the north and west walls with an engineered product made to look like the original. The Daily Herald reported that the warped old siding had holes that let in furry visitors, and woodpeckers were often heard knocking on it. A second phase on the remaining wall was planned for December 2025.
How the Orchestra Series Fits the Room
The Lake County Symphony Orchestra presents a Hawthorn Woods concert series with the village and describes the Barn performances as intimate. The village's event listing calls the LCSO the only professional orchestra in Lake County.
The 2026–27 Barn season opened last Saturday, October 17, with "Autumn Serenade: An Evening of Vince Guaraldi Nostalgia." Pianist Connor Cowart led a jazz combo through his own new arrangements of the Great Pumpkin score. The combo included LCSO principals Lauren Moldenhauer on flute and Karl EH Seigfried on bass, plus Octavio Escamilla on guitar and Calvin Simmers on drums. The ticket page showed how a Barn concert works. Doors opened at 5:00 p.m. and the music started at 5:30, with an intermission. Serna's Grill served food on site, and cocktails, beer, wine and nonalcoholic drinks were for sale. General admission was $40, and the orchestra noted limited seating and recommended buying in advance.
The November 14 show is listed under two names. The village calendar calls it "Candlelight Classics: An Evening at the Piano." The orchestra's concerts page lists "Name That Tune: A Live Music & Trivia Night." Both agree on 5:30 p.m. at the Barn. Check the orchestra's listing for the format when you buy tickets.
December shows the Barn's place in the orchestra's season. On Saturday, December 12, the LCSO plays its mainstage holiday concert, "Sounds of the Season," at 7:30 p.m. at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts. The next afternoon at 3:30, "Festive Fanfare" is at the Barn. That's two holiday programs from the same orchestra on back-to-back days, one in a performing arts center and one in Hawthorn Woods' village hall.
The Two Dates Still Waiting on a Location
So far the two "TBD" entries are the only gaps in the Barn's run.
The November 18 Senior Gathering doesn't have a room yet. The December 9 gathering is already set for the Barn.
Hometown Holiday is different. It's the one evening in this stretch that has traditionally been held outside. The village's Winter 2025–26 newsletter described last year's event on Friday, December 5, 2025, from 5 to 8 p.m., with Santa arriving, free visits with Santa and the lighting of the village tree in Community Park. This year it falls on Friday, December 4, with the same 5-to-8 p.m. window, and the village hasn't named the location. Last year's format is the only one on record. Check the village calendar entry before you bundle everyone into the car.
Community Park is where the village's Friday nights happen all summer. If the tree goes up there again, Hometown Holiday will be the one evening this season when village life steps back outside, about two weeks before the year's last Barn event.
Putting It on the Fridge
The Barn dates are easy to plan around because the address doesn't change. Two Fridays matter most. Movie night is October 23 with doors at 5:30. Hometown Holiday is December 4, starting at 5:00. The Holiday Craft Fair is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 28, from 10 to 3, and parking is free. The LCSO dates are November 14 at 5:30 and December 13 at 3:30. The October concert's limited seating and advance-ticket advice are the best guide for planning those two. The village's Holiday Craft Fair page is the place to watch for any vendor updates.
I've lived in the Mundelein and Hawthorn Woods area for more than 25 years, and I keep a calendar like this one close because it's often the first thing people ask about when they think about how a place really works week to week. If you'd like a quiet conversation about Hawthorn Woods, from the Barn on Lagoon Drive to the streets around it, Ursula Bowes is glad to help. Let's Connect.
