Where was Winter Wonderlanes filmed? Hallmark Locations Revealed

Hallmark has done Christmas at the bakery, the inn, the tree farm and the toy shop. This year it’s going bowling.

Winter Wonderlanes is the fourth movie in Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas 2026, and it premieres Friday, October 23 at 8/7c on Hallmark Channel, opening the second weekend of the event. Ashley Newbrough and Franco Lo Presti star as former high school sweethearts trying to give a family bowling alley one last great Christmas.

The bowling alley is fictional. The romance is classic Hallmark. The filming location is Canada’s capital region.

Here’s everything we know about where Winter Wonderlanes was filmed, who made it, and why it looks the way it does.

Winter Wonderlanes Filming Locations

Hallmark’s Winter Wonderlanes was reportedly filmed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and surrounding communities in the Ottawa Valley. The Christmas romance stars Ashley Newbrough as Audrey Bell and Franco Lo Presti as Jason Miller, former high school sweethearts brought back together by a family bowling alley.

The film’s main setting, Wonderlanes, is fictional. However, reports identify several real locations in the Ottawa region that may have been used to bring its cozy, small-town atmosphere to life.

Ottawa, Ontario

The story takes place in Audrey’s hometown. The cameras were in Ottawa.

According to location reports, the film was shot mainly in Ottawa, using locations around the capital region as the backdrop for the movie. That lines up with the production paperwork. Hallmark’s own publicity photos are credited to Johnson Production Group, an Ottawa-area outfit behind many of the region’s Hallmark shoots.

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The timing is the fun part. Principal photography reportedly ran from April 20 to May 7, 2026, so the cast and crew had to build a convincing winter wonderland while spring was arriving outside.

Ottawa doubles as small-town America all the time. In Winter Wonderlanes, it plays the cozy hometown Audrey couldn’t wait to leave.

Elmdale Tavern, Hintonburg: The “Wonderlanes” Bowling Alley

The whole movie revolves around one building.

Wonderlanes is the bowling alley Audrey’s late grandfather loved, and it’s where most of the story happens. Reports identify the Elmdale Tavern in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood as the main location used for Wonderlanes, with the interior reportedly dressed in retro signage, festive lights and vintage-inspired details to look like an old-fashioned bowling alley.

The choice makes sense. The Elmdale has been a neighbourhood fixture for decades, and the film is about saving exactly that kind of place, a community hub where everybody knows your name and your shoe size.

Hallmark and the production companies haven’t officially confirmed the Elmdale. We’ll be watching the premiere closely to match up the interiors.

RELATED: Where was Hallmark’s Pumpkin Regatta Romance filmed?

Wellington West, Cedar Hill & Almonte: The Wider Town

A bowling alley alone doesn’t make a hometown, so the production reportedly used three more areas around Ottawa.

Wellington West, Ottawa. The neighbourhood’s streets were reportedly used for outdoor scenes involving local shopping, winter walks and community preparations for the youth bowling tournament. Independent shops, cafés and walkable blocks make it an ideal Hallmark Main Street.

Cedar Hill Christmas Tree Farm, Pakenham. Artificial snow and Christmas decorations were reportedly used here to create winter conditions for scenes of tree-cutting, family gatherings and romantic walks. A tree farm in May has no snow, so the production brought its own.

Almonte, Mississippi Mills. Almonte is the Ottawa Valley’s best-known Hallmark town, and locals have long joked about its “Hollywood North” status. For Winter Wonderlanes, it reportedly supplied town-centre imagery and wider exterior shots that establish the story’s community feel.

One important note: the exact houses used for the Bell family home have not been individually identified. Please admire Ottawa’s porches from the sidewalk.

Ottawa vs. Vancouver: Why Ontario for This Film

Hallmark’s traditional home base is British Columbia, in and around Vancouver, with its deep crew bench and established studios.

But Winter Wonderlanes needed something specific: a lived-in, old-school, brick-and-neon community feel. Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley are full of exactly that. Heritage mill towns, worn neighbourhood taverns and tree farms are all within about an hour of each other.

There’s also a fitting bowling connection. Five-pin bowling was invented in Toronto in the early 1900s, which makes Ontario a natural home for a Christmas movie built around the lanes.

Is Wonderlanes a Real Bowling Alley?

No. Wonderlanes is fictional, and so is its Winter Wonderlanes youth tournament.

Still, the setting is new ground for Hallmark. Girls Gone Hallmark noted that the network had never used a bowling alley as a setting before, even though the “small-town institution about to be sold” storyline is a familiar one.

As another fan site put it, bakeries, tree farms, inns, toy shops and family orchards have all been done several times, and this time the network went bowling.

Cast of Winter Wonderlanes

Movieguide’s cast list also includes Susan Hamann, Gabriel Mattka, Mary Long and Carlisle J. Williams.

Ashley Newbrough

Newbrough is a Hallmark regular. She was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and in 2015 she led the Hallmark Channel movie Love Under the Stars. Her holiday filmography has kept growing since, including Small Town Christmas for Hallmark in 2018.

Audrey is a familiar type for her: polished, always on the move, and pulled home by family. This time the family legacy comes with rental shoes.

Franco Lo Presti

Lo Presti is having a moment. He also appeared in the hockey romance Heated Rivalry, the Canadian-made series that became a pop-culture sensation after airing on HBO. Soap fans know him too. Soap Hub counts him among the current daytime stars in Hallmark’s 2026 lineup, thanks to his role on Days of our Lives.

Here’s the detail most fans will miss: this isn’t his first time opposite Newbrough. The pair previously co-starred in the 2025 holiday movie A Christmas Cookbook, which aired on Lifetime and the W Network. That shared history helps explain how easily they play a couple with a past.

Behind the Scenes

A December Movie Shot in Spring

With filming reportedly running from late April into early May, every snowy exterior was manufactured. At the tree farm, the production reportedly brought in artificial snow and Christmas decorations to sell the winter setting. On the residential streets, houses were reportedly dressed with wreaths and artificial icicles.

It was Finished Long Before It Was Announced

Girls Gone Hallmark reported back in April that Max McGuire was directing, before Hallmark had officially announced the film. In other words, the movie was finished months before the September schedule reveal, ready and waiting.

Yes, There’s a Bowling Santa

Hallmark’s publicity stills include Franco Lo Presti dressed as a bowling Santa. It may be the most Hallmark image of the year.

The Newsroom Was a Set

Jason is a local television reporter, but his workplace reportedly wasn’t a real station. The newsroom and some workshop-style interiors were reportedly shot on studio sets in Ottawa.

Where to watch Winter Wonderlanes?

If you’ve missed the premiere, the movie will also premiere on the following dates:

• Fri, Oct 23 at 8/7c
• Sat, Oct 24 at 6/5c
• Sun, Nov 1 at 2/1c
• Wed, Nov 4 at 8/7c
• Tue, Nov 24 at 8a/7c

Reviews and Early Audience Reaction

Formal reviews are just starting to arrive, and the first is positive. Movieguide calls it an uplifting story about second-chance romance, reviving a local business and holding on to memories of lost loved ones, and says the two leads have great chemistry as reunited high school sweethearts.

The same review points to an emotional layer the trailers don’t show. Audrey is grieving her grandfather and has stopped bowling because it reminds her of their time together. That gives the youth tournament storyline more weight than a typical “save the business” plot.

Early buzz centres on the premise itself. A Christmas movie about bowling is unusual enough to get people talking, and Lo Presti’s Heated Rivalry fanbase is likely to bring new viewers to Hallmark.

What is the plot of Winter Wonderlanes?

Audrey Bell is a globe-trotting pop-up restaurateur who comes home for Thanksgiving and learns her late grandfather’s beloved bowling alley, Wonderlanes, is being sold. She stays for one last holiday season and revives its iconic youth bowling tournament. To build excitement, she reluctantly teams up with Jason Miller, a local TV reporter who was also her high school sweetheart. As the tournament approaches, Audrey has to decide whether to leave again or finally put down roots.

What else is premiering on Hallmark this weekend?

All three air at 8/7c on Hallmark Channel.

Winter Wonderlanes premieres Friday, October 23 at 8/7c on Hallmark Channel and streams the next day on Hallmark+.

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Paul Fogarty

Paul is an entertainment news writer and the newest family member of Castalkie who joined in October 2022. His interest is in covering the filming locations of movies and TV shows.

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