Search for the Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market this month and the results point to a different name. After 20 seasons, the indoor Saturday market at Foothills Mall now calls itself Wildcraft Farmers Market. Its weekly schedule still runs from November through April.
The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce announced the change in August and described it as a move to a "year-round schedule." The release called Wildcraft "Colorado's first-ever year-round farmers market." The calendar for the 2026–27 season still runs weekly from November into late April. The bigger changes this winter are in how a Saturday there works: who gets a matched $20, where new vendors set up, and what the market pays the musicians.
A name built for months that are still monthly
The market started in November 2006 as a run of 13 winter markets meant to extend the local growing season. For years it was held inside Opera Galleria downtown. In 2020 it moved to Foothills Mall, at first to meet COVID safety protocols. In the Chamber's words, the market then found "ample free parking, room to grow" in Midtown. By 2024 the season had grown to 24 markets over six months. The Rocky Mountain Collegian described the 2025 season as a weekly Saturday market from early November to mid-April.
The 2026 change filled in the other months. North Forty News reported that the market ran on its "customary every-second-Saturday schedule through Oct. 10" until the weekly format began in November. That made summer 2026 a monthly market, one Saturday a month at Foothills Mall.
Sari Kimbell, the market's owner and operator, explained the rename in the Chamber's August release:
"For 19 years we called ourselves the Winter Farmers Market. Which made perfect sense in November, but less so in April or July. So it was time to re-imagine the market to be around for another 20 years. Now we are open every Saturday, all year long — and we're just getting started."
The release counted "50 Saturdays annually." On Nov. 1, the market's own blog post on the new name quoted Kimbell more cautiously: "Now that we're open almost every Saturday, all year long." The vendor page puts it plainly. The market "expanded into the warmer months of May, June, July - well the whole year, actually," and now has "a season that doesn't stop in April." The pledge is that the market never closes for the season. Weekly markets are the winter schedule.
The winter calendar, Saturday by Saturday
The market's FAQ sets the indoor season at Foothills Mall, 215 E. Foothills Pkwy., from Nov. 7 through April 24. Markets run Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. "rain, snow or shine." Three December dates differ from the standard schedule:
| Date | What's different |
|---|---|
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | Holiday market, open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also the first Saturday of the month, which makes it a Senior Saturday |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | Holiday market, open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | Holiday market, open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 26 | No market |
Foothills Mall's event listing carries the same 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours for regular Saturdays. According to the Chamber's release, a typical market Saturday draws 90 to 130 or more vendors.
The vendor page lists a long run of categories as closed for the season: startups, coffee, jewelry, microgreens, baked goods, meat, pottery, honey, wood, soap, CBD, and vendors who need electricity.
Who's on the winter roster
The 2026–27 winter vendor list is long. Some of the names on it:
- Farms and ranches: 5280 Urban Farm, 7 Annubis Farm, Big Leap Ranch, Black Gold Family Farm, Craig Angus Ranch, Old Town Urban Farms, St. Michael's Farm, Folks Farm & Seed, Poppy Flower Farm
- Mushrooms: Hazel Dell Mushrooms
- Prepared and baked foods: Agustina's Mexican Foods, Black Cat Bagel Company, Doughlicious Treat
- Makers: Aster and Ash, Avian Designs, Angie Star Jewelry, Birchland Clean, AK Apothakary
The market says attendance changes from week to week, so check the current lineup before you go if you're after one particular vendor.
The market is also paying to get more growers in. Its 2026–27 Farmer Scholarship covers booth fees for small-scale Northern Colorado growers, which the market describes as a way to make its markets "more accessible to the small-scale growers who are the heart of our local food system."
The new Community Fund changes what $20 buys
For its 20th season, the market launched the Wildcraft Community Fund, a nonprofit arm. This Is NoCo's report on the launch lists what the fund pays for:
- Food Access Matching: up to $20 in Market Bucks matched each week for individuals and families, toward food staples
- Senior Saturdays: on the first Saturday of each month, shoppers 65 and older get $20 in Market Bucks to spend on food staples from local makers
- Local Music Program: pays local musicians a living wage, with every $35 donated covering one hour of music
- Community Connect Fund: helps cover the operating, materials, and marketing costs of market events
The fund adds to the SNAP access the market already offered. On the Fort Collins market page, the process works like this. Shoppers use a SNAP card at the Market Info Booth to buy tokens, which work like cash with any vendor selling SNAP-eligible foods. Each $1 spent with SNAP earns a $1 match in Double Up Food Bucks, up to $20 per market day, to spend on Colorado-grown fruits and vegetables. The FAQ places the Info Booth in the center concourse. The Chamber's release says the fund's own match comes "in addition to the matching funds available through Double Up Food Bucks."
The reason for building this now shows up in one figure. According to This Is NoCo, SNAP spending at the market rose 16% year over year during its most recent full season. The fund is aimed at that growth. Kimbell said in the Chamber release that it is meant to reach "the people who haven't felt like the farmers market was for them."
Senior Saturdays fall on the first Saturday of each month, so the remaining dates in the weekly season fall on Dec. 5, Jan. 2, Feb. 6, March 6, and April 3. Dec. 5 is also the first of the three longer holiday markets.
What the mall layout adds
According to the market's Nov. 1 post, new vendors launching their first products sit in Startup Alley in the East Wing, alongside a Kids Activity Zone. The post also says the market is putting more into live local music and spaces to gather. Taken together, the Startup Alley, the scholarship booths, and the paid music hours show a market that is investing in the people who supply it as well as the people who shop it.
Some practical details from the market's FAQ and site:
- Leashed, well-mannered pets are welcome. The market notes that it can get very crowded, so decide whether the indoor space suits your dog.
- Parking at Foothills Mall is free, which the Chamber release lists as part of the reason the market stayed after 2020.
- General questions go to [email protected]. That address still carries the old Fort Collins Winter Farmers Market initials.
The Nov. 1 post sums up the change in one line: "Formally, we are Wildcraft Markets. Informally, we are still—and always will be—your Saturday plans." The weekly schedule printed in the FAQ ends April 24. After that, the market's stated commitment is to stay open through the summer months, the same months the old name never covered.
The Saturday crowds and the free parking at Foothills Mall are part of how Midtown Fort Collins works around its anchor property, and we pay attention to that from a property standpoint. If you own near Foothills Parkway and want to know what your place is worth this winter, Michael Jensen | Fort Collins Real Estate can put together a free home valuation built on local sales, not a national estimate.
