Thanksgiving this year is Thursday, November 26. The Manchester Grange is holding its Thanksgiving on Tuesday, November 24, two days early. It runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and is a potluck, so you bring a dish and email the organizers ahead of time to tell them what it is.
That early Thanksgiving is a good way into the season for anyone living in Irish Beach. On Halloween, the neighborhood opened Sea Cypress Drive to trick-or-treaters from 5:30 to 8:30, and children from anywhere were welcome as long as an adult came along. Most of the other gatherings between now and mid-December take place in two buildings on Highway 1, one at each end of town. The Manchester Grange is to the south. The Greenwood Community Center in Elk is to the north. Both are run by volunteers, and both pay their bills with the same dances, potlucks and fairs that fill the calendar.
The Grange Asks for a Dish and a Dance
The Manchester hall is officially Manchester Grange #676, listed under that number by the California State Grange. It sits at 43970 Crispin Road in Manchester.
Its November calendar has two events, and they work as a pair.
Saturday, November 21, 6 to 10 p.m. The Flatwheelers play a square dance with a live caller. The bar is open all night, and dinner and drinks cost extra. The event listing on the KOZT community calendar puts the purpose plainly: "Proceeds help the Grange stay open to serve the community."
Tuesday, November 24, 2 to 5 p.m. The early Thanksgiving potluck. Email [email protected] with the dish you plan to bring. Seniors and people with disabilities can call Coastal Seniors at 707-882-2137 for a ride.
The Saturday dance brings in money, and the Tuesday dinner is the community use that money supports. Three days apart, the same room does both jobs.
Food is not new for the Grange in the off-season. Last winter it held Manchester Markets on February 14 and March 14, 2026, as a monthly off-season market with produce, homemade goods and handmade items. For November, the hall's calendar is the dance and the dinner.
Elk Built Its Hall and Still Pays for It
Head north past Irish Gulch and you reach the other hall, which runs on a longer version of the same arrangement.
According to ElkWeb, construction on the Greenwood Community Center began in 1972 and finished in 1974, and the center became a tax-exempt nonprofit in 1983. A volunteer board that meets monthly guides it. The Greenwood Civic Club, also a nonprofit, has a volunteer board elected by its members. Its 2026 officers are Sarah Penrod, Ursulign Knowles, Candy Skarlatos, Cindy Johnson and Jane Sinclair.
The building's two big fundraisers came earlier in the year. KZYX's community calendar describes the Elk Rummage Sale, held May 16 and 17, 2026, as the Civic Club's main annual fundraiser. Proceeds go to youth programs, scholarships and community projects, and past sales paid for rebuilding the center's kitchen and entrance. Then on August 29, Great Day in Elk turned 50. The Mendocino Voice reported that it opened with a parade featuring the Junior Lifeguards and Elk's fire trucks, offered a grease-pole climb with $100 at the top, and held a cake auction where one cake sold for $1,400. All of it benefited the community center.
With that money raised, the late-fall calendar in Elk is about using the building.
Thursday, November 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tonight, as this post goes up, the Greenwood Community Center is screening two episodes of Murder, She Wrote that were filmed in Mendocino in the 1980s. It's a potluck with trivia, and the center's invitation on the KOZT calendar promises local scenery and "some familiar faces on the big screen."
Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair.
The center's November calendar also lists regular Community Tango and Zumba Gold sessions, so the room is in use on weeknights too.
A few doors away, the Elk Artists' Collective at 6031 S. Highway One holds a reception every second Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. November's show features Craig Hathaway and Anne Kessler. December's is a Christmas Gift Show. If you're driving north for the December 5 crafts fair, you could come back the next weekend for the gift show.
Point Arena Fills the Weekend Between
Between the Elk movie night and the Manchester dance, the busiest weekend belongs to the Arena Theater in Point Arena. Its Short Film Festival runs November 13 through 15, with seven programs this year after the theater added one.
| Day | Time | Program |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 13 | 7:00 p.m. | Close to Home: local and regional shorts |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 | 11:00 a.m. | Identity Politics: queer shorts |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 | 2:00 p.m. | Shorts From Afar: international shorts |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 | 4:00 p.m. | Direct From Imagination: animated shorts |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 | 7:30 p.m. | Laughing Matters: comedy shorts |
| Sunday, Nov. 15 | 11:00 a.m. | First Cuts: youth shorts, by donation |
| Sunday, Nov. 15 | 1:00 p.m. | Sound & Vision: music shorts |
Friday night's program comes closest to what the halls offer, since it's made by people who live here and shown to people who live here. Sunday morning's youth shorts are by donation, the same way the Grange dinner asks for a dish.
The theater's Film Club keeps going after the festival, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople on November 23 and Promising Young Woman on December 14. A single screening costs $14. The $84 season pass works out to the same $14 a film over the full six-date season, which started October 12 and ends January 11, 2027. Three of those dates have already passed, so for the rest of this season, single tickets cost the same per film as the pass.
Point Arena's Hometown Holidays follows on Saturday, December 12, with holiday shopping downtown, a tree lighting and caroling.
The Season by Week
Put together, the next six weeks run south, north and back again. Every stop is within a short drive of Sea Cypress Drive.
- Thu, Nov. 12: Murder, She Wrote movie and potluck, Greenwood Community Center, Elk
- Fri–Sun, Nov. 13–15: Arena Theater Short Film Festival, Point Arena
- Sat, Nov. 21: Flatwheelers square dance, Manchester Grange
- Mon, Nov. 23: Film Club, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Arena Theater
- Tue, Nov. 24: Thanksgiving potluck, Manchester Grange
- Sat, Dec. 5: Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair, Greenwood Community Center
- Sat, Dec. 12: Hometown Holidays, downtown Point Arena
- Mon, Dec. 14: Film Club, Promising Young Woman, Arena Theater
For a longer evening out, the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens holds its 16th annual Festival of Lights every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from November 27 through December 20, rain or shine. The displays are made by hand by Gardens staff and volunteers, and the event is one of the Gardens' main annual fundraisers.
The fundraising pattern runs right through the list. The Grange dance raises money for the Grange. Great Day in Elk and the rummage sale pay for the room where the crafts fair happens. Even the light show up the coast helps pay for the garden it lights.
Jeff Ortman lives full time on this stretch of coast, and many of his clients own here part time and want to know what's on the calendar when they come up. If you'd like help planning a December weekend around the Elk crafts fair or a Grange event, Jeff J Ortman is glad to talk it through. Contact Jeff.
