Each December, nearly every free holiday event downtown happens in one small area: Acacia Park, Tejon Street from Kiowa to Boulder, and Bijou Street from Cascade to Nevada. The Downtown Partnership's character strolls and evening shopping strolls stay inside those blocks. Santa poses for photos in the park.
The rest of downtown has changed this year. The Gazette reported in September that 24 new businesses had opened downtown so far in 2026, with more than a dozen others in the pipeline. Most of them are along Tejon, from Moreno Avenue at the south end up to Colorado College. The same story noted that new and planned apartments sit mostly on downtown's southern and southwestern edges, near Weidner Field and the South Nevada corridor. So the holiday events stay up north, while a lot of the new places to eat, drink and shop are a mile of Tejon away to the south. If you plan around both, you get a better day downtown.
The 2026 Calendar, From the Parade to the Last Stroll
These dates come from the Downtown Partnership's holiday events page and its upcoming events calendar. Organizers sometimes change details, so check the event page before you head out.
| Date | Event | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Veterans Day Parade | Tejon Street |
| Nov. 6 to Dec. 13 | Shop Local contest | Eligible downtown retailers; every $50 spent earns one entry |
| Nov. 13 to Jan. 31 | Skate in the Park | Acacia Park ice rink |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Caroling and Acacia Park Tree Lighting | Bandshell; caroling 5 to 5:45 p.m., lighting at 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Character Stroll and coupon books | Park photos 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., strolling 1 to 3 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Holiday Music Downtown | 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Nov. 28 to 29 | Small Business Saturday and Sunday | Tote giveaway at five shops |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Holiday Art & Gift Market | Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Go Elf Yourself, then Festival of Lights Parade | Benny's Lounge 2 to 5 p.m.; parade at 5:50 p.m. |
| Tue., Dec. 8 | Colorado Gives Day | Online giving to the Downtown Creative District |
| Wed., Dec. 9 | Holiday Stroll | Shops open late, 5 to 8 p.m. |
The Shop Local contest awards five weekly $250 downtown prize packages and a $1,000 grand prize. Bank of Colorado sponsors it. Skate in the Park is the area's only outdoor ice rink. On tree-lighting night, a public skate session runs from 5 to 7 p.m., and that one requires admission.
On the Stroll Blocks, a Few Familiar Addresses Have New Tenants
Inside the stroll area, the biggest change is at 118 N. Tejon St. Oskar Blues closed there in late December. Springs Magazine reported that Stoney's Bar & Grill, owned by Stoney Jesseph, opened in the space on Sept. 2.
Up the street at 216 N. Tejon St., Lolley's Ice Cream opened May 16, according to SoCo Insider. This year's Character Stroll has a scoop shop a short walk from the photo line in Acacia Park.
Just north, Easy's Records & Vintage opened Sept. 10 at 327 N. Tejon St. Owners Erica Dunford and Ryan Fowler sell records, vintage clothing, CDs, cassettes, VHS tapes and band merchandise. Springs Magazine described it as bringing a standalone vinyl shop back downtown. For holiday gifts, it adds a category the north blocks lacked.
Several long-running shops on these blocks host the Small Business Saturday giveaway. Take a receipt from any downtown retail purchase made Nov. 27 through Nov. 29 to one of these five shops:
- Good Intentions, 119 N. Tejon St.
- Mountain Chalet, 15 N. Nevada Ave.
- Sparrow Hawk Cookware, 120 N. Tejon St.
- Terra Verde, 208 N. Tejon St.
- Yobel, 517 S. Cascade Ave., Ste. E, in the breezeway
Each shop has 35 mini canvas totes, one per person while they last, and three of the totes at each shop hold a $50 downtown gift card. Only retail receipts count. Restaurant and service purchases don't qualify. Yobel is the only stop south of the stroll area, and it points toward the part of downtown where most of this year's change happened.
South Tejon Is Where Most of This Year's Change Happened
Head south past Colorado Avenue and the 2026 openings come more often. Sportsbook Bar & Grill held its grand opening June 5 at 402 S. Tejon St., Suite 100. A block and a half further, The Green Magick Vault opened Sept. 1 inside CO.A.T.I. at 514 S. Tejon St. Owners Carol and Jonathan Smith sell botanical, handcrafted and metaphysical goods. Springs Magazine noted the shop doesn't sell CBD or THC products.
Around the corner at 29 E. Moreno Ave., the Old Colorado City game shop Dice Guys and its sister ice creamery Ice Guys opened a second location. The Gazette covered the soft opening in May, and Springs Magazine reported the grand opening on June 12. Next to Weidner Field, Landmarks Coffee opened a permanent shop in August at 635 S. Sierra Madre St., Suite 100. Brandon and Toni Watts own it.
Housing is adding to the south end too. The Experience at Epicenter apartments opened behind Weidner Field in September 2024, and The Brit Pub opened on the building's first and second floors the following October. Developers now have approval for a second phase with 410 apartments and another 12,000 square feet of retail.
The year's closures were on the south end as well. Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar at 11 S. Tejon St. closed after service on Aug. 30. The Gazette reported that its parent company had no current plans for another Springs location. At 616 S. Tejon St., Till Neighborhood Bistro & Bar and Vine & Wheel both closed. Owner Mitch Yellen told the Gazette that the old restaurant rooms would become private-event spaces. Garden of the Gods Market and Café remains open in the building. The Gazette's list of closures this year also includes 707 Pizza Co.
Three Saturdays That Use Both Ends
Since the events stay north and the new stops spread south, three dates make for full days that cover both:
- Saturday, Nov. 14. Start at the Downtown table in Acacia Park between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and pick up a free holiday coupon book. Organizers built this year's book around a day-long holiday crawl, from a morning drink through dinner. If you want character photos, get in line by 12:45, because the characters leave the park at 1 p.m. and spend the next two hours walking through shops. After that, the south-end stops on Tejon and Moreno are an easy walk.
- Saturday, Nov. 28. Downtown meters are free on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. That helps on a day split between the north-end tote shops and the Holiday Art & Gift Market at Cottonwood Center for the Arts. The market runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with more than 40 artisan vendors, three food trucks, a bar serving boozy cocoa, beer and wine, a free kids' craft table and a holiday photo booth. Admission and parking are free.
- Saturday, Dec. 5. Colorado Brass and the Soli Deo Gloria Choir play downtown from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Go Elf Yourself at Benny's Lounge runs from 2 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person, and the event raises money for the Downtown Creative District. Benny's donates $1 from every drink sold during those hours, and Santa visits from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. before heading to the parade. The Festival of Lights Parade steps off on Tejon at 5:50 p.m., and city parking garages are free starting at 3 p.m.
The Holiday Stroll on Wednesday, Dec. 9, is the season's only weeknight shopping event. Shops on the stroll blocks stay open late from 5 to 8 p.m., and Santa and the Grinch walk the same Tejon and Bijou route as the November stroll.
Openings Still on the Way
A couple more downtown openings are set for the holiday season. The Karaoke Studio at 324 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 140, says on its website that it is aiming for an early December grand opening, and reservations are listed as coming soon. Treat that date as a target. At 514 S. Tejon, CO.A.T.I.'s website lists an Oct. 31 grand opening for Tattered Rose Tattoos, another addition to the building where The Green Magick Vault opened this fall.
Looking further out, the City Council approved the Elevate Downtown plan in May. It runs 230 pages and will guide downtown's development and investment over the next decade. The Downtown Partnership says it has also given more than $330,000 in grants this year to 11 downtown businesses for signage, lighting, opening inventory and marketing. Those grants help explain why so many of this year's new storefronts are small, owner-run shops.
At CC Signature Group, we follow downtown's openings, closures and the new apartments going up around Weidner Field as closely as the Front Range land market. If you own a home near downtown and want to know how this year's changes affect its value, start with our free instant home valuation.
