Greeley's Festival of Trees and WinterFest Share Lincoln Park. Here's How the Two Holiday Calendars Fit Together

The City of Greeley runs the 37th annual Festival of Trees inside the Union Colony Civic Center at 701 10th Ave., from Nov. 21 through Dec. 5. Downtown Greeley, the downtown development authority, runs WinterFest on Saturdays from Nov. 28 through Dec. 12 at Lincoln Park and 9th Street. They are separate programs with separate websites, and the two calendars share just two Saturdays, Nov. 28 and Dec. 5. Nov. 28 is the fuller of the two, because it is the only shared day that also has the Festival's wagon rides around Lincoln Park.

Two organizers, one park between them

The Festival of Trees happens indoors. General admission gets you into the UCCC lobby, where local organizations have each decorated a tree. Kids can write letters to Santa, do a scavenger hunt among the trees and make holiday crafts. Box office tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids 12 and under and seniors 60 and older. Buying online adds a $0.50 fee.

WinterFest happens outdoors and around downtown. Downtown Greeley lists a Holiday Open House on Shop Small Saturday, the Light Up Lincoln tree lighting, Holiday Lane displays, Makers' Workshops, carriage rides, live music, crafts and a North Pole Mailbox for letters to Santa.

Lincoln Park ties the two together. The Festival's horse-and-wagon rides loop around the lit park, so the City's indoor event depends on the park outside. Those rides happen on only two nights, and you can't buy them online.

Saturday, Nov. 28, from morning to dark

Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26 this year, which makes Nov. 28 Shop Small Saturday. That's the day WinterFest starts with its Holiday Open House. Here is what the Festival of Trees has scheduled the same day:

1. 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. Whoville Holiday at the UCCC, a walk-through built around Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Tickets are $20 each, or $15 each for groups of four or more, and children under 1 get in free.
2. 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Festival of Trees public hours in the UCCC lobby.
3. 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Horse-and-wagon rides around a lit Lincoln Park, $5 a ticket, sold in person only at the UCCC box office. The City calls these its "most popular nights."

WinterFest's Saturday happens between and around those times. Last year, Downtown Greeley held its Shop Small open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and lit the Lincoln Park tree at 5:30 p.m., according to Visit Greeley's 2025 WinterFest guide and the Greeley Tribune's 2025 coverage. This year's times will be on the WinterFest page, and that page is the one to check before you go.

If last year's timing holds, the shops wrap up their open house at the same hour the lobby reopens and the wagons start rolling, with the tree lighting half an hour later. Anyone who wants a wagon ride has to get from the storefronts to the civic center box office, the only place that sells the tickets.

What the paid tickets pay for

The Festival's ticketed events cost more than lobby admission, and the City says all proceeds from three of them go to the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra Guild. Two take place on the stage of Monfort Auditorium.

Whiskey Wonderland is a small-batch distillers' tasting set up on the Monfort stage, the same stage where the Greeley Philharmonic plays Poinsettia Pops surrounded by poinsettias to close the festival. The Wrapped in Wonder fashion show features winter-inspired women's and men's clothing from local designers, with hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and the City says it's fun for all ages. Tickets for Whiskey Wonderland, Whoville Holiday and Wrapped in Wonder are all sold through the UCCC's UCStars site. The one exception is the wagon ride, which you can only buy at the box office counter.

That also means the festival opens on an adult night. Nov. 21 starts with lobby hours from 1 to 6 p.m., with Santa visits from 1 to 3 p.m., and Whiskey Wonderland starts at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, has lobby hours from 1 to 5 p.m. with Santa from 1 to 3 p.m., which makes it the easier opening-weekend afternoon with kids.

Who decorated the lobby

The lobby trees come from a mix of downtown businesses, nonprofits and community groups. The City's 2026 list of lobby tree designers includes Kress Cinema & Lounge, Downtown Sound Records & Tapes, Eileen's Colossal Cookies, the Greeley Children's Chorale, the Greeley Morning Garden Club, Meals on Wheels of Greeley and Weld County, NOCO Humane, Weld Food Bank, Showcase Art Center, Weld Community Credit Union, Goodwill of Colorado, Balloon Art By Merry Makers, The Pink Balloon, DoubleTree by Hilton Greeley and Visit Greeley. A separate Candy Cane Lane comes from groups including Girl Scouts Service Unit 702, SEVA Community, WHALE Respite, Northern Colorado Family Child Care and a pre-K class at ABC Central.

The Gingerbread Village is the part visitors help shape. The City opened it to anyone, whether families, classes, work teams or businesses, and the public votes for a favorite. Voting happens during regular lobby hours, so a gingerbread house a neighbor's kids built might be competing on the same night you stop in for a wagon ride.

The DoubleTree also appears on the City's sponsor list as DoubleTree by Hilton Greeley, Meeker's Kitchen and Bar. The hotel sits on Lincoln Park and has a restaurant, which puts dinner a short walk from both the lobby and the wagon route.

After the 28th, one more shared Saturday

After Shop Small Saturday, the two programs share just one more date. The Festival of Trees keeps lobby hours on Sunday, Nov. 29, from 1 to 5 p.m. It then takes a break until Friday, Dec. 4, from 4 to 8 p.m., which is also the second and last night of wagon rides, from 5 to 8 p.m. It closes Saturday, Dec. 5, with lobby hours from 1 to 5 p.m. and Poinsettia Pops at 7.

WinterFest keeps going a week longer, with Saturdays running through Dec. 12. Last year's version scheduled Holiday Lane, with carriage rides, on the first Saturday in December from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Makers' Workshops were at the LINC the following Saturday. That makes Dec. 5 the second shared Saturday, with the Festival's last lobby hours and Poinsettia Pops at the UCCC and a WinterFest Saturday outdoors. Dec. 12 belongs to downtown alone.

Getting there with downtown still under construction

Downtown Greeley's infrastructure project will continue in phases through 2028, according to the City of Greeley. The City's project page says downtown events will go on as planned, with temporary traffic changes, parking adjustments and occasional detours.

Some of that work is right next to the holiday area. On Oct. 17, North Forty News reported that a round of closures beginning Oct. 19 would shut westbound 10th Street between 8th and 11th Avenues, including the intersection at 10th Avenue and 10th Street, which is the avenue the UCCC is on. The same report said the block of 9th Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets would stay closed. On Oct. 30, the City reported crews still building forms for a stormwater box culvert at 9th Avenue and 12th Street. Southbound 8th Avenue reopened through 10th Street on Oct. 20. Closures move as the work moves, so check the project's update feed the afternoon before you head downtown, especially on the two wagon-ride nights when you'll need to reach the box office early.

Whether it's your first Festival of Trees or your fifteenth, we love seeing Greeley turn out for a season that local nonprofits, businesses and families build together. If friends or family are thinking about a move to Greeley and want to see what downtown feels like on a December Saturday, House2Home Real Estate is happy to help. Let's make your house a home. Call or email our team today.