Starlighting is on Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 2 to 6 p.m. in Historic Wilcox Square and Festival Park. The ceremony starts at 5 p.m. on the Main Stage at 4th and Wilcox, and the star on the Rock should light at about 5:30, with fireworks right after. Most people plan their whole holiday season around that one afternoon. The downtown calendar gives them a lot more than that.
The night after Starlighting, horse-drawn carriages start leaving from Festival Park. The night after that, the free Downtown trolley starts its loop. From then until early January, the two run on different days of the week, so the lit star almost always has something going on beneath it. The market weekend, Reindeer Games and a Santa story night sit on top of that weekly pattern. Starlighting opens the season, and the rest of it runs well past that Saturday.
The Saturday Itself, in the Order You'll Need It
Starlighting has a lot of moving parts in four hours. The Castle Rock Chamber's event page lays them out, and these are the details that shape the afternoon:
- Getting there. Free shuttles run from 1:30 to 8 p.m. Two routes pick up at the AdventHealth Castle Rock Alexander lot at 2350 Meadows Blvd. and at the Douglas County High School South Building at 2842 Front Street. Both drop off at Fifth and Wilcox. A third route picks up at Lot 5 of the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 500 Fairgrounds Drive, and drops off between South and Phelps streets. On the way home, each shuttle loops back to its own lot and picks up where it dropped off.
- Streets. From 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Perry Street is closed from 5th to 2nd, N. Wilcox from 5th to 3rd, 4th Street from Jerry to Perry, and 3rd and 2nd streets from Wilcox to Perry. The Chamber also points drivers to the downtown garages, including Encore at Wilcox and Perry and the garage at 3rd and Jerry.
- Payment. Chamber events don't take cash, only credit and debit cards.
- Santa. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in Festival Park from 2 to 4:15 p.m., so the line closes before the ceremony starts.
- Food. The Castle Rock Professional Firefighters host their 90th annual Chili Supper at Fire Station 151, with beef chili, nachos, hot dogs, drinks and desserts. Food trucks and four Chamber beverage tents fill in the rest.
- Music. Biff Gore plays the main stage at 4th and Wilcox. Strolling carolers, dance groups and other live entertainment fill every corner, and there's also a kids zone with a petting zoo, face painting and games.
The Town's listing for the event says the fireworks depend on the weather and on fire danger. As of early October, the Chamber still lists the event map, booth map and entertainment schedule as coming soon.
For anyone who wants to be on stage, the Chamber auctions the chance to flip the switch that lights the star. The opening bid is $2,000, bids go up in $250 steps, and online bidding closes Friday, November 6. The money supports the Chamber's Veterans Alliance and Tours for Teachers programs.
The logistics look almost exactly like last year's. The shuttle hours and street-closure blocks match what the Chamber published for 2025. The chili supper's number is the change you can see, going from 89th to 90th.
How the Week Splits After That
This is where the season takes shape. Downtown Castle Rock's free winter trolley runs on Mondays and Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., November 23 through December 29. The holiday carriage rides run Wednesday through Sunday from November 22 to January 3, 2027.
On the calendar, that looks like this.
| Night | Free trolley | Carriage rides from Festival Park |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 23 to Dec. 28 | Not running |
| Tuesday | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 24 to Dec. 29 | Not running |
| Wednesday to Sunday | Not running | Nov. 22 to Jan. 3, $59 per carriage |
The two never run on the same night. Carriages skip four dates: November 26, December 24, December 25 and December 31. Leaving those aside, from the Sunday after Starlighting through December 29, every evening has either the trolley or a carriage running downtown.
The two rides are very different. The trolley is free and runs a figure-eight loop with three stops. It starts at the Encore Parking Garage entrance on South Street between Wilcox and Perry, heads north on Wilcox, turns right onto Third Street for a stop at the crosswalk, then turns left onto Perry and finishes at the Douglas County School District lot entrance on 6th Street. A full loop takes about 12 minutes. The merchants pitch it as possibly the best way to see the downtown holiday lights, and they invite riders to grab a meal or do some shopping while they're there. Because the trolley starts at a garage, parking for it is straightforward.
The carriages cost money and are limited. Tickets are $59 per carriage, rides leave from Festival Park, and the organizers say 560 rides are planned for the whole season. Spread over about six weeks of Wednesday-through-Sunday nights, that's a fixed number of slots, and weekend nights in December are the ones most people will want.
In practice, the Monday and Tuesday trolley nights cost nothing and need no planning. The carriage nights do need planning, and starting with the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the weekend carriage slots get squeezed by the next layer of events.
December's Three Anchor Dates
The Town's December calendar adds three events, two of them on the same weekend:
- Festival Park Starlight Market, Friday, December 4, from 3 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, December 5, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Town lists more than 40 vendors, a 40-foot tree, hot cocoa, food trucks and holiday music.
- Reindeer Games, Saturday, December 5, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Philip S. Miller Park Amphitheater, with Santa, hot chocolate, train and hay rides, games and an obstacle course.
- Storytellers and S'mores, Saturday, December 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Festival Park, with Santa, holiday readings, marshmallows and hot chocolate.
All three appeared on the Town's 2025 holiday schedule as well, and the market and Reindeer Games keep the same hours and descriptions this year.
December 5 is the busiest day of the season after Starlighting. Reindeer Games at Philip S. Miller Park ends at 4 p.m. The market in Festival Park runs until 7, and carriages leave from the same park that evening. A family could do the obstacle course in the afternoon, shop the market at dusk and take a carriage ride after dark, all on one Saturday, as long as the carriage is booked ahead.
December 12 is the smaller night. Storytellers and S'mores is two hours in Festival Park with Santa, and it's also a carriage night. It's the second chance at Santa for anyone who missed the 4:15 cutoff on Starlighting day.
Ice skating isn't on any official Town listing for this November and December. When the Town last updated its FAQ in November 2025, it said it was still exploring a possible ice facility at Dawson Trails.
A Newer Option for Dinner on Third Street
Many of these nights are early-evening outings. The trolley stops at 7:30 and the market's Friday hours end at 8. Downtown has one new dinner option this year. According to DougCo Social, Izumi Sushi opened at 115 Third Street on May 11, 2026. It serves dinner Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., until 10 on Friday and Saturday, and until 9 on Sunday. Third Street is also the trolley's middle stop, so a Monday or Tuesday ride and a sushi dinner fit together easily.
How Long the Star Stays Lit
The star has been part of Castle Rock far longer than the event around it. The Chamber says it was first lit in 1936, and the Chamber started Starlighting in 1962. 9News reports that the star stays lit every year from Thanksgiving through the end of the National Western Stock Show. That means it keeps shining weeks after the last carriage ride on January 3. According to a Town FAQ last updated in 2024, the Town maintains the star, and its Fire and Parks and Recreation crews make the climbs to service it.
So the star stays up well into January, and the downtown events run on a set schedule underneath it. Starlighting fills a single Saturday afternoon. After that comes a free trolley on Mondays and Tuesdays, carriage rides the other five nights, a market weekend in early December and a story night with Santa on December 12. The ceremony on November 21 starts all of it, and the last scheduled carriage leaves Festival Park on Sunday, January 3, 2027.
If you're picturing next year's Starlighting from a home where you can walk to Wilcox Street, or a place where the star on the Rock is part of your evening view, Todd Real Estate Group knows which Castle Rock streets put downtown's holiday season close by. Request a Free Valuation & Consultation, and we'll talk through what's possible before the star goes dark again.
