Acton's holiday season is spread across several addresses. There's a farm animal sanctuary on Escondido Canyon Road, a library on Crown Valley Road built on land a family gave away, a community center on West Nickels, and a school campus on Antelope Woods Road that a church borrows for a day.
Each of these places has its own calendar and its own organizers. You won't find this season on one city events page. You find it by knowing the four or five groups that run it. Their November events come one at a time, and then three of them overlap on the first weekend of December.
October showed how Acton gets its events
The season really started in October with a rodeo. The Western Crown Rodeo Association is a nonprofit founded by Robert and Ciarra McGalliard of Quartz Hill. It held its first three-day youth rodeo and rodeo queen pageant in Acton Oct. 16–18, and SCVNews reported more than 100 registered youth contestants, about 200 rodeo runs and 12 queen contestants. Ciarra McGalliard explained the group's purpose in the association's announcement, which SCVNews published:
"Our mission is bigger than crowns and buckles. It's about bringing rodeo back to our community, preserving our Western traditions and giving the children of the Antelope Valley/Santa Clarita Valley opportunities to develop confidence, leadership, sportsmanship and character."
The founders say they are already planning an ongoing youth rodeo series in the Antelope Valley. The same pattern runs through the holidays. A small group of organizers brings a big event to Acton, and the people who follow those organizers hear about it first.
Nov. 21: the biggest ticketed day of the season, at Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary calls its Southern California location a 39-acre sanctuary on a hacienda ranch in Acton, home to rescued cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys and other farm animals. On Saturday, Nov. 21, it holds its Celebration for the Turkeys from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year the event is part of the organization's 40th anniversary.
Tickets cost $100 for guests 13 and older and $50 for children ages 4 to 12. Children 3 and under get in free. For a family of two adults and two school-age kids, that comes to $300. It's priced as a holiday dinner out, not a free afternoon. The ticket covers a full meal and about four and a half hours of activities, and the posted schedule shows how the afternoon runs:
- 11:30 a.m. Registration, with welcome remarks at 11:45
- Noon to 1:30 p.m. A holiday feast catered by Maciel's Plant-Based Butcher & Deli, with a book talk by Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur at 12:40 and a screening of the short film "Sanctuary" at 1:00
- 1:30 to 3 p.m. Open sanctuary time: mini pumpkin pies for the birds, a pig pumpkin party at 2:10, a feast for the turkeys and chickens at 2:30, and snuffle mats for the sheep at 2:40
- 2 to 4 p.m. Live music in the courtyard by The Storytellers
- 3 to 3:45 p.m. Gene Baur book signing
- 4 p.m. Event ends, and the store stays open until 4:30
The animals get their own holiday meal on the schedule. The turkeys and chickens are fed at 2:30, and kids can watch from close by. Farm Sanctuary's cancellation policy says that if the event is canceled for safety, weather or other unforeseen reasons, buyers are refunded automatically to their original payment method.
The library fills the weeknights in between
Farm Sanctuary has the big day. The Acton Agua Dulce Library at 33792 Crown Valley Road holds the weeknights and weekday mornings around it. The building has its own history. In 2003, John and Robert Brevidoro donated 1.5 acres on Crown Valley Road to Los Angeles County for a library in memory of their parents, Christopher C. and Ida G. Brevidoro, who founded the Colombo Lilac Ranch in Acton. The library is named for their father, and the children's reading area is named for their mother. It opened Sept. 29, 2010.
Here is what's on the branch calendar from publish day through early December:
| Date | Program | Time | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., Nov. 23 | Native American Heritage Month: Migration and Family History | 4–5 p.m. | Adults |
| Tue., Nov. 24 | Smarty Pants Storytime | 10:30–11:30 a.m. | Ages 2–5 with a caregiver |
| Mon., Nov. 30 | Explore Saturn | 7–8 p.m. | Adults |
| Tue., Dec. 1 | Smarty Pants Storytime | 10:30–11:30 a.m. | Ages 2–5 with a caregiver |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Gingerbread House Challenge | 1–3 p.m. | Ages 5–12 with a caregiver |
| Tue., Dec. 8 | Smarty Pants Storytime | 10:30–11:30 a.m. | Ages 2–5 with a caregiver |
Smarty Pants Storytime lists registration. The program to plan around is Explore Saturn on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Library staff will use the branch's own telescope, and the session depends on the weather that day. The library asks visitors to call that afternoon to confirm the sky will cooperate, at 661-269-7101.
The Gingerbread House Challenge on Dec. 5 starts with a short lesson on shape, texture and color in architecture before the kids build their houses. It's also the first event of the weekend when Acton's holiday calendar comes together.
Dec. 5 and 6: three calendars on one weekend
Through late November, Acton's holiday events come one at a time, each run by a single organizer. On the first weekend of December, the library, the Acton Community Center and Acton Faith Bible Church all hold events within about 30 hours of each other.
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Dec. 5, 1–3 p.m. | Gingerbread House Challenge | Acton Agua Dulce Library, 33792 Crown Valley Road |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. | Christmas Boutique, hosted by Acton Faith Bible Church | High Desert School, 3620 Antelope Woods Road |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | Photos with Santa | Acton Community Center, 3748 West Nickels |
The boutique date in the table comes from the church's December calendar. Since the boutique is at a school campus and not at the church, call the church before you go to confirm the day and the hours. The church describes the boutique as a day of holiday shopping, treats and local vendors.
The Acton Community Center lists Photos with Santa for Sunday, Dec. 6. The center's archive page describes how a past year's Santa event ran. It was free and indoors, from 3 to 5:30 p.m., with Santa's Workshop, crafts, games, cocoa, cider, cookies, elves and a letter-writing station. That's the most recent description of the format. For this year's start time, email the center at [email protected].
If past years are any guide, Santa runs in the afternoon. That would give a Sunday family time to shop the boutique in the morning and still make it to West Nickels later in the day.
Who builds the calendar, and how to get on it
The Community Center deserves a closer look, because it's the most open of these groups. The Acton Community Club runs it. The club has a 2026–2027 board and committees for fundraising, facilities and publicity, and it holds open public meetings on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Community Center. This season, those meetings fall on Nov. 24 and Dec. 22. The club's events page also asks for ideas directly: "Have any ideas for an event you'd like to see??? Send us a note."
This is how a town without a commercial strip gets its holiday events. Someone proposes an event to a board, a committee takes it on, and the event goes on a calendar like the one above. The Brevidoros' land gift is the reason the library exists. The McGalliards' nonprofit brought the rodeo to Acton in October. The Santa afternoon on Dec. 6 comes from a club that meets in public once a month.
For the rest of December, and for visiting family
Acton Faith Bible Church holds its Christmas Eve service on Dec. 24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the church, 32643 Gem Way, with refreshments afterward in Abel Hall.
For relatives staying through the holidays, Farm Sanctuary is open beyond Nov. 21. The Acton sanctuary offers guided public tours year-round on Saturdays and Sundays. Tours last about an hour and require advance registration, and the organization asks guests to arrive 15 minutes early because tours start on time. The Sanctuary Shop opens for 30 minutes before and after each public tour. For a weekday visit, the sanctuary offers private tours for up to eight people on select days. With a weekend tour on the books, out-of-town family can meet the same turkeys that got their own feast on Nov. 21.
Prime Real Estate is a family-owned brokerage, and we put part of what we earn back into the communities we serve, which is why we watch calendars like Acton's this closely. If family visiting this season starts asking what your Acton property is worth, our team can give you a clear, no-pressure number. Get Your Instant Home Valuation whenever you're ready, and enjoy the first weekend of December.
