"For 19 years we called ourselves the Winter Farmers Market. Which made perfect sense in November, but less so in April or July." Sari Kimbell, owner and operator of the market now called Wildcraft Farmers Market, said that in an August announcement from the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce. Her line sums up the biggest change to Fort Collins' food calendar this year. The Coloradoan put it more simply: a longtime Fort Collins farmers market "is no longer changing with the seasons."
Fort Collins' weekly Saturday market shifts location this fall but keeps running. Over nine days, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, the outdoor markets on West Oak Street and Harmony Road close for the year, and Wildcraft's indoor market at Foothills Mall in Midtown goes from monthly to weekly Saturdays. It doesn't miss a single Saturday along the way. The indoor market used to fill in for the outdoor ones over winter. It now runs the longest calendar of the three.
The handoff, by date
Here is where each Fort Collins market stands for the rest of 2026.
| Market | Location | Day and hours | 2026 dates still ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larimer County Farmers' Market | 200 W. Oak Street | Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, its final day |
| Fort Collins Farmers Market | 1001 E. Harmony Road, Ace Hardware lot at Harmony and Lemay | Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Oct. 25, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, its final day |
| Wildcraft Farmers Market | Inside Foothills Mall, 215 E. Foothills Parkway | Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Weekly from Nov. 7 |
The Larimer County Farmers' Market has run Saturdays since May 16 and closes for the season on Oct. 31. Seven days later, Wildcraft opens its weekly winter season indoors. On Sundays, the Fort Collins Farmers Market, which has been around since 1984, stays open one weekend past both of those dates. Its Sunday season ends Nov. 8. Its Wednesday market already ended for the year on Sept. 30.
How the winter market ended up at Foothills
Wildcraft's address at Foothills is the end point of a move that started 20 years ago. According to the Chamber release, the Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market began in November 2006 as a run of 13 winter markets meant to stretch the local growing season. Its first home was the Opera Galleria in Old Town, as the market itself recounts.
In 2020 it moved to Foothills Mall, at first to meet COVID safety protocols. The Chamber release says the market then found reasons to stay: plenty of free parking, room to grow, and a community that took to the Midtown location right away. The calendar grew after that:
- 2006: 13 winter markets at the Opera Galleria
- 2024: 24 markets over six months at Foothills
- 2026: a new name, a once-a-month summer series inside the mall, and a weekly winter season starting Nov. 7
The summer series closed on Oct. 10. The market called it the last of its "inaugural summer series" before the switch to a weekly winter schedule. The two sources give slightly different counts for a full year. The market's website says it runs 48 Saturdays a year, and the Chamber release says 50. Either way, that's close to every Saturday of the year, and far more than the Larimer County market's season of a little over five months. The market bills itself as Colorado's first year-round farmers market.
Size matters for the winter months too. The Chamber release counts more than 250 growers, ranchers, makers and artisans in the Wildcraft network, coming from all corners of Colorado and from Wyoming, with 90 to 130 or more vendors on a typical market Saturday. November and December fall inside its regular weekly season, which runs every Saturday from November through April. Neither outdoor market lists a separate holiday market this year.
Nine days, Oct. 31 to Nov. 8
The move from outdoors to indoors overlaps with downtown's own seasonal events, so the week reads best day by day:
- Saturday, Oct. 31. Last Larimer County Farmers' Market of 2026, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 200 W. Oak Street.
- Sunday, Nov. 1. The Fort Collins Farmers Market on Harmony runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The same afternoon, Alianza NORCO holds its third annual Muertos Crawl fundraiser at Old Town Square from 1 to 4 p.m. It includes stops at participating businesses and ties in with a free Día de los Muertos community celebration.
- Friday, Nov. 6. The City's Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Old Town Square. The City, the Downtown Development Authority and the Downtown General Improvement District partner on the lights, and Fort Collins Connexion sponsors the ceremony.
- Saturday, Nov. 7. Wildcraft opens its weekly winter season inside Foothills Mall, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market treats this date as the start of its 20th year.
- Sunday, Nov. 8. Final Sunday of the Fort Collins Farmers Market at Harmony and Lemay, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
That last weekend is the only one when the new weekly indoor season and an outdoor market are both open. You can shop Wildcraft's first winter Saturday and the Harmony market's last Sunday back to back.
Old Town's fall shifts to evenings and holidays
Downtown loses its Saturday morning produce stop after Oct. 31, but its fall calendar fills in with events that have little to do with groceries. Before the Foothills handoff, the next two weeks bring:
- Pumpkins on Parade, Oct. 22 to 25, 5 to 9 p.m., at The Gardens on Spring Creek, 2145 Centre Ave.
- Tiny Tot Halloween, Friday, Oct. 30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a trick-or-treat for preschool and kindergarten ages hosted by participating downtown businesses.
After those come the Muertos Crawl on Nov. 1 and the holiday lighting on Nov. 6, both at Old Town Square. Downtown's November events are mostly evenings, afternoons and holiday occasions. Saturday morning shopping for eggs, greens and bread moves to Foothills Parkway, the same corridor the winter market has called home since 2020.
What a November market table carries
A winter market in Northern Colorado sells a different mix than a July one, and Wildcraft lists what to expect. Produce includes seasonal vegetables, hardy greens, mushrooms, fruit and microgreens grown in Colorado. Northern Colorado farms supply eggs, milk, and beef, pork and chicken. Specialty food vendors bring small-batch jams, baked bread, locally roasted coffee and artisanal cheese. Craftspeople fill out the rest with jewelry, textiles, home décor and candles.
The indoor setup has practical advantages in the cold months. Free parking, live music and kids' activities are part of the standard Saturday, and the market is dog friendly. The Chamber release says it plainly: being indoors means shoppers can gather through "rain, snow, wind, smoke, or sunshine."
The market takes SNAP and EBT benefits and participates in Double Up Food Bucks, a Nourish Colorado program that doubles SNAP shoppers' buying power on fresh fruits and vegetables. With the rebrand came a nonprofit, Wildcraft Community Fund, which the Chamber release says will run the market's own matching program for low-income shoppers on top of Double Up Food Bucks. Kimbell described the fund's goal in the same release: "Wildcraft Community Fund allows us to make sure that story belongs to everyone, including the people who haven't felt like the farmers market was for them."
The market is also asking shoppers and vendors to send in market memories, in writing or on video, through its website for its 20th-anniversary programming. The first weekly winter market is Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside Foothills Mall.
The growers and ranchers who stock those winter tables farm land all across Colorado and into Wyoming, and that land carries its own questions about soils, irrigation and water. If you own agricultural acreage in Northern Colorado, or want to, NorthStar Realty can help you understand what that ground is worth and what it can support. Find more on the area on our Fort Collins page, or schedule a land consultation with Shana and Christian Morgan.
