Cherry Creek Holiday Market 2026: Après Ski in Denver

This year the Cherry Creek Holiday Market has gone full ski town. For its seventh season, the stalls have been transformed into an après-ski lodge, with alpine decor, cozy vendor pods and nearly a million lights overhead. Every stall is run by an independent Colorado business, and the lineup rotates through the season, so a second visit brings new faces. It’s a smaller, more local outing than the Christkindlmarket downtown, and it’s made for browsing. I’d come in the late afternoon, shop while it’s still light, then stay on for a drink once the street lights up.

Cherry Creek Holiday Market 2026

Dates

Status: Confirmed
Cherry Creek dates: 19th November to 24th December 2026
Last checked: October 2026

Update: Dates were announced in July. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified of changes.

Source: Verified by Ultimate Christmas Markets via Cherry Creek.

Plan Your Visit

Location and Times

Location: Fillmore Plaza, on Fillmore Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, Cherry Creek North. The street is closed to traffic for the market.
Opening times:
Sunday to Wednesday: 12pm to 7pm
Thursday to Saturday: 11am to 9pm
Thanksgiving: 12pm to 3pm
18th to 23rd December: 11am to 9pm
Christmas Eve: 12pm to 3pm
Christmas Day: Closed

Travel and Accommodation

Recommended Tour: Denver city highlights bus tour
Parking: Please take public transport to help limit congestion. Cherry Creek North offers reduced-fee parking after 5pm.
Where to stay: The Jacquard is directly across from Fillmore Plaza.

Amenities and Attractions

Admission: Free
Mistletoe Lounge: Pop-up bar serving holiday cocktails and zero-proof drinks.
Winter Wanderland: Cherry Creek North’s season of free events runs through November and December, with over a million lights across 16 blocks.
Santa: Not at the market itself, but Santa and Mrs Claus have appeared at Cherry Creek North’s Saturday Night Lights evenings nearby.
Ice skating: No
Reason to visit: More than 50 independent Colorado makers, an après ski lodge theme and the Mistletoe Lounge.

Dietary Options

Vegetarian: Yes, plenty of options.
Vegan: Yes, plenty of options.
Gluten free: Yes, but limited.
Specialities: Venezuelan empanadas, Ukrainian cabbage rolls, Liège waffles, pumpkin seed brittle, Colorado cider and wine.

Accessibility

Accessible: Yes, with wide paths between the stalls and low cable ramps.
Pet-friendly: Yes, dogs are allowed on a lead.

Nearby Hotels

Staying in Denver’s Cherry Creek puts you within walking distance of the Holiday Market. The area is well connected by public transport and surrounded by dining and entertainment options. A popular hotel opposite the Holiday Market is the Jacquard.

Recommended Tours

Just under two hours around Denver by bus with a live guide, taking in the centre, the viewpoints and a few places you wouldn’t find alone. Cherry Creek is a shopping district rather than a sight, so the city highlights bus tour fills out the rest of the day. It runs whatever the snow is doing.

Event Location

What to Expect

For its seventh season, the market has been dressed as an après ski lodge. Think alpine decor, vendor pods reimagined in ski-town style, and nearly a million lights strung through the streets around it. With more than 50 makers rotating through the stalls on one closed-off street, it’s compact enough to browse in an hour or two.

The Mistletoe Lounge has been redone this year, and it’s the place to sit and relax for a while. The bar pours holiday cocktails alongside zero-proof drinks, so there’s something for everyone.

Something’s on every day, from live music to wellness workshops and children’s activities. Nonprofit partners fundraise on-site throughout the season, and dogs on leads are welcome, too.

Holiday Specialties

• Gochilandia: Venezuelan empanadas from a family originally from San Cristóbal. Order the pabellón, filled with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantain and white cheese.
• Sunflower Foods: Ukrainian home cooking served hot, with stuffed cabbage rolls that most people come back for.
• Tom’s Waffles: Belgian Liège waffles cooked to order from a dough that takes three days to make, studded with imported Belgian pearl sugar.
• Ms Margaret Maker: Pumpkin seed brittle, a lighter, crunchier take on peanut brittle that’s vegan and free of the nine major allergens. It’s Chef Margaret’s sixth season here, and regulars know her as the Brittle Lady.
• Women’s Bean Project: A Denver nonprofit that trains and employs women facing barriers to work, making soup mixes, spice blends and sweets. The 10-bean soup mix is the best seller.
• Cooper’s Small Batch: Hot sauces, seasonings and spicy cocktail mixers from a family business that’s been making them since 2007, often sold by the people who bottled them.
• Bjorn’s Colorado Honey: Honey from hives in Boulder and Weld counties, kept by a beekeeper who learnt the craft from his Swedish grandfather. Try the lemon or vanilla bean honey.
• Haykin Family Cider: Sparkling, wine-style ciders made one apple variety at a time, with nothing added. They’ve worked with more than a hundred varieties, so the best bottle changes with the season.
• Cliff Dweller Wine Co.: Reds, whites and rosés from a family winery in Palisade, on Colorado’s Western Slope, housed in a converted car dealership warehouse.
• The Family Jones: A local craft distillery using grain from Colorado family farms, best known for its Earl Grey Juniper Jones gin.

Holiday Gifts

• Parks Art Collection: National Park scenes hand-drawn and painted on reclaimed wood, including one-off Christmas ornaments. The artist has visited 54 of the 63 parks so far.
• The MAS Boutique: Laser-cut personalised ornaments from a family business, where a nine-year-old helps paint and the 82-year-old grandparents tie every ribbon.
• LUDERE Jewelry: Playful fine and demi-fine jewellery by Denver designer Arielle Zella. The name means “to play”, and the Midnight Snack Ring is the best seller.
• Designs by Elle: Colorado-made leather goods from a designer who taught herself leathercraft on YouTube. The customisable leather journals come with a complimentary charm.
• WUAMAN: Fair Trade certified alpaca socks and hand-embroidered winter accessories, made by artisan families in Peru for a Colorado-based brand.
• Wax Crescent Candles: Small-batch candles from a woman-owned brand in Longmont. The Pomegranate and Evergreen is the seasonal favourite.
• Kaya Eco Living: Yoga mats, rugs and gift kits made from cork, stripped by hand from cork oaks every nine years and then regrows.
• Solar Neighbor: One-off embroidered clothing and art by Austin Cole, whose stop-motion short has screened at more than 60 film festivals.
• Simple Mind Design: 3D layered wooden bikes set against city skylines, made by a husband-and-wife team.

Sustainable Holiday Tips

• Compostable cups and tableware: Every cup, plate and utensil at the market is compostable, and there are no single-use plastics.
• Use the staffed sorting stations: Bins for compost, recycling and landfill sit across the market, with staff on hand to help you sort. Working with local waste diversion companies, the organiser reports a verified diversion rate above 70% for last season.
• Battery power: The market runs on battery-powered energy.
• Money that stays in Colorado: Every retailer is an independent Colorado business, and the average stallholder took more than $42,000 last season. Through the Market Mastery programme, each accepted retailer also gets a free Chamber of Commerce membership and foot traffic data.
• Books for children in need: PaperPie, the children’s book stall, donates books to local kids in need directly through the market.