This Year, Fillmore Plaza's Holiday Season Doesn't End on Christmas Eve
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
Cherry Creek's holiday season runs on two calendars. Simon runs one inside Cherry Creek Shopping Center, and the Cherry Creek North business district runs the other on Fillmore Plaza, where the market closes on December 24. On December 16 The Henry opens its first Colorado restaurant at 201 Fillmore Street, at the 2nd Avenue end of the market block, eight days before the market closes.
The Giving Machines at 2nd and Fillmore will keep running until January 4, 2027. When the stalls leave, the north end of the plaza will still have a restaurant open every day and the machines running around the clock.
Here is every 2026 date the organizers have confirmed so far, from both sides of First Avenue:
Simon's calendar gets a twelve-day head start. Santa Photos open November 7, the tree lighting follows a week later on November 14, and both happen before Fillmore closes to traffic. The tree lighting is a shopping-center event. It is separate from the district's own light-up on the north side of First Avenue, which has its own schedule.
The mall also has two newer storefronts this season. Simon's current directory at 3000 E. First Ave. lists STUDS and Crate & Barrel as now open. In June, ColoradoBiz reported that both were expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. Simon doesn't give an opening date for either store, but both appear on the directory now.
The Sunday events fit around a resident's week more easily than the weekend crowds. Pet Photos with Santa runs two Sunday evenings, November 29 and December 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. Caring Santa takes over on the morning of December 6, from 9 to 10:30.
On November 19, Fillmore Plaza closes to traffic between 1st and 2nd Avenues and becomes the Cherry Creek Holiday Market for its seventh season. The event is free and open to all ages. The market's operator lists more than 45 rotating local makers, designers, and creators. Because vendors rotate, a visit in the first week and a visit in the last week can look different.
The Mistletoe Lounge returns with a full bar of holiday drinks, and bookings for the 2026 season are already open.
Hours change by day of the week, which matters if you're stopping by on the way home rather than making an afternoon of it:
| Day | Market hours |
|---|---|
| Monday to Wednesday | Noon to 7 p.m. |
| Thursday to Saturday | 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Sunday | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Final week, Dec. 18 to 23 | 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily |
| Thanksgiving, Nov. 26 | Noon to 3 p.m. |
| Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 | Noon to 3 p.m. |
Monday through Wednesday the market closes at 7 p.m., two hours earlier than Thursday through Saturday. During the final week, every night runs until 9 p.m., including the Monday through Wednesday that usually close early.
The market's Thanksgiving hours appear with two different dates online. The district's event page lists them under November 27, but Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, in 2026. The operator's Attend page shows the correct date, with noon to 3 p.m. hours.
The next morning, Small Business Weekend starts across Cherry Creek North and runs Friday, November 27, through Monday, November 30. As of the district's August listing, participating shops and deals were still listed as "check back."
That Sunday evening, the mall's first Pet Photos with Santa session runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Between Thursday and Sunday, both sides of First Avenue have something scheduled every day.
According to Mile High CRE, The Henry opens on December 16 in the lobby level of 201 Fillmore, a mixed-use building with retail, office, and restaurant space. It will be the brand's 13th location nationwide and its first in Colorado. The restaurant is part of Fox Restaurant Concepts, which already runs Flower Child and North Italia in Cherry Creek.
The building's address puts it at 2nd Avenue and Fillmore, the same corner the district gives as the market entrance and the home of the Giving Machines.
The hours are what make the timing matter. Mile High CRE reports The Henry will be open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. A walk-up coffee bar will serve breakfast with laminated French pastries made in-house each day. Lunch and dinner run daily, with a weekday happy hour and weekend brunch.
During the market's final week, when the stalls run until 9 p.m., the restaurant at the corner stays open an hour later. On mornings when the market hasn't opened yet, the coffee bar is already serving.
The restaurant covers 6,973 square feet, including a 1,113-square-foot patio. Next door, Hank's Neighborhood Bar, a spin-off bar that Fox hasn't opened anywhere else, will add another 4,039 square feet, with 1,465 of them on a patio. Hank's opening date will be announced in early 2027. That means the patio frontage at 2nd and Fillmore will keep growing after the holidays end.
The two spaces together fill 11,012 square feet of the building's ground floor. After December 24, a restaurant open fourteen hours a day sits at that corner, and the Giving Machines stay through January 4.
Not every part of the season has a date. Visit Denver lists Cherry Creek North's Winter Wanderland for November and December 2026, with nearly one million lights on more than 600 trees. Its Saturday Night Lights and Chanukah celebration are both still marked "TBA 2026."
The district's own Winter Wanderland page also gives no 2026 date for switching on the lights. If you plan around last year's dates, you may be guessing. The Holiday Happenings feed on the Cherry Creek North site is where new listings are most likely to appear first.
Closing one block of Fillmore puts more pressure on the streets and garages around it. The district's parking guide lists more than 4,500 spaces, with a filter for garages that offer validation.
The district hasn't posted a holiday validation or free-garage program for 2026. Rates are worth confirming with the garage or merchant before you count on one.
Meters stop charging at 7 p.m. On weeknights the market's later hours and The Henry's 10 p.m. close both run past that, which makes the after-7 meter rule more useful than any holiday promotion announced so far.
The Henry opens December 16, and Hank's is due in 2027, adding more than 11,000 square feet of restaurant and bar space at 2nd and Fillmore. If you own near Fillmore Plaza and want to see how new openings like these factor into your home's value, Don Bobeda offers a free home valuation grounded in this part of Cherry Creek.
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