Napa's Winter Calendar, From Día de los Muertos to the Last Night of the Lighted Art Festival

Two events share downtown Napa this Saturday, Nov. 7, and their hours overlap. At First Street Napa, the Harvest Hoedown runs from 12:30 to 5 p.m. It is also the grand-opening celebration for Lucchese, the Texas bootmaker, in Suite 202 across from Don Perico. The City of Napa's July business update had listed the space as the company's first California store. At 3 p.m., Napa Día de los Muertos begins at Veterans Park on Brown Street. It is a family event built around art, tradition, music, dance and food, and it runs until 8 p.m.

That Saturday sets the pattern for the season. From early November to mid-February, downtown Napa has something on almost every weekend, and most of it is free. One exhibit on First Street stays open the whole time.

The Exhibit That Outlasts the Holidays

The Napa County Historical Society opened "Collecting Napa County: Building a Shared History" on Oct. 16, and it runs until April 10, 2027. That means it will still be up after the last holiday light comes down. The exhibit looks at how the Society and other cultural organizations collect, research and share local history, using photographs, letters, artifacts and personal memories. It also asks whose stories have been kept and whose may be missing. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Napa Valley Register reported that the Napa County Board of Supervisors and LOLA Wines are among the sponsors.

The Society's home at 1219 First Street is the historic Goodman Library. George E. Goodman paid for it, and it was built in 1901 on land donated to the City of Napa. Local architect Luther M. Turton designed it, and it formally opened on May 6, 1902. The 2014 earthquake damaged the building. STRUCTURE magazine reported that restoration was completed in December 2017, three years after the earthquake. The project went on to win preservation awards, including one from the California Preservation Foundation in 2018.

The exhibit's Saturday hours fit around the rest of the season. On every Saturday event day below, the doors on First Street are open until 5 p.m. The Society's book club also meets in the building on the third Wednesday of each month, from 6 to 7 p.m.

December Runs Along Second, Brown and Third

The busiest part of the season is in early December, and all of it is on foot.

Napa's 61st annual Christmas Parade is on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. Participants assemble at 3 p.m. The route starts at Second and School and loops along Second, Brown and Third streets. The parade starts at 5 p.m., the same hour the Goodman Library closes on Saturdays.

The next Friday, Dec. 11, the Napa County Historical Society hosts "Postcards from Napa," a family drop-in at 1219 First Street from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a suggested donation of $5. Participants can share a family memory, draw a place in Napa County, or show what life in the valley looks like today. All ages are welcome. The prompt about family memories fits the exhibit's question about whose stories get kept.

On Saturday, Dec. 12, the Downtown Napa Association and First Street Napa host Holiday Shop, Sip & Stroll from 3 to 5 p.m. For $10, you get a wristband, a wine glass and wine splashes at participating businesses. Pick up your glass in front of the Napa Valley Welcome Center, then walk through the First Street Napa district while you shop and listen to live music. It is one of the few events this season with a ticket price, and it is low.

The Rink at The Meritage

The Meritage Resort and Spa hosts what it calls Napa Valley's largest outdoor ice rink. Merry Meritage skating opens Nov. 19 and runs through Jan. 3. Through Dec. 17, the rink is open 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with Thanksgiving hours of 2 to 10 p.m. on Nov. 26. From Dec. 18 through Jan. 3, it is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The resort's annual tree lighting, with a 40-foot tree, is Saturday, Nov. 21.

The longer daily hours over the school holidays are the main thing to plan around. Before Dec. 18, the rink doesn't open until 4 p.m. on weekdays. After that, it opens at 11 a.m. every day.

Tuesdays End Before Christmas. Saturdays Keep Going.

The Napa Farmers Market at 1100 West Street holds its last Tuesday market of 2026 on Dec. 22. The Saturday market runs year-round, 8 a.m. to noon. On a Saturday you can visit the market in the morning, the Goodman Library in the afternoon, and whatever is happening downtown that evening. That works on Nov. 7, on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12, and through January and February, when the light festival starts.

January's Short Gap, Then Five Weeks of Light

The rink closes Jan. 3. Thirteen days later, on Saturday, Jan. 16, the 2027 Napa Lighted Art Festival opens downtown. It is free and runs five weeks, through Sunday, Feb. 14, with 15 lighted art installations. For the first nine nights, Jan. 16 through Jan. 24, artwork is also projected onto three well-known downtown buildings. Hours are 6 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

The 2026 festival, held this past January and February, had a numbered route of 15 stops. It went through the Oxbow District, the First Street Bridge, Opera House Plaza, First Street Napa, the Riverfront Promenade, Veterans Park, First Presbyterian Church, the Napa County Courthouse, Native Sons and Courthouse Plaza. That map belongs to the 2026 festival. Still, it shows the shape of the event: a loop through the same few blocks that hosted the parade, the stroll and Día de los Muertos earlier in the season. Veterans Park is on that 2026 route, which links the festival back to the Nov. 7 Día de los Muertos celebration.

The festival ends on Valentine's Day. The exhibit on First Street stays open almost two months longer.

The Season on One Page

Downtown Napa's old buildings and its holiday events depend on people who look after them. At Ginger Martin + Co., we bring the same care to the homes and estates we represent across Napa and Sonoma. If you'd like to talk about a property with history, Get In Touch.