Hallmark’s Hanukkah on the Rocks Filming Locations and Cast Details

“Hanukkah on the Rocks” was filmed in Manitoba, Canada, during September 2024, though its story is set in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. Winnipeg, Niverville, Selkirk, and Stonewall served as the four production locations across the province. The film premiered December 13, 2024, on Hallmark Channel. Stacey Farber leads the cast as Tory, a recently unemployed lawyer, alongside Daren Kagasoff and Marc Summers, the latter making his first prominent fictional feature role after more than four decades as a television host.

Production

Séan Geraughty directed from a screenplay by Julie Sherman Wolfe. Geraughty previously directed two Hallmark productions, “Follow Me to Daisy Hills” (2020) and “Under the Christmas Sky” (2023). Filming ran from approximately September 9 to September 29, 2024, across four communities in Manitoba.

Where Was Hanukkah on the Rocks Filmed?

All four Manitoba locations stood in for Chicago. Manitoba’s landscape runs to prairies, boreal forests, and lake country, and the production team worked with the province’s urban and small-town architecture to create a credible midwestern city setting.

Winnipeg

Rocky’s, the Old Town bar at the center of the story, was shot at Wee Johnny’s Irish Pub at 177 McDermot Avenue in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. Executive producer Joey Plager said in a published interview: “Most of our movie takes place in what we call our hero location, which is a bar in our movie. We shot that at Wee Johnny’s [Pub] right underneath Johnny G’s on McDermot in the Exchange District.” The neighborhood’s stock of late-19th and early-20th century brick commercial buildings provided streetscapes that could pass for an older American city.

Niverville

About 35 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, the small town of Niverville contributed a second distinct setting. Gan’s Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant at 154 Main Street, was temporarily closed and redressed as Gilbert’s Deli, a fictional Chicago delicatessen. Producers removed the existing restaurant decor and brought in deli signage and appropriate food items. Gan’s Kitchen documented the process on its Instagram account, writing that “our restaurant was undergoing a transformation for an upcoming Hallmark movie, Hanukkah on the Rocks!” Entertainment Now reported approximately 60 crew members traveled to Niverville during those shooting days.

Selkirk and Stonewall

Selkirk, a city on the Red River approximately 33 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, known locally as the “Catfish Capital of North America,” provided background for additional scenes. Stonewall, a small town north of Winnipeg noted for its limestone quarry history, also contributed exterior locations. Available production notes from the filmmakers do not identify which scenes in the finished film correspond to either community.

Cast of Hanukkah on the Rocks

Five principal cast members carry the story, led by Stacey Farber and Daren Kagasoff as the romantic leads, with Marc Summers drawing the most critical notice in a supporting role.

Stacey Farber as Tory

Stacey Farber plays Tory, a corporate lawyer laid off one week before Hanukkah when her firm merges with another. Searching for a specific set of Hanukkah candles on behalf of her grandmother Bubby (Marina Stephenson Kerr), Tory ends up at Rocky’s, takes a one-night bartending shift, and stays through all eight nights of the holiday. Farber is a Canadian actress who played Ellie Nash across seven seasons of “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and Tara Anderson in Netflix’s “Virgin River.” She has also appeared in “Schitt’s Creek,” “Superman & Lois,” and leads the Hallmark series “The Spencer Sisters.”

Daren Kagasoff as Jay Rosen

The two romantic leads first cross paths while both searching for the same Hanukkah candles. Daren Kagasoff plays Jay Rosen, a doctor who has relocated to Florida and returns to Chicago hoping to convince his grandfather to retire nearby. Kagasoff is best known as Ricky Underwood in ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (2008 to 2013), a role for which he received multiple Teen Choice Award nominations. His other credits include a recurring part in Fox’s “Red Band Society” and a role in the 2022 film “Devotion.”

Marc Summers as Sam Rosen

A Hallmark representative attended Marc Summers’ off-Broadway one-man show, “The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers,” at New World Stages in New York in 2024 and approached him about a role. In an interview with Entertainment Now, Summers described telling her “Yeah, but I don’t act,” to which she replied that she had just watched him do exactly that. He plays Sam Rosen, Jay’s grandfather and the anchor of Rocky’s regular crowd. “Hanukkah on the Rocks” is his first prominent fictional feature role; he is primarily known as the host of Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare” (1986 to 1993) and Food Network’s “Unwrapped.” A line in the film directly acknowledges his legacy: Sam tells Tory “I double dare you.”

The Wider Ensemble

Lauren Cochrane plays Lottie. Additional cast members include Sharon Bajer, Dan De Jaeger, Cora Matheson, Verity Marks, and Felix Montgomery.

What the Casting Brings to the Film

Summers’ Jewish background aligns with Sam Rosen’s in a way that several critics noted gives the role a specificity the character required. He was born Marc Berkowitz and grew up Jewish in Indianapolis. He has said in interviews that after his bar mitzvah he seriously considered becoming a rabbi before choosing entertainment. Several critics who reviewed the film noted that the Jewish cultural details, including the Yiddish terms and holiday observances embedded in Sam’s character, read as understood from the inside rather than imported for atmosphere. Decider wrote that “the focus on celebrating Jewish culture and traditions help to make it feel worth watching for viewers of all backgrounds,” and Tell-Tale TV rated the film 4 out of 5. One reviewer, writing for Solzy at the Movies, noted the film “sticks too close to the Hallmark formula.” The film holds a 6.9 rating on IMDb.

Our reading is that the fact Summers’ first prominent fictional feature role happened to be a character whose Jewish identity is central to the story, rather than incidental, gives the performance a grounding his television hosting career would not automatically have provided.