When does winter in Old Town Square actually end? The answer depends on which part you mean. Santa's Workshop closes after Christmas Eve. The skate rink keeps going until the last Saturday in January. The lights on the trees stay on into Valentine's Day. Each of these runs on its own schedule. The part that draws the longest lines is the one that lasts the shortest time.
That makes the 2026 season easy to plan once you see where the three schedules overlap. On the schedule, the lights come first, on November 6, and run alone until Thanksgiving.
The lights come on first and stay on longest
The Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony was scheduled for Friday, November 6, with Guerrilla Fanfare Brass Band on the Old Town Square stage and a countdown set for 6:30 p.m., as North Forty News reported ahead of the event. The program puts more than 65,000 lights on more than 334 trees around Old Town, and the schedule has them on every evening from November 6 through February 14, 2027.
Those lights take more work than they appear to. The contractor, SavATree, LLC, starts installing them each September, and the job takes about six weeks. SavATree takes them down again after the season. The City of Fort Collins Parks and Recreation Department, the Downtown Development Authority and the Downtown General Improvement District run the program together. Fort Collins Connexion, the city's community-owned broadband utility, sponsors this year's celebration.
Counting both ends, the lights are on for 101 nights. Nothing else on the Square comes close to that. Parks and Recreation Director LeAnn Williams told North Forty News what the program is for:
"There's a moment right when the lights switch on when you can feel the whole square take a breath and smile."
In the same story, Williams said the tradition also brings people downtown to shops and restaurants through the winter months. That explains why the lights stay up so long. They give people a reason to come downtown in the cold months after the holidays wrap up.
The quiet stretch before Thanksgiving
From November 6 through November 26, the schedule has the trees lit while Santa's Workshop and the rink stay closed. It's the only part of the season with the lights on and neither of those open, and a few easy-to-miss things fall in this window.
The new display at Oak Street Plaza. This year The Gardens on Spring Creek is introducing a light installation designed for downtown. It's meant for holiday photos and will carry information about the Gardens' Garden of Lights event.
The Old Town Spree. The Downtown Fort Collins Old Town Spree runs November 1 through December 31, 2026. It has a $100 gift-card drawing every week and five $250 grand prizes at the end. Because the drawings are weekly, any early-November shopping in Old Town counts toward drawings that are already happening.
The Foodie Walk. The DDA runs the Fort Collins Foodie Walk, a self-guided downtown food tour, from 5 to 8 p.m. on the third Friday of every month. This month the third Friday is November 20, a week before Santa arrives and the rink opens. If you liked it this summer, it's the same route under the lights. Our August Old Town calendar post explains why it works as a regular habit.
November 27 starts the four busiest weeks
Everything piles up the day after Thanksgiving. On Friday, November 27, at 11:30 a.m., Santa rides into Old Town Square on a firetruck with Comet the reindeer, who is cared for by Jessen Reindeer Ranch. Santa's Workshop and the Old Town Square Skate Rink open that same day. From there until Christmas Eve, all three seasons run at once. Here is how the dates line up:
- Friday, Nov. 27: Santa arrives at 11:30 a.m. The Workshop and the rink open for the season.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday. Downtown Fort Collins is promoting it as part of a Small Business Month push.
- Friday, Dec. 4: Carolfest runs 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Old Town Square. It's a free, all-ages sing-along with Choice City Singers, mixing old and new favorites.
- Friday, Dec. 18: The Foodie Walk returns for its third-Friday run, 5 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 19: The Visit Fort Collins Holiday Market runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Visit Fort Collins Welcome Center, 7 Old Town Square, Suite 100, with local makers and handmade goods.
- Thursday, Dec. 24: Santa's last day. The Workshop closes early at 4 p.m.
The list leaves out the rink, because it runs straight through these weeks and keeps going well after them. Santa's Workshop is the reason December gets so crowded, and it lasts about four weeks.
Santa's line is the one thing to plan around
The Downtown Development Authority is direct about the Workshop. Visits are free. Families can take their own photos, and printed portraits are sold on site. The DDA also says wait times "can sometimes stretch into hours" depending on the day and time.
Its advice follows from the same calendar. The DDA says lines are usually shortest early in the season, so visiting in early December is better than waiting until later. Waiting makes your visit land in the busiest part of Santa's four weeks. Before you leave the house, the DDA suggests checking the Old Town Square live webcam to see how busy the Square is right then.
Most days on the 2026 Workshop calendar run noon to 6 p.m. The Workshop isn't open every day, and it's closed on Christmas Day, so check the schedule before you go. For hours by phone, the DDA lists 970-999-0475.
January belongs to the rink
After December 24, two of the three seasons are still going, and the Square gets much quieter. The rink stays open more than five weeks past Santa's last day. Its season ends Saturday, January 30, 2027, which the rink's 2026–27 schedule marks as the "LAST DAY."
The rink has a synthetic surface, so warm, sunny Front Range days don't turn it to slush. It's free to skate, and skates are loaned at no cost in child and adult sizes. Traditional ice skates work fine, and the DDA says hockey-style skates tend to do especially well on it. Groups can reserve time by emailing [email protected].
The schedule works best for people who aren't free on weekday afternoons:
- A typical week: Friday 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday noon to 6 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m.
- School breaks: The rink opens on weekdays during the weeks the calendar marks "PSD No School," including Thanksgiving week and the two weeks around Christmas and New Year's, mostly 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's also open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18.
- Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. New Year's Eve is a short day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Once school is back in January, the rink returns to its Friday-through-Sunday pattern. Santa's line is gone by then, so a Saturday afternoon in mid-January may be the easiest time all season to skate on the Square.
The last two weeks are lights only
The rink closes January 30, and the lights stay on another 15 nights, until February 14. The season ends the way it started three weeks before Thanksgiving, with just the trees lit and nothing else scheduled. A dinner reservation on College Avenue on Valentine's weekend falls on the lights' last night.
If you're driving in on one of the busy nights, there are three public garages near the Square: the Old Town Garage at 209 E. Mountain Ave., the Civic Center Garage at 120 N. Mason St. and the Firehouse Alley Garage at 165 Chestnut St. Transfort's MAX line also stops close by. In January and February, parking usually isn't an issue.
Old Town's winter calendar is one of the things we keep track of as an Old Town brokerage. Our Old Town neighborhood page has more on how the district works the rest of the year. If you live near the Square and want to talk about your home or your next move, At Home Realty is a few blocks away. Schedule a free consultation and we'll set a time that fits around your rink nights.
