Lutz's Biggest December Weekend Happens in Odessa, and the Old Schoolhouse Tradition Is Still to Come

Two volunteer groups run December in Lutz, and they work on very different schedules. The GFWC Lutz-Land O' Lakes Woman's Club has already set its 47th annual Lutz Arts and Crafts Festival for Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6, 2026. It runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Keystone Preparatory High School, 18105 Gunn Hwy., Odessa. For the Christmas evenings at the Old Lutz School, 18819 U.S. 41, we couldn't find any 2026 dates. The Citizens for the Old Lutz School's events page lists the tradition without dates.

That gap shapes the whole month. One event is fixed months ahead. The other follows a pattern, and you have to read the past few years to see it. Put them together and Lutz's holiday season becomes a first-weekend show on Gunn Highway, followed by about two weeks of evenings at the schoolhouse.

The Show Carries the Lutz Name From an Odessa Address

The club's own event page says Keystone Prep sits between Van Dyke Road and Lutz Lake Fern Road, "just west of the Suncoast Expressway." The show has been there for about ten years.

In a 2017 preview, Laker/Lutz News reported that the show had moved from Lake Park to Keystone Prep the year before, in 2016. Show director Faith Sincich told the paper that attendance seemed "about the same" after the move. She gave a practical reason for the new site:

"There's a lot more room for public parking at this facility than there was at the old Lake Park."

She also told the paper the new venue was convenient for visitors coming from Pinellas County. That explains the address. The festival is the club's largest annual fundraiser, so it moved to a campus with more parking and an easy drive for visitors from the west.

The Booth Count Keeps Climbing

The move doesn't seem to have slowed the show down. The club's planning documents show a larger show each year:

The attendance figure is the club's estimate, not a gate count. After the 2025 show, Laker/Lutz News reported "large crowds" and more than 150 vendors, without an attendance total. The 2026 brochure plans for at least 20 more booths than the 2025 one did, at a venue chosen for parking capacity.

Some details from that same 2025 report show what the weekend feels like. The club's "Green Shirt Ladies" ran a craft booth selling items made and donated by members. A hot dog tent fed both shoppers and vendors through both days. The club's Civic Engagement Community Service Program ran a Tombola tent that raised money for the Baldomero Lopez Veterans Home.

Saturday and Sunday Are Different Shows

The 2026 brochure explains why the two days feel different. Judges score the work on Saturday morning, and ribbons and awards go out on Sunday. Artists have to be present with their work to win. The prize pool is $1,050 across four divisions:

• Division I, Painting: graphics, drawings, watercolor, acrylics
• Division II, Sculpture: wood, clay and similar media
• Division III, Crafts: fine crafts, wood, jewelry, wearable art
• Division IV, Photography

Saturday has the longer hours, and you see the booths before the judges' picks are known. Sunday closes an hour earlier, at 3 p.m., and you can walk the show with the winners already marked. The 2025 winners are posted on the club's page. They include Andy Hamilton's metal motorbike for Best in Show and Peggy McCarson's baskets for first place in crafts.

Vendors set up both outdoors and inside the school gymnasium. Keystone Prep doesn't allow dogs in the building, so plan for that if your dog comes along on weekend errands. The brochure also lists free golf cart rides for anyone who needs help getting to the show, along with limited handicapped parking.

The 2026 brochure covers vendor parking but doesn't list what visitors pay to park. For the 2025 show, Laker/Lutz News listed general parking at $5 cash and VIP parking at $10 cash. The 2017 preview said admission was free and that the school collected the parking fee and kept the money. Those are last year's terms and older. Bring cash, and check with the club for the 2026 rate.

The Schoolhouse Keeps Its Own Clock

The Old Lutz School tradition stayed on U.S. 41, and it runs on evenings, not a single weekend. The most detailed recent account is Laker/Lutz News' 2024 coverage of the 28th year. The schoolhouse was open from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on December 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23 and 26. Entry was free except for Breakfast with Santa on the morning of December 14. Those tickets cost $4 per child, cash preferred, and included a donut, juice, a craft and a visit with Santa.

The two traditions overlap. The 2024 theme was Christmas Nutcrackers, honoring Phyllis Hoedt. She helped save the schoolhouse from demolition in 1975, and she shared her collection of several hundred nutcrackers to decorate for the event each year. The GFWC Lutz-Land O' Lakes Woman's Club, the same group behind the craft show, decorated a display using part of that collection.

The 2024 rooms, room by room:

1. The Lutz Museum became a nativity display from the collection of Ben and Beth Nevel.
2. Wally Hoedt filled a room with trees, firefighter memorabilia and trains running through villages.
3. Jason Burnett set up his Lego collection.
4. The tree room held trees from area organizations and schools, plus a pump organ from the late 1800s. Student volunteers played it and sang carols on open nights.

Each night also had a movie projected in an outdoor tent. Non-perishable food and toy donations went to Christian Social Services.

The 2025 pattern looked similar. Event calendars listed the 29th annual run from December 9 through December 26, 6 to 8:30 p.m., with Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 13. Those were advance listings. We found no post-event report confirming how the 2025 run went. The organization's website still shows an old notice at the top, so its lack of 2026 dates doesn't mean anything is canceled.

How the Month Lines Up

In 2025, the craft show ran December 6 and 7, and the schoolhouse evenings were listed to start two days later, on December 9, and run through December 26. In 2024, the schoolhouse evenings ran from December 10 to December 26. If 2026 follows that pattern, December looks like this:

• Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.: Lutz Arts and Crafts Festival opens at Keystone Prep, and judging happens that morning. Confirmed.
• Sunday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.: Second day, with ribbons and awards handed out. Confirmed.
• Starting around the second week of December and running through Dec. 26, evenings: Christmas at the Old Lutz School. This follows the 2024 and 2025 pattern. We haven't found 2026 dates.
• A Saturday morning in mid-December: Breakfast with Santa at the schoolhouse. It fell on Dec. 14 in 2024 and Dec. 13 in 2025. We haven't found the 2026 date.

The show leaves little guesswork for 2026, while the schoolhouse can only be planned from past years until its organizers post dates. The craft show also takes a lot of volunteer work. In its 2025 report, the club said the show's success depends on volunteer hours from members and their families. The schoolhouse event depends on volunteers too, along with donated collections like the Nevels' nativities and Jason Burnett's Lego.

For show questions, the club lists director Faith Sincich at [email protected] or (813) 389-2719. For more on what's happening around town, start with our Lutz neighborhood page. Our earlier post on what's new in Lutz this summer covers the rest of the year.

Alicia Chapman and the Tampa Top Team work across north Tampa Bay, Lutz included. If December is also when you're weighing a move across town or getting a Lutz home ready for spring, we'll map the timing with you before the holiday rush. Schedule Your Strategy Call.