The Larimer County Farmers' Market holds its last Saturday of 2026 on Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31. Seven days later, Wildcraft opens its winter season inside Foothills Mall. Between those two Saturdays, the downtown trees light up for the season. If you build your weekends around a farmers market, Fort Collins never actually takes a Saturday away from you this fall. The market just changes addresses, from 200 W. Oak Street to 215 E. Foothills Parkway, in the space of one week.
The count is what surprises people. The Larimer County market ran 25 Saturdays this year, from May 16 through Oct. 31. Wildcraft's winter season, from Nov. 7 through April 24, runs 24 Saturdays once you take out the one week it skips. The indoor half of the year is about as long as the outdoor half.
Here's how the handoff plays out, day by day, starting the morning after this post goes up.
Friday and Saturday: Halloween takes over downtown
Tiny Tot Halloween fills downtown on Friday, Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Downtown Fort Collins association says nearly 100 businesses are handing out candy. The event is aimed at costumed preschool and kindergarten kids and the adults with them. Parking is free that day in the Firehouse Alley, Old Town and Civic Center garages, courtesy of the City of Fort Collins. That matters if you're bringing a stroller and a bag of costume parts.
Saturday, Oct. 31, brings the last outdoor market at Larimer County Farmers' Market, 200 W. Oak Street, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you have a favorite vendor there, this is the morning to ask whether they'll be selling anywhere this winter.
That night, downtown goes adult. The 21+ FoCo Boo Crawl runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. across 10 venues: Old Town Putt, Scrumpy's, Trailhead Tavern, Steak-Out Saloon, High Point Bar, Pour Brothers, Magic Rat, Yellow Crunch, Vatos Tacos & Tequila, and La Piadina. So the same Oak Street blocks host a produce market in the morning and a costume crawl at night, and then the outdoor season downtown is over.
Friday, Nov. 6: the trees take over
Six days later, downtown gets its winter look. The Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony is Friday, Nov. 6, in Old Town Square. Guerrilla Fanfare Brass Band plays the stage from 5:30 to 7 p.m., and a short ceremony at 6:30 leads into the lights coming on. Fort Collins Connexion sponsors this year's ceremony. The lighting program itself is funded jointly by the City, the Downtown Development Authority and the Downtown General Improvement District.
The scale is bigger than it looks from a car window. According to the City of Fort Collins' Oct. 13 announcement, more than 65,000 lights on more than 334 downtown trees will be lit every night from Nov. 6, 2026, through Feb. 14, 2027. That's about 101 nights, longer than the stretch from the ceremony to New Year's and well past it. The early-November-to-Valentine's window matches what downtown has done in recent years.
One thing is new this year. NOCO Style reports that The Gardens on Spring Creek is setting up a light installation at Oak Street Plaza made just for downtown. Visitors can stop by for photos and learn about the Gardens' Garden of Lights event. NOCO Style also quotes Parks and Recreation Director LeAnn Williams describing "a moment right when the lights switch on when you can feel the whole square take a breath and smile."
If you're driving in, plan around the closures. Starting at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, these streets close near the event zone:
- Walnut Street between College and Mountain avenues
- The 200 block of Linden Street, between Walnut and Jefferson streets
- Mountain Avenue, both directions, between College Avenue and Remington Street
- Remington Street between Mountain Avenue and Oak Street, with parking garage access staying open
Saturday, Nov. 7: the market reopens indoors
The next morning, the Saturday market is back, now at the south end of Midtown. Wildcraft Farmers Market opens its winter season inside Foothills Mall at 215 E. Foothills Parkway, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wildcraft calls itself Colorado's first year-round farmers market and lists more than 120 Colorado farmers, ranchers and makers. This winter is its 20th season.
Opening day comes with a schedule of its own:
- 10:15 a.m. Ribbon-cutting with the Wildcraft team and Mayor Emily Francis at the Foothills south entrance
- 11 a.m. Community fund inauguration with Mayor Pro Tem Julie Pignataro at the center info booth, including free Food Access Bucks for seniors 65 and up and a new SNAP matching program for low-income households, both while funding lasts
- 11:15 a.m. Startup Alley ribbon-cutting with the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce in the East Wing, where brand-new businesses set up
- Noon to 2 p.m. Anniversary film screening by Platinum X near the fireplace
Indie-folk singer-songwriter Luke Eddington is the opening-day musician. The kids' activity zone, run with Natural Discovery Kids, has moved to the East Wing this season. The market accepts SNAP/EBT and takes part in Nourish Colorado's Double Up Food Bucks program, which doubles SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables.
Expect seasonal produce like hardy greens, mushrooms and microgreens, plus Northern Colorado eggs, milk and meat, small-batch breads and jams, local coffee, and handmade goods. Downtown's outdoor market offered a summer version of that basket. This is the cold-weather version, and you'll get parking right at the door.
Nov. 7 and 8: the only weekend with both
The Fort Collins Farmers Market sets up in the Ace Hardware parking lot at the southeast corner of Harmony Road and Lemay Avenue, and its current schedule lists Sunday markets from May 3 through Nov. 8. The page doesn't print a year, so confirm the final Sunday there before you go. If Nov. 8 holds, Nov. 7 and 8 is the one weekend when you can shop the indoor winter market on Saturday and an outdoor market on Sunday.
| Saturday, Nov. 7 | Sunday, Nov. 8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Market | Wildcraft winter opener | Fort Collins Farmers Market, last listed Sunday |
| Where | Inside Foothills Mall, 215 E. Foothills Pkwy | Ace Hardware lot, Harmony Rd. & Lemay Ave. |
| Hours | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| What happens next | Every Saturday through April 24, except Dec. 26 | Listed end of the Sunday season; the Wednesday market was listed through Sept. 30 |
Once both outdoor seasons have closed, the Saturday market inside Foothills is the one that keeps going. If you lean on the Sunday market at Harmony and Lemay, its last listed weekend overlaps with the first weekend indoors, and that gives you one week to see which Sunday vendors also sell at Wildcraft.
How the winter calendar fills in
The indoor season is long and has its own rhythm. Wildcraft runs every Saturday, rain, snow or shine, from Nov. 7 through April 24. The one exception is Dec. 26. The Dec. 5, 12 and 19 holiday markets stay open an hour later, until 3 p.m. In practice, December gives you three longer Saturdays to shop for gifts from local makers and then one Saturday off after Christmas.
The Gardens on Spring Creek's Garden of Lights page currently lists select nights from Dec. 11 to 27, with timed entries from 5 to 8 p.m., grounds closing at 9, and no event on Dec. 24 or 25. Listed prices start at $12 for adults and $8 for ages 3 to 17. Kids 2 and under get in free, members get 20% off, and $1 tickets are available for SNAP/EBT holders by phone or at the gate. Check the Gardens' site for this year's exact nights before you plan around them. The Oak Street Plaza installation downtown gives you an early look starting Nov. 6.
The downtown trees cover the long middle of winter. They come on the night before the indoor market opens and stay lit until Feb. 14. If your summer Saturdays meant the market on Oak Street and then lunch downtown, the winter version is the morning at Foothills and an evening walk under the lights. Our Old Town standing calendar mapped downtown's summer routine, and the Midtown weekend playbook covers how to reach Foothills without a car.
The order of the week, start to finish:
- Fri., Oct. 30: Tiny Tot Halloween downtown, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., free garage parking
- Sat., Oct. 31: Last Larimer County Farmers' Market of 2026, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., then the FoCo Boo Crawl from 7 p.m.
- Fri., Nov. 6: Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony in Old Town Square, closures from 3:30 p.m., lights at the 6:30 countdown
- Sat., Nov. 7: Wildcraft winter opener at Foothills, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Sun., Nov. 8: Last listed Fort Collins Farmers Market Sunday at Harmony and Lemay, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Brendan, Holly and Melissa at At Home Realty work across Fort Collins, from the downtown lights to the Foothills corridor. If you're thinking about where your Saturday routine would land after a move, maybe closer to the downtown lights or closer to the Foothills market, schedule a free consultation and we'll map it out with you.
