On Saturday, Nov. 21, the Beaverton Farmers Market closes out its regular season the way it has every Saturday since April, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Its winter market doesn't open until February. Then, on Friday, Dec. 4, vendor tents go up in the same lot under battery-powered lights, because the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce's Winter Market has no electricity on site and doesn't allow gas generators.
What happens between those two dates is the story of downtown Beaverton's holiday season. The weekly outdoor routine moves indoors to the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, then comes back outside for one crowded Friday night. If you live here, plan December around The Reser's calendar and that single Friday, and you'll catch most of what downtown has going on.
The handoff happens on Nov. 21
Nov. 21 has both halves of the season on the same day. In the morning, the farmers market runs its last regular Saturday. That night at 7:30 p.m., The Reser hosts the Django Festival Allstars, billed as a night "lifted from a Parisian café."
From there, The Reser's calendar gets denser. Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 31 it lists more than a dozen dated events, and most of them are holiday programming. The farmers market's 2026 event calendar lists no holiday market dates for November or December. On the downtown calendar, The Reser is where the season continues.
Nov. 28 brings the shopping indoors
On a Saturday through November, buying from local makers meant going to the farmers market. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, The Reser and the City of Beaverton host Shop Local Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. It's free, and nearly 40 regional artists sell functional pieces, decorative work and one-of-a-kind art at The Curio, The Reser's gallery space.
You can stay in the building for the afternoon show. At 3 p.m., Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar and Ballet Folklorico del Rio Grande perform Campana Sobre Campana: Christmas in México, with tickets from $39.50 to $49.50. With the six-hour market and a midafternoon curtain, you can shop before the show or after it.
The next afternoon, Nov. 29, The Amazing Bubble Man is on at 2 p.m. Louis Pearl has toured his bubble show for more than 30 years.
Dec. 4 is the one night everything overlaps
The first Friday in December is the only date this season when the city, the Chamber and The Reser all schedule something for the same evening. Here's how the night lines up:
- 4 p.m.: The Beaverton Area Chamber's Winter Market at Winter Lights opens in the farmers market parking lot. Vendors sell locally made items for holiday giving, and the Chamber expects more than 3,000 visitors. The market runs until 8 p.m.
- 4 p.m. on: The City of Beaverton's Winter Lights celebration starts at the same time, with live local music, crafts and activities for all ages.
- 6 p.m.: The First Friday Art Walk opens at The Reser. It's free, runs until 9 p.m., and dozens of artists show work at The Curio.
- 7 p.m.: The tree-lighting ceremony at Beaverton City Fountain Park, 12500 SW 4th Street.
- 8 p.m.: The Winter Market closes. The Art Walk stays open another hour.
The vendor rules shape the market. Each booth is a 10-by-10 space that rents for $75, or $100 for food carts. Vendors bring their own tents, tables and chairs. Every tent leg needs 25 pounds of weight, and lighting has to run on batteries. The Chamber recommends tent sides. With no outlets and no generators, what you'll see after dark is a market lit by battery lights in a lot that was a farmers market two weeks earlier.
Then The Reser covers a different holiday tradition almost every week
After Dec. 4, downtown's holiday calendar is mostly The Reser's lineup. Several of the shows come from different traditions, so you can hear a Mexican, Irish, Hawaiian or Creole Christmas without leaving Beaverton.
| Date | Show | Time | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 28 | Campana Sobre Campana: Christmas in México | 3 p.m. | $39.50–$49.50 |
| Dec. 2 | Tomáseen Foley's A Celtic Christmas | 7:30 p.m. | See event page |
| Dec. 5–6 | The Nutcracker, Oregon International Ballet Academy | Multiple shows | $44 |
| Dec. 9 | Meow Meow Trio's Feline Festive | 7:30 p.m. | See event page |
| Dec. 10 | Michael Allen Harrison's Christmas at The Reser | 5:30 p.m. | See event page |
| Dec. 11 | Kalani Pe'a: Hawaiian Christmas | 7:30 p.m. | $47.50–$78.50 |
| Dec. 13 | Haley Johnsen: Home for the Holidays | 7 p.m. | See event page |
| Dec. 20 | Cedric Watson Creole Christmas | 7 p.m. | $35–$45 |
A few of these shows cover a lot of ground. Tomáseen Foley's A Celtic Christmas recreates a night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse. Kalani Pe'a's Hawaiian Christmas is built around the "aloha" of the season. In the Creole Christmas show, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole play the old French and Spanish contra dance and bourré sounds.
Two December shows lean on storytelling and songwriting. Michael Allen Harrison's Christmas at The Reser is billed as A Story Book Christmas, an evening of music and storytelling. Oregon-born Portland singer-songwriter Haley Johnsen brings her Home for the Holidays show on Dec. 13. On Dec. 12, between those two, the JK! Studios sketch comedy cast stops in with its JK LIVE! tour.
The family shows are matinees
Several of the season's big family events fall in the daytime. The Oregon International Ballet Academy's Nutcracker lists performances on Dec. 5 at 2 and 7 p.m. and on Dec. 6 at 1 and 5 p.m., with tickets at $44. The ballet comes the day after Winter Lights, so you can do the tree lighting Friday night and a Saturday or Sunday matinee without two late nights in a row.
The season closes with Kids' New Year's Eve! on Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. It's aimed at families with children 10 and younger, with live music, themed crafts, prize drawings and DJ O.G.ONE. Tickets are $15.50 to $20.50. This is the fourth year for the event. Because it's a late-morning countdown, kids can celebrate the new year at The Reser and still be home before lunch.
A food stop that's new to downtown this season
If you want something to eat between events, Hawker Station joined the food-cart pod at Breakside's Beaverton beer garden on SW First Street this fall. The Beaverton Valley Times reported in September that the Cantonese and Hainanese food truck had moved from Portland to Beaverton and soft-opened at the pod. Check the truck's hours before you go on a busy night like Dec. 4.
The Winter Market also takes food carts, at $100 per booth, so there should be food in the lot itself while it's open from 4 to 8 p.m.
If seeing the fountain lit up on SW 4th has you wondering what your own Beaverton home would be worth next spring, Peak Realty can give you a clear, local answer before the new year. Get your free home valuation, and we'll walk you through the numbers on your street while you plan around The Reser's December calendar.
