If you've circled October 1 as the day Bellevue's Thursday ritual goes quiet until May, you've got the right date and the wrong ending. The market's 23rd season does wrap its regular Thursday run that week at the Bellevue Presbyterian Church lot on Bellevue Way NE, but organizers added something to the 2026 calendar that didn't exist in past years, and it changes how the next two months actually play out for anyone who treats Thursday nights at the market as a fixture of their week.
What Actually Ends on October 1
The core season has run the same way since 2004: Thursdays from late May through early October, produce and flowers and prepared food from vendors who grow or make everything they sell, no resellers in the mix. This year's hours shifted slightly as the days shortened, running 3:00 to 7:30 p.m. through August and pulling back to 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. for September and the final week in October. That Thursday cadence, the one that's been the backbone of the market for over two decades, does end on October 1.
What doesn't end is the market itself.
The Saturdays Nobody Advertised in May
Sometime after the season opened, organizers tested a Saturday pilot market in August, a format that runs 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. instead of the Thursday afternoon slot. That pilot turned into a plan for two more Saturday dates this fall, both at the same Bellevue Way NE lot: October 31 and November 21.
The interesting part is how late that October date got locked in. Earlier in the summer, the market's own promotional partners were still listing the October Saturday as "to be announced," with only the November 21 date confirmed. It wasn't until later that the market's calendar settled on Halloween as the date. If you were planning around the farmers market months ago, you'd have had no way to know it would land on October 31.
That timing turns out to matter more than it looks.
Why October 31 Splits the Neighborhood in Two
The Old Bellevue Merchants Association runs its own free Halloween event on Main Street in Old Bellevue that same Saturday afternoon, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Main Street sits on the opposite side of downtown from the Bellevue Way NE church lot where the farmers market sets up. Two family-friendly events, same date, same city, different corners entirely.
For a resident with kids in costume, this isn't a conflict so much as a sequencing question. The farmers market opens at 10:00 a.m. and runs until 3:00, giving a three-hour window before the Main Street event even starts. Anyone doing both in one afternoon is looking at two separate parking situations and a drive or a longer walk between them, not a single stroll from one to the other. Neither event's organizers seem to have planned around the other, which means the coordination job falls to whoever's calendar it lands on.
The Weeks in Between
Between the last regular Thursday market and that split Halloween Saturday, Bellevue's fall calendar doesn't slow down. It just moves away from the market lot.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 1 | Final regular Thursday farmers market | Bellevue Presbyterian Church lot, 1717 Bellevue Way NE |
| Oct. 3 | Kelsey Creek Farm Fair, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | Kelsey Creek Farm, 410 130th Pl. SE |
| Oct. 7–11 | Bellevue Jazz & Blues Music Series | Venues across downtown |
| Oct. 25 | Bellevue Symphony concert, 3–5 p.m. | Meydenbauer Center Theatre |
| Oct. 31 | Bonus Saturday farmers market (10 a.m.–3 p.m.) and Old Bellevue Halloween event (1–3 p.m.) | Bellevue Way NE lot and Main Street, Old Bellevue |
| Nov. 21 | Final Saturday farmers market, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | Bellevue Way NE lot |
| Nov. 27 | Snowflake Lane parade begins, nightly | Bellevue Way |
| Nov. 28 | Garden d'Lights opens | Bellevue Botanical Garden |
The Farm Fair Is Older Than the Market
Two days after the last regular Thursday market, Kelsey Creek Farm hosts its 44th annual Farm Fair on October 3, running 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. That number is worth sitting with. The farmers market just finished its 23rd season. The Farm Fair has been a Bellevue autumn fixture since roughly the early 1980s, more than twice as long.
The event draws around 4,000 visitors most years for pumpkin picking, tractor-pulled wagon rides from the Northwest Vintage Iron Tractor Club, and heritage demonstrations at the farm's Fraser Cabin. On-site parking is limited to vendors and accessible parking only, so the city runs a shuttle from Bannerwood Sports Park with additional overflow parking at the International School on 128th Avenue SE. If you're bringing young kids and don't want to hunt for street parking near the farm itself, plan on the shuttle from the start rather than as a backup.
The Same Stage, Three Weeks Apart
The Bellevue Jazz & Blues Music Series returns October 7 through 11, produced by the Bellevue Downtown Association and now built around a lineup shaped in part by Earshot Jazz executive director John Gilbreath. Two of the marquee nights land at Meydenbauer Center Theatre: Jazz Overhaul on Friday, October 9, a quartet that reworks Seattle grunge songs from bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden into jazz arrangements, and vocalist Lady A on Saturday, October 10, drawing from blues, soul, and gospel. Across the full five days there are more than 20 performances in venues around downtown, with tickets running $5 to $30, some free.
Three weeks later, the Bellevue Symphony takes the same Meydenbauer Center Theatre stage on Sunday, October 25, for a 3 to 5 p.m. concert with tickets listed between $30 and $44.52. Same room, same month, two audiences that probably don't overlap much, and a ticket price gap that says something about how differently these two series are positioned even though they share a venue.
Where the Season Actually Lands
The farmers market's last day of 2026 isn't October 1 or even October 31. It's Saturday, November 21, a 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. pre-Thanksgiving market at the same Bellevue Way NE lot. Six days later, the city flips a switch. Snowflake Lane's nightly parade begins the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 27, with floats and live drummers moving down Bellevue Way every evening into the new year. The next day, November 28, Garden d'Lights opens at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, a walk-through display built from roughly half a million lights.
As one local events guide put it, once you learn Bellevue's annual rhythm, the city plans itself. That's a fair way to describe what's happening here: the farmers market doesn't so much end as hand the calendar off, first to the Farm Fair, then to jazz and symphony downtown, then to the parade and the lights.
If You Only Remember Five Dates
- Oct. 1: last regular Thursday farmers market
- Oct. 3: Kelsey Creek Farm Fair, shuttle recommended
- Oct. 9–10: Jazz & Blues headliners at Meydenbauer Center Theatre
- Oct. 31: bonus Saturday market and Old Bellevue Halloween event, different locations, same afternoon
- Nov. 21: true last farmers market day of the year, before Snowflake Lane and Garden d'Lights take over
None of this requires you to be shopping for a house or thinking about the market in real estate terms. It's just how the next two months actually unfold if you already call this neighborhood home. But if a friend or neighbor ever does start asking what it's like to live here through a full year, from a Thursday market in May to a light display in November, that's the kind of texture worth knowing before you try to explain it.
Questions about how any of this fits into a specific block or building in Bellevue, or what a home near any of these gathering spots is actually worth this fall? Carissa Saffel knows this market in both senses of the word. Schedule a Consultation to talk through what you're seeing.
