From Front Street down to Wilton Street, Market Street becomes the Winter Market for five weeks. It opens Thursday, November 19 and runs Thursdays through Sundays until December 22. Admission is free, and the hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. The free attraction on the block between The Esplanade and Wilton Street changes from one weekend to the next. A Ferris wheel on the first weekend becomes a skating surface on the second, then an outdoor cinema, then skating again, then a carousel.

For anyone who lives within a short walk of the market, the question is less whether to go and more which weekend. The answer depends on more than what's in the Feature Zone. In its third year the Winter Market has picked up neighbors: a weekend maker market under a white tent, a new Sunday antiques market inside the North building, and a light show at Berczy Park. They don't all run on the same days.

Three years, three different markets

The City of Toronto announced the first edition in December 2024. It opened December 5, about two weeks later than this year's start. According to Curiocity's coverage, weekend hours ended at 5 p.m. that year, Santa sat for photos only on Saturday afternoons, and the entertainment was live performances on the street: opera, choirs, carollers and stilt walkers.

The rotating Feature Zone arrived in 2025, according to St. Lawrence Market's listing for that edition. That year it ran a carousel on opening weekend, three separate skating weekends and a film weekend. This year keeps the same structure and changes the order.

The skating change is easy to overlook. Last year there were three three-day skating runs, nine days in total. This year there are two runs of four days each, and both include a Thursday, for eight days in total. Overall, the Feature Zone operates on 17 days this year, up from 15 in 2025. The extra time comes from the Ferris wheel opening the season and the carousel moving to the final weekend.

The five weekends

All five follow the same pattern: the market itself runs Thursday through Sunday, Santa photos are noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and the free attraction sits on Market Street just outside the white tent. Here is what changes from week to week.

1. November 19 to 22. Free Ferris wheel rides, Friday through Sunday. The wheel doesn't run on opening Thursday, so Thursday is a quieter evening for walking the stalls before the first weekend.
2. November 26 to 29. Free outdoor skating from Thursday to Sunday. Bring your own skates or borrow a complimentary pair while supplies last. This is the busiest week of the season, as the next section shows.
3. December 4 to 6. Free outdoor movies with TO Picture Show at 5 p.m. each night, Friday through Sunday.
4. December 10 to 13. The second skating run, again Thursday to Sunday, with the same lending setup.
5. December 18 to 20. Free carousel rides, Friday through Sunday.

After the fifth weekend, the market opens on Monday, December 21 and Tuesday, December 22 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the first time it has run on a Tuesday. These two weekdays have no listed Feature Zone attraction. They're for last-minute gifts, not for the rides.

The last weekend of November has the most going on

The second skating weekend overlaps with almost everything else in Old Town's November calendar. On Thursday, November 26 at noon, the free Sound Break series puts Tichaona Maredza in the lobby of the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East. On the same Thursday, Jamii opens its free Thrift Market at 264 The Esplanade. It runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on November 26 and 27, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on November 28, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 29.

Then on Friday, November 27, Old Town Toronto's free Cavalcade of Lights fills Berczy Park at 35 Wellington Street East from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., with a holiday light display and live music. This year's lights go up around a fountain without its usual figures. The BIA says the City's Parks Department has sent the fountain dogs, and the cat, out for a fresh coat of paint, and they're expected back sometime in spring 2027.

On that Friday you could skate on Market Street until close to the 5:30 lighting, walk a few blocks west to the park, and still be back before the market closes at 7.

Sunday now hosts three markets

The biggest change from the first year shows up on weekends at the corner of Jarvis Street and The Esplanade. In 2024, Sunday Variety ran as a separate Sunday-only market at 125 The Esplanade. By 2025, as Streets of Toronto described, it had grown into a full Saturday and Sunday holiday market under the big white tent, alongside wooden chalets selling food on Market Street. The market's 2025 listing put the tent at more than 75 makers and vintage sellers. That setup returns this year. Sunday Variety calls itself a weekly vintage, antique and handmade market and lists its weekend hours as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its founder, Kealan Sullivan, also founded Hippie Market, according to a 2023 blogTO profile.

There's a newer addition indoors. St. Lawrence Market North has added Antiques at St. Lawrence Market, a new weekly market of antique dealers organized by Heritage Antique Shows. It is scheduled for every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except the last Sunday of each month. The market's listing covers furniture, silver, ceramics, jewelry, art and decorative pieces.

The Winter Market has four Sundays with all three running: November 22, December 6, December 13 and December 20. On those days you can go through antique dealers inside the North building, more than 75 vintage and handmade sellers under the tent, and the holiday stalls on Market Street. The exception is November 29. It's the last Sunday of the month, so the antiques market is closed. That Sunday still has skating, the tent and the final day of Jamii's thrift market.

Eating around the market's hours

The two markets keep different hours, so time your meals with that in mind. The South Market is open Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Saturday Farmers' Market in the North building runs from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. On weekends, the South Market closes two hours before the Winter Market does. Shop for groceries first and browse the stalls afterward.

Inside the South Market, on the lower level at 93 Front Street East, chef Elia Herrera's Tecolote Market serves Mexican comfort food to take away or at an eight-seat counter. The Toronto Guardian covered its opening in August. For a sit-down meal after the stalls close at 7, Bindia Indian Bistro at 16 Market Street has a newly renovated dining room and, according to Old Town Toronto's November feature, is taking bookings for December group events.

After December 22

The Winter Market ends on Tuesday, December 22, and the South Market moves to holiday hours soon after. On Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, it's open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, then reopens Sunday, December 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Earlier in the month, the Sound Break series returns: Diar performs in the Bluma Appel Theatre lobby at noon on Thursday, December 10, the opening day of the second skating run.

At Andy Taylor, we follow Old Town week by week, from new tenants at the market to the season's calendar, because that kind of detail matters when you're choosing a street or a building near Front Street East. If you're considering a move within the St. Lawrence Market area, or a sale that should be timed around the season, request a private consultation.