The Rice Park end of downtown Saint Paul starts the holiday season first, with a hotel market on Friday, November 6, and a 40-foot tree of lights on Saturday, November 14. Lowertown follows about a week later, when GLOW opens at CHS Field and the European Christmas Market opens at Union Depot. Each end then runs on its own schedule for most of the season. Only one weekend, December 4 through 6, has both ends at full strength at once.
If you're planning downtown nights for November and December, it helps to know which end is busy on which date. That decides whether an evening needs one stop or two.
The Rice Park end goes first
The first event is the free Holiday Market at The Saint Paul Hotel on Friday, November 6, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Promenade Ballroom. It's a short, indoor shopping evening, and it comes before any of the bigger outdoor events open.
Next comes the Salvation Army's Tree of Lights in Rice Park. The city's parks calendar lists the tree lighting ceremony for Saturday, November 14. The tree is a 40-foot digital display at 109 West 4th St. that gets a new light show every week of the season. Visit Saint Paul's listing has the display running through January 6, 2027, with free shows every 15 minutes starting at 5 p.m. The Salvation Army's own page says it runs nightly until 10 p.m. Because the show changes weekly, a mid-November visit and a late-December visit won't look the same.
After the lighting, the Rice Park side has only the tree for a few weeks. Its main weekend comes in early December, when three things land within days of each other:
- Landmark Center's 48th Annual Holiday Bazaar at 75 5th St. W. runs Friday, December 4, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., then Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5, and children 12 and under get in free. Minnesota Landmarks runs it, and the Friday twilight shopping hours come with a complimentary beverage.
- The Hot Sardines: Holiday Stomp plays the Ordway Concert Hall on Friday, December 4, at 7:30 p.m.
- The Music Man opens in the Ordway Music Theater on December 8 and runs through December 27.
The bazaar's 7 p.m. Friday close is the reason Friday, December 4, works as a full evening on this side. You can shop the bazaar until close, see the tree's shows outside, and still make a 7:30 curtain at the Ordway.
Lowertown takes over the week before Thanksgiving
The east end of downtown gets started later and stays busy longer. GLOW opens at CHS Field, 360 N. Broadway St., on Thursday, November 19, and runs on select nights through January 3, 2027. This is GLOW's seventh season. New this year is an interactive area called Wand-er land, and Vixen's Zip Line and the Snowy Slide are back. Entry is timed by the hour starting at 5 p.m., and you can stay as long as you like once you're in. The last entry is 8 p.m., and the gates close at 9. General admission is $22.75 for adults and $12.75 for kids ages 3 to 12.
The next evening, Friday, November 20, the European Christmas Market opens on Union Depot's East Plaza at 240 E. Kellogg Blvd. Admission is free. The market runs for five weekends, and its hours are what most Lowertown plans end up built around:
| Day | Market hours |
|---|---|
| Friday | 3 to 9 p.m. |
| Saturday | 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Sunday | 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
The weekends are November 20 to 22, November 27 to 29, December 4 to 6, December 11 to 13, and December 18 to 20. Saturdays have the longest hours. Sundays close at 6, which is an hour after GLOW's first entry slot. On a Sunday, that means doing the market in the afternoon and GLOW after dark. On a Friday or Saturday, both are open late enough to go in either order.
The season, week by week
This is where the two schedules diverge and where they overlap:
| Week | Rice Park end | Lowertown end |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 6 to 8 | Saint Paul Hotel Holiday Market, Fri. Nov. 6 | Not yet open |
| Nov. 13 to 15 | Tree of Lights ceremony, Sat. Nov. 14 | Not yet open |
| Nov. 19 to 22 | Tree of Lights nightly | GLOW opens Thu. Nov. 19; market opens Fri. Nov. 20 |
| Nov. 27 to 29 | Tree of Lights nightly | Market and GLOW |
| Dec. 4 to 6 | Holiday Bazaar, Hot Sardines, Tree of Lights | Market, GLOW, Union Depot tree lighting Sat. Dec. 5 |
| Dec. 8 to 20 | The Music Man, Tree of Lights | Market weekends through Dec. 20, GLOW |
| Dec. 21 to Jan. 6 | Music Man through Dec. 27, tree through Jan. 6 | GLOW through Jan. 3 |
The table shows how lopsided late November is. During Thanksgiving weekend, nearly all the activity is in Lowertown. In the first half of November, nearly all of it is near Rice Park. From November 19 through November 29, the Rice Park end has only the tree. December 4 to 6 is the one weekend when each end has its biggest events on the same dates.
December 4 through 6 is the weekend both ends are full
On that weekend, the Holiday Bazaar is open at Landmark Center, the Christmas Market is in its third weekend, GLOW is open, and the Tree of Lights runs nightly. On Friday, Christmas Together with Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans plays Grand Casino Arena, with doors at 6 p.m. and the show at 7. The Hot Sardines play the Ordway the same night.
Saturday, December 5, is the busiest day of the season, mostly because of Union Depot's free Holiday Tree Lighting and Movie Night. The schedule looks like this:
- 4:00 p.m. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival 2027 buttons are revealed in the Waiting Room. There's also entertainment, free hot chocolate, photo ops and craft stations.
- 4:30 p.m. A holiday musical performance.
- 6:00 p.m. Everyone moves out to the North Plaza for the tree lighting, followed by a short fireworks display and a sing-along.
- 6:30 p.m. Movie night back in the Waiting Room, with popcorn and other concessions for sale. Organizers suggest bringing blankets for extra seating, and chairs are available.
The Christmas Market stays open until 9 p.m. that Saturday. That means vendors, Glühwein and European-inspired food are still on the East Plaza after the fireworks. Across town, the Holiday Bazaar closes at 5 p.m. that Saturday. If you want both on December 5, do Landmark Center in the morning or early afternoon and arrive at Union Depot by 4.
The button reveal is also the first look at the next big downtown event. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival runs January 28 to February 7, 2027, and Visit Saint Paul lists Rice Park as a site for the Carnival's ice sculptures. After the holidays, Rice Park becomes the center of activity again.
Getting between the two ends
Union Depot is the end of the Green Line. The depot's transit page says it's also served by the Gold Line, the B Line and several bus routes. For the Lowertown events, you can arrive and leave without parking at all.
Crossing downtown indoors is harder this year. The city's skyway system page, last edited August 7, 2026, still lists the Alliance Bank Center intersection as closed until further notice. East–west skyway access goes through Town Square and Treasure Island Center. In June, the Pioneer Press reported that the city had committed to reopening the closed sections through Alliance Bank Center, Central Station and the St. Paul Athletic Club, with no firm date. Check that page before December 5 if you plan to walk between the bazaar and the depot in cold weather.
Where to eat between stops
A few spots that opened or became known this year are along the routes between these events.
On the Rice Park side, Meritage Underground opened in July 2026 in the basement at 410 St. Peter St. The Star Tribune describes a Friday-night speakeasy series serving snacks and oysters. The Pioneer Press calls the Friday night The Pearl Speakeasy. That fits naturally after the bazaar's Friday twilight hours on December 4. Nearby, the Pioneer Press reported in August that River Valley Coffee Co. had opened inside the Lowry Building at 350 St. Peter St. That's an easy place to warm up before the morning shopping on Saturday, December 5.
In Lowertown, the same Pioneer Press report covered SoYen PM, an occasional Tuesday-night pop-up at 275 E. Fourth St. It's a weeknight option on the market side, since the market itself runs only Fridays through Sundays.
If you're starting west of downtown, Tasca Madrid has opened at 173 Western Ave. N. in Cathedral Hill, in the former Handsome Hog space. It serves Spanish tapas and includes the San Román bakery and deli. It's a good dinner stop before an Ordway show or a night at the Tree of Lights.
If you'd like help planning a December around downtown Saint Paul, or want to talk through the neighborhoods within easy reach of Rice Park and Lowertown, Farida Karundeng is happy to share what she knows. Let's Connect.
