With Halloween behind it, the region's calendar turns to the biggest community week of the year: turkey trots on Saturday the 21st and again on Thanksgiving morning, a free community meal in Fenton, Michigan's statewide firearm deer season running November 15-30, Small Business Saturday on November 28, and the December holiday kickoffs that follow the very next weekend. This guide covers the verified Thanksgiving-week 2026 events across Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville, and Tyrone Township, with the Flint Elks Turkey Trot in Grand Blanc, the Fenton Turkey Trot on the Silver Lake LAFF Pathway, the Warda Foundation's Barn CommUNITY Lunch, and the first save-the-dates for Linden's Holiday Happening and Fenton's Jinglefest. Event details below come from organizer, chamber, city, township, and state sources; confirm directly with each host before you head out.
Saturday, November 21: The Flint Elks Turkey Trot at the Golf Course
The Thanksgiving corridor opens the Saturday before the holiday with a run on a Grand Blanc Township golf course. The Flint Elks Turkey Trot is a 5K run and walk starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at the Flint Elks Golf Course, 7177 E. Maple Ave., Grand Blanc, with registration details on the Fleet Feet race listing and the 2026 event calendar. For buyers, the address is a neighborhood lesson in itself: East Maple Avenue threads past the golf course, Creasey Bicentennial Park, and the established homes of Grand Blanc Township, the same corridor the township lights up each December for its holiday tree lighting.
Shoppers in the northern part of the coverage area get a head start on gifts the same morning. The Lapeer Church of God Craft Show and Holiday Market runs Saturday, November 21 at 459 E. Oregon St., Lapeer, a roughly 20-minute drive east from Columbiaville, with details on the Lapeer holiday market listings. If you are comparing LakeVille and Lapeer district homes, budget the drive: it is exactly the corridor your kids would ride on a school week.
Thursday, November 26: Turkey Trot Morning in Fenton
Thanksgiving morning belongs to runners along the lake shore. The Fenton Turkey Trot Fun Run & Walk returns on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 2026, starting at 8 a.m. along the Silver Lake segment of the LAFF Pathway, with the starting line at Leo's Coney Island, 15010 Silver Pkwy., Fenton. Open to the public with registration through RunSignUp and course details on the LAFF Pathways site. The path itself is part of the story this year: the same trail network now connects Fenton and Linden after the ChoiceOne Bank Trail ribbon-cutting in late September, and for buyers the Silver Lake corridor is where much of the region's new construction is landing, from Cider Creek to the townhome project on Silver Lake Road.
After the run, the region's families gather for a free holiday meal. The Warda Foundation's Thanksgiving CommUNITY Lunch has hosted an annual Thanksgiving Day dinner at The Barn, 715 Torrey Rd., Fenton, running 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and open to anyone who wants a hot meal or a place to spend the day; the 2025 edition was the 11th annual and served more than 200 meals with family activities and donation tables for hats, gloves, jackets, and hygiene products. The foundation posts each year's details at thewardafoundation.org and thebarnfenton.com, with volunteer and donation opportunities open to all; call (810) 354-8889 to confirm this year's hours. In recent years the Captains Club Golf & Event Center in Grand Blanc Township (10200 Woodfield Dr.) has also given away free turkeys Thanksgiving week, so watch the event's announcements as November wraps up.
Saturday, November 28: Small Business Saturday Downtown
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 28, 2026, is Small Business Saturday, the national shop-local day that anchors the holiday retail weekend. Downtown Fenton around Leroy and Silver Lake, Linden's West Broad Street shopping district, and Grand Blanc's downtown and Grand Chalet Shoppes are packed with the independent shops, cafes, and restaurants that make each village feel like home. It is also the perfect excuse to tour neighborhood blocks on foot; see our Local Spotlight page for the family-owned businesses we have featured across Fenton, Linden, Grand Blanc, Davison, and Columbiaville, from Shirley's Cafe & Grill in Linden to RailYard and The Laundry in Fenton.
Rural Season: Firearm Deer Season Runs November 15-30
For Columbiaville, Tyrone Township, and rural Fenton and Linden, Thanksgiving week is also deer season. Michigan's regular firearm deer season runs statewide Sunday, November 15 through Monday, November 30, 2026, per the Michigan DNR hunting season calendar, and this is the first opener since the Limited Firearms Deer Zone, the old rifle line, was eliminated effective September 12, 2026. For buyers eyeing acreage around Holloway Reservoir, rural Tyrone, or the lake townships, expect deer-camp traffic on back roads, blaze orange at park access points, and hunters on neighboring private land; ask sellers about adjacent land use and any posted or leased hunting arrangements before you fall for a property, and pair the tour with our winter-ready country homes guide for wells, septic, and generators.
Save the Date: Holiday Kickoffs the Weekend of December 4-5
The weekend immediately after this window starts the December holidays. Linden's Holiday Happening returns Friday, December 4, 2026 with the tree lighting at the Kimble-Sharp Gazebo & Park, the 7 p.m. lighted Frosty Parade, and fireworks over the Millpond; see lindenholidayhappening.com for the evening's lineup. The next night, Saturday, December 5, 2026, Fenton's Jinglefest fills downtown with Breakfast with Santa, the lighted parade, and the community tree lighting, run by the Fenton & Linden Regional Chamber of Commerce. Our early-November calendar has the full detail on both. Grand Blanc's dates typically land the same first weekend of December; in 2025 the township's tree lighting ran December 5 at Creasey Bicentennial Park and the downtown Winterfest tree lighting landed the same evening at Physicians Park, with 2026 announcements expected on the township calendar and the Grand Blanc Chamber.
What the Thanksgiving Corridor Means for Buyers and Sellers
Three timing notes matter this week. First, the mortgage market: the 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.40 percent for the week ending October 15 per Freddie Mac, with the 15-year at 6.71 percent; see our late-October market update for the town-by-town numbers. Second, closing math: Thanksgiving week itself is a dead zone for title work, with banks and title companies closed Thursday and Friday, November 26-27, so a contract signed this week on a typical 45-day path lands near the first week of December, just in time to move in before the Frosty Parade and Jinglefest. Buyers who want a 2026 closing are in the final stretch; the week-by-week plan in our closing calendar still applies for December closes. Third, the season for sellers: the holidays bring motivated, year-end moves and some of the most negotiable pricing of the year, and turkey-trot and parade crowds are a real-time read on how a neighborhood fills its streets.
And for house hunting, holiday events answer the questions listings cannot: how does the downtown feel on a busy Saturday, how close is the lake path, and what do neighbors actually do on Thanksgiving morning? Our Halloween guide rounds out October, and the mid-October calendar catches anything you missed before November.
Ready to make Thanksgiving week your week?
Call Rob Moen directly at (810) 691-0019 for a no-obligation conversation. Whether you are buying, selling, or just scouting communities this holiday season, we will help you read the corridor across Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville, and Tyrone Township.
Explore Homes for the Season
To see what is currently available across Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville, and Tyrone Township, visit our featured homes page for a curated selection of active listings, or compare lifestyle details in our Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, and Columbiaville community guides, plus our Tyrone Township page.
Why Work with Rob Moen and The Moen Group?
With more than three decades of experience and thousands of transactions across Genesee and Livingston counties, Rob Moen brings deep market knowledge and sharp negotiation to every client. As Principal Broker of Keller Williams First and a past President of the East Central Association of Realtors, he helps buyers compare communities and act with confidence in every season.
Ready to find a home in a community you already love? Contact Rob Moen at (810) 691-0019 or send a message online. Your next home is waiting.
The Moen Group, Inc. is committed to the Code of Ethics and the principles of fair housing and equal opportunity. All properties and neighborhoods described in this article are available for sale or rent to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, or any other protected class. We encourage and support equal opportunity in housing.
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Rob Moen
With more than three decades of experience and thousands of successful home sales across Genesee and Livingston counties, Principal Broker Rob Moen brings deep market knowledge, sharp negotiation skills, and a hands-on approach to every transaction. As a past President of the East Central Association of Realtors and the Women's Council of REALTORS, Rob is committed to helping buyers and sellers in Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Davison, and surrounding communities achieve outstanding results.