Starlighting and After: Planning Castle Rock's Downtown Holiday Season This Year

The star on top of the Rock was first lit in 1936. The Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce started its Starlighting event around it in 1962, and the 2026 version is on Saturday, November 21, from 2 to 6 p.m. in Historic Wilcox Square and Festival Park. Downtown gets just one afternoon to hold a tradition that's older than most of the town's neighborhoods.

The season the star opens runs much longer than that afternoon. Carriage rides start the next day, and a free trolley starts the Monday after that. Most of the dates between Thanksgiving and early January land on weeknights. The Saturday lighting is the busiest and most restricted day downtown all season. The six weeks after it are quieter, and the calendar is built around them. The best plan uses the Saturday for the star and saves dinners, shopping and rides for the weeknights.

November 21 runs on a short clock

The Chamber's Starlighting page packs the day into four hours, and the order matters if you're bringing kids or meeting family.

1. 2:00 to 4:15 p.m. Santa is in Festival Park, and the kids zone, petting zoo, face painting and games are open.
2. All afternoon. The Castle Rock Professional Firefighters host the 90th Annual Chili Supper at Castle Rock Fire Station 151, serving beef chili, nachos, hot dogs, drinks and desserts. Biff Gore plays live on the main stage at Fourth and Wilcox. There are strolling carolers and dance groups, plus four Chamber beverage tents, food trucks, and nonprofit and sponsor booths along the streets.
3. 5:00 p.m. The 2026 Starlighting Ceremony begins on the main stage at Fourth and Wilcox.
4. About 5:30 p.m. The star is lit, followed right away by fireworks, weather permitting.

General admission is free. Chamber event vendors take credit and debit cards only, so cash won't help at the beverage tents. The Chamber still lists the full entertainment schedule and event maps as coming soon, so check the page again before you go.

The tight schedule causes a timing problem. Santa's hours end at 4:15, and the star is lit about 75 minutes later. Families with small children have to choose between arriving early for Festival Park and waiting through dusk, or arriving late for the lighting and missing Santa. The trolley and carriage rides later in the season help with that choice, and the sections below cover them.

Getting downtown when the core is closed

Streets close from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., which is much longer than the event itself:

• Perry Street from Fifth to Second
• North Wilcox Street from Fifth to Third
• Fourth Street from Jerry to Perry
• Third Street from Wilcox to Perry
• Second Street from Wilcox to Perry

The Chamber runs free shuttles from 1:30 to 8 p.m. from three lots:

• AdventHealth Castle Rock, Alexander Parking Lot at 2350 Meadows Blvd., dropping off at Fifth and Wilcox
• Douglas County High School, South Building at 2842 Front Street, also dropping off at Fifth and Wilcox
• Douglas County Fairgrounds, Lot 5 at 500 Fairgrounds Drive, dropping off on the street between South and Phelps Streets near Eternal Rock Lutheran Church and the Folkestad Fazekas buildings

Return shuttles leave from the same spot where they dropped you off, and each one loops back to its own lot. Remember your drop-off corner, because it's also your ride home. The Chamber also points drivers to the Encore Parking Garage at Wilcox and Perry and the garage at Third and Jerry. The Town of Castle Rock's downtown parking map is the reference the Chamber recommends.

Fireworks at around 5:30 and closures that last until 8 p.m. mean the streets reopen hours after the crowd starts leaving. Any dinner reservation downtown that evening is inside or right next to the closed area. That's the main reason to keep the bigger downtown outings for later in the season.

The weeknights after the star

Once the star is lit, Downtown Castle Rock's holiday lights stay on, and the two recurring rides are spread across the week with almost no overlap.

The free winter trolley runs a figure-eight. It starts at the Encore Parking Garage entrance on South Street between Wilcox and Perry, goes north on Wilcox, and stops at the Third Street crosswalk. Its last stop is the entrance to the Douglas County School District lot on Sixth Street between Wilcox and Perry. A full loop takes about 12 minutes, and Downtown Castle Rock describes the trolley as possibly the best way to see the holiday lights. Twelve minutes is short enough for a toddler or a visiting grandparent who wouldn't last through the Saturday crowd.

The holiday carriage rides don't run on November 26, December 24, December 25 or December 31. Rides leave from beside the big tree in Festival Park, last about 10 minutes and hold four people per carriage. Tickets are required and limited. Downtown Castle Rock plans to post the online ticket link on its webpage, Facebook and Instagram on Wednesday, November 18, at noon. The Wednesday-through-Friday window opens at 4:30, half an hour before the weekend start, so a ride can fit before a weeknight dinner.

These schedules fix the Saturday timing problem. If Santa and the fireworks didn't both fit on November 21, the trolley on Monday, November 23, and the carriage rides from November 22 cover the lights at a slower pace.

December's dated nights

Four one-time events fill out the calendar, and most of them also stay off the busy Saturday.

Downtown Castle Rock Sip & Stroll, Thursday, December 3. DougCo Social lists the date. The organizer will post hours and the list of participating shops later. It falls on a Thursday, so carriage rides run that evening too.

Festival Park Starlight Market, Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5. DougCo Social lists the market hours as 3 to 8 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Town of Castle Rock's calendar lists the Saturday market as free at Festival Park, 300 Second Street, with more than 40 craft and food vendors. It also mentions a decorated 40-foot tree, hot cocoa, food trucks and holiday music. The Friday hours run until 8 p.m. and line up with the weekday carriage schedule, so a Friday visit can cover the market, a ride and dinner on one trip downtown.

105 West Brewing Christmas Market, Sunday, December 13. The brewery's annual local-vendor market returns at noon at 1043 Park Street, according to DougCo Social's listing. It's away from Festival Park, so it makes a quieter Sunday afternoon for shopping.

Where dinner fits on this year's downtown map

If your last downtown holiday dinner was a year ago, the list of restaurants has changed since then, and the changes add more reasons to come downtown on a weeknight.

Homegrown Tap & Dough opened at 221 Wilcox Street on December 26, 2025, the day after last Christmas. That means this is its first holiday season from the start. WhatNow Denver reported that it serves Italian-American food, including pizza and pasta, with Colorado craft beer and cocktails.

Izumi Sushi opened at 115 Third Street on May 11, 2026, DougCo Social reported. It's a sushi restaurant that leans toward traditional Japanese food. Third Street is also where the trolley makes its middle stop, so it's an easy place to eat before or after a Monday or Tuesday ride.

Wide Awake Eatery opened at 115 Wilcox Street, Suite 120, on June 1, 2025, with an elevated American brunch, breakfast and lunch menu, as Castle Rock Lifestyle described it. It's a good daytime stop before the Saturday hours of the Starlight Market.

Two familiar spots have closed. DougCo Social's directory lists Sip Tea, the boba and tea shop at 222 Wilcox Street, as permanently closed as of January 16, 2026. Stumpy's Pizza served its last day at 138 S. Wilcox Street on August 26, 2026, DougCo Social reported. If either one was part of your holiday routine downtown, the newer places on Wilcox and Third are the closest options now.

Put together, the season has a clear pattern. Starlighting is one crowded afternoon inside a 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. street closure. The carriage rides, the trolley loop, the Sip & Stroll Thursday and the Friday market evening fill the weeks after it, and that's when downtown's newest restaurants are easiest to get to.

Holiday visits are often when family members first start talking about moving closer, and those talks tend to come up on nights like these. If that happens to your family this season, The Rowley Group is happy to talk through what's on your mind, at whatever pace suits you. Contact Us whenever you're ready.