Ballard's Holiday Season Runs Between the Nordic Museum and Ballard Avenue

Lights are already wrapped around 273 trees on NW Market Street, Leary Avenue NW and Ballard Avenue NW. One of the lit pieces is an archway that leads to the National Nordic Museum. The neighborhood's holiday calendar works the same way. The museum and the Ballard Alliance each run their own events, and each sends people to the other. A Julefest ticket gets you something at a beer hall down the street. Stamps collected in Ballard shops can win a museum membership. In 2026, both organizations also moved more of their programming outdoors.

Starting tomorrow, here's how the season fits together.

Julefest Opens Friday With a New Stage Location

Julefest: A Nordic Holiday Celebration runs Friday, November 20 through Sunday, November 22 at 2655 NW Market Street. Prices depend on the day and on whether you buy ahead.

For adults, the most useful detail is that the Friday Night Market ticket covers the whole weekend. At $20 online, it costs $8 more than a weekend-only adult ticket and gets you in all three days. Buying ahead also saves money on every session: $5 on Friday and $4 on a weekend adult ticket. Youth tickets are $5, and children under 12 get in free.

This year the performance stage moves out of Valhalla Beer Hall and onto the Fishermen's Sun Terrace. The museum says it made the change for a more family-friendly atmosphere. The 21+ beer garden stays open all day with glögg, mead and beer. Goodies2Go, where the volunteer-baked krumkake, rosettes and princess gems are sold, moves to a new spot in the East Garden. The museum says it regularly sells out by mid-afternoon each day.

The outdoor market has more than 45 merchants. The 2026 vendor list includes Anna Svensson Art, Best Coast Canvas, Hygge Chocolates and Jonboy Caramels, plus food trucks. Æbleskiver are sold on Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers bake the Nordic cookies, and families can do Santa photos, ornament crafts and a Tomte scavenger hunt. The galleries are open all three days, including the new special exhibition, A Ballard Story: Pacific Fishermen.

The Ticket Works Off Museum Grounds, Too

Julefest sends visitors into the neighborhood. All weekend, Friday through Sunday, Julefest ticket holders get a free basket of fries at Skål Beer Hall with a purchase of $20 or more. The offer is limited to one basket per table, and you show your ticket to redeem it. The museum calls this "Julefest After Dark."

Sunday also lines up with a fixed part of Ballard's week. The Ballard Farmers Market runs year-round, rain or shine, every Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Ballard Avenue NW and 22nd Avenue NW. On November 22 it overlaps with the last day of Julefest, which opens at 10:00 a.m.

The Tomte Trail Sends People the Other Way

The Ballard Alliance's Tomte Trail started November 1 and runs through December 5. Tomten are hidden in 41 businesses around the neighborhood. You pick up a passport at any participating location or download a printable one, and an online map shows where the businesses are. Here's how it works:

1. Get a passport from one of the 41 participating businesses or the Visit Ballard page.
2. Collect stamps as you find tomten in the shops.
3. Bring the passport to Marvin's Garden Park on Saturday, December 5, between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. You get a prize no matter how many stamps you have.
4. With ten or more stamps, you're also entered in a drawing for a Family Membership to the National Nordic Museum.

So the Tomte Trail runs through Ballard shops, and its biggest prize is a museum membership. That membership includes free Saturday and Sunday admission to Julefest. The tomte also shows up in the scavenger hunt inside Julefest and in a Tomte Toss at the street market on December 5.

December 5 Adds a Market on Ballard Avenue

The free Ballard HolidayFest & Market runs Saturday, December 5, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m., centered on Marvin's Garden Park. Santa photos are free from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., and you need to be in line by 4:30. The afternoon also has cider, holiday treats, a fire pit with a s'mores station, live music and the Tomte Trail prize table.

The new part this year is the HolidayFest Market. The northern end of Ballard Avenue NW becomes a market with vendors, a second fire pit and s'mores station, the Ballard Tomte Toss, and food and drink specials from restaurants within the market area. Julefest moved its music onto an outdoor terrace, and HolidayFest now has its own market on the street. The event is supported by the Seattle Office of Economic Development, the Ballard Alliance and volunteers from Ballard businesses.

The Rest of December

December has three more dated events on either side of HolidayFest, plus a few things that stay open through the winter.

• Free First Thursday, December 3. Two days before HolidayFest, the museum is open 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. General admission is free, and special exhibitions cost $5.
• Ballard Winter Cocktail Trail, Friday, December 11, 6:00–9:00 p.m. Pop-up lounges in Ballard boutiques serve ten cocktails made by mixologists from The Ballard Cut. A $50 ticket includes 10 tasting tickets. Tickets are sold online only, through Thursday, December 10.
• Jul Stories: Rose Ever Blooming, Friday, December 18, 7:00–9:00 p.m. Choral Arts Northwest performs at the museum. General tickets are $42, members pay $38 and students pay $10.

The Ballard Locks are on a winter schedule. From October 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027, the Visitor Center is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and closed Monday and Tuesday. The grounds are open 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and the fish ladder viewing room is open 7:00 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.

The Lights and the Exhibitions Both Run Into February

The museum and the Alliance also set similar end dates. The Alliance's 2026–2027 light display stays up until shortly after Valentine's Day weekend. Besides the 273 wrapped trees and the archway to the museum, it includes snowflakes in Bergen Place, lights on the Centennial Bell Tower, colored bulbs in the large trees at Marvin's Garden Park and, new this year, sphere ornaments on every other tree along Ballard Avenue NW.

Inside the museum, A Ballard Story: Pacific Fishermen runs through February 28, 2027. Trawl, a show of photographs by Jackson Chihuly, opened October 23 and also closes February 28, 2027. Both organizations plan for the same stretch of winter. The trees along Market Street will still be lit in mid-February, and the fishing exhibitions will be on view until the end of that month.

Ballard's busiest season of the year is also a good time to see how a home on these streets looks under the lights. If you're wondering what yours might be worth heading into spring, Theodora Cornelia Homes knows this calendar well. Request a Free Home Valuation and we'll walk you through what's selling in Ballard this winter.