What's on around Minneapolis and St. Paul in November 2026

Two German Christmas markets open on the same Friday evening this month, one on each bank of the Mississippi. The Minneapolis Christkindl Market puts its wooden huts up at North Loop Green on November 20, and the European Christmas Market opens on the East Plaza at Union Depot in St. Paul the same day. Four of the area's holiday markets and light shows open between Thursday, November 19 and Friday, November 20. GLOW at CHS Field opens first, on the Thursday evening, and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's new evening light show in Chaska opens alongside the two markets the night after.

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in Minnesota through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work out of Bluffton, South Carolina, so nothing here is a first-hand claim. Every date below comes from the organizer, the venue, the city that runs it, or a 2026 report I name beside it. Anything I could only find on a previous year's listing was left out. I checked all of it on October 21, 2026. If you are looking at homes anywhere from Minneapolis and St. Paul out to Wright County this fall, the Twin Cities buyer's guide covers the thirteen Minnesota counties here. It also covers the November tax notice that lands in a lot of mailboxes this month, and the homestead exclusion, which takes part of your home's value off the amount you are taxed on once the home is your own.

Tuesday the 3rd is election day

Election day is Tuesday, November 3, and the polls close at 8 p.m. Early in-person voting opened on October 16, which Fox 9's voter guide laid out along with the rest of the ballot. Every statewide executive office is up this year, together with a United States Senate seat, all eight House seats, and every seat in the Minnesota Senate and House.

One proposed constitutional amendment is on the ballot, and the Secretary of State's office confirms it is the only one. It would change how much of the Permanent School Fund goes to schools each year, raising the annual payout from 2.5% to 4.5% of the fund's average value over the three preceding fiscal years. It would take effect July 1, 2027. The League of Women Voters Minnesota explainer covers who it reaches, which includes public, charter and tribal schools, and it covers the argument against it as well. In Minnesota, a question left blank on the ballot is counted as a no vote.

School funding reaches you through the tax bill, and in this state it reaches you again through the homestead exclusion. Two pages on the site walk through that side of it: what happens to property taxes after you buy and how escrow accounts work.

A Saturday of books at Union Depot, and the Gophers at home

Rain Taxi's Twin Cities Book Festival takes over Union Depot on Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in its 26th year. The festival's own page has it free and open to anybody who walks in. The depot is at 214 Fourth Street East in Lowertown, and the Green Line stops at the door.

Across the river the same afternoon, the Gophers host UCLA at Huntington Bank Stadium. The University of Minnesota's own schedule carried the date with the kickoff time still to be announced when I checked, so that page is the one to watch the week of the game. Northwestern comes in on Saturday, November 21, also at a time still to be set.

The theatres start their holiday runs early here

Children's Theatre Company opens Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! on November 3 and runs it to January 3 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage, which Mpls.St.Paul Magazine reported when the season went out.

The Guthrie's A Christmas Carol starts a week later. The Guthrie's own listing has it on the Wurtele Thrust Stage from November 11 through December 27, in Lavina Jadhwani's adaptation directed by Addie Gorlin-Han. The Guthrie's box office can tell you exactly which performance you are buying.

Art Attack, and three museum shows that open this month

Art Attack fills the Northrup King Building in Northeast Minneapolis for a weekend. The building's own events page gives this year's hours as Friday, November 13 from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday the 14th from noon to 8 p.m., and Sunday the 15th from noon to 5 p.m. The old seed warehouse at 1500 Jackson Street NE holds several hundred studios across its floors and parking is free off the street.

The Walker opens Abbas Akhavan's Variations on a Garden on November 12, and it runs to April 18. Two more open at the Minneapolis Institute of Art: Gilles Peress's The Northern Ireland Conflict, 1968-1998 in the Perlman Gallery on November 14, and Quiet Visions: Chinese Album Painting from Ming to Qing in the Sit Gallery on November 21. Mia's upcoming exhibitions page carries the run dates for both, and the Walker's calendar carries Akhavan's.

The lights and the markets, in the order they come on

St. Paul goes first. The City of Saint Paul's own parks calendar has the Tree of Lights ceremony in Rice Park on Saturday, November 14. Rice Park is at 109 West Fourth Street, between the Landmark Center and the Ordway.

Out in Bloomington, Mall of America's own page runs the Festival of Trees from November 18 through November 25. It picks up again on November 27 and carries to January 8, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on most days.

Then comes the crowded stretch. GLOW opens at CHS Field in Lowertown on Thursday, November 19, and Explore Minnesota's listing runs it on select nights to January 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. The nights it is dark are not all published yet, so the festival's own calendar is worth a look before you drive over. Tickets are dated for an entry time, and GLOW donates a dollar from every ticket to local charities.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska has replaced its Winter Lights walking tour with a new evening show called Northern Lights. The Arboretum's own page has it open evenings from November 20 through January 3, from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., closed on November 26 and again on December 24 and 25. It is projection and lighting set among the trees with sound to match, so it is a different night out from the Winter Lights walk that ran there for years.

Both Christmas markets open on Friday, November 20, and both run weekends only. The Minneapolis Christkindl Market's own site lists five weekends at North Loop Green, 350 North Fifth Street: November 20 to 22, November 27 to 29, and three more in December. The St. Paul market's FAQ gives the identical five weekends on the East Plaza at Union Depot, 240 East Kellogg Boulevard, and admission is free there. Published hours differ between listings for both markets, so please check each market's own page the week you plan to go.

Farmers markets, and the last weekend outdoors

The outdoor markets here finish around the turn of the month, and the two downtown markets finish on different weekends.

The St. Paul Farmers Market in Lowertown runs Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 290 East Fifth Street, and the market's own Lowertown listing is where its hours live. Racket's 2026 market guide runs the outdoor season through Saturday, November 21. The market's indoor stand on Prince Street in Lowertown is listed Tuesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. through November 22.

The Minneapolis Farmers Market's own 2026 schedule on its site runs the Lyndale market from May 2 through October 31, so its regular outdoor season ends the weekend before this month starts. Whether it adds any November weekends was not posted when I checked, so that is a call to the market rather than a date I can print. The Mill City winter market moves indoors to the Mill City Museum for select Saturdays from November through April. That is how the market's own site describes it, and Twin Cities Family's winter market guide has it on the first and third Saturdays. The market had not posted its own 2026-27 dates when I checked.

Thanksgiving morning, and the weekend after it

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The Turkey Day 5K runs in downtown Minneapolis that morning, put on by Twin Cities in Motion, and the start time is on the race's own page. Across the river, the St. Paul Turkey Trot starts its 10K at 7:30 a.m. and its 6K at 8 a.m., with proceeds going to the Open Door food shelf. The race's own page is the one to read before you register. Out in Carver County, the Chanhassen Turkey Trot 5K starts at 9 a.m. at Chanhassen High School that same morning.

The weekend after that belongs to the Minnesota Hmong New Year at Saint Paul RiverCentre, Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th, with doors at 8 a.m. both days. The RiverCentre's own listing has the dates, and Hmong Times puts the opening ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on the Saturday. St. Paul is home to one of the largest Hmong communities in the country.

The Vikings, the Wild and the Timberwolves at home in November

The Vikings play at home twice. Buffalo comes in on Monday night, November 9, and U.S. Bank Stadium's own listing gives a 7:15 p.m. kickoff. Atlanta visits on Sunday, November 29 at noon, according to the team's schedule. Kickoff times move for the national broadcast, so those pages are the ones to trust the week of the game.

The Wild have five home dates in St. Paul, against San Jose on the 6th, Tampa Bay on the 7th, Nashville on the 17th, Utah on the 25th and Colorado on the 27th. The team's published schedule has the first three at 7 p.m. If you have not been downtown in a while, the building is the same one it has always been and the name on it is now Grand Casino Arena.

The Timberwolves are home ten times at Target Center, on November 2, 8, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23 and 27, which the team's home-game listing carries. Tip-off times are posted for most of them and still open on a few.

Events I could not confirm for this year

Several things that turn up on November lists for the Twin Cities are not in the dated list above, because I could not find this year's date from the people who run them.

Holidazzle is the big one. The Minneapolis Downtown Council has ended it, CBS Minnesota reported that the council is folding it into a winter-long downtown campaign called Winterapolis, and no 2026 schedule had been posted when I looked. Sever's Holiday Lights in Shakopee, the Santa Experience and Santa's arrival at Mall of America, and the Dayton's Project Winter Maker's Market on Nicollet Mall all carry only last year's dates on the listings I could find.

Veterans Day falls on Wednesday, November 11. The state's own Veterans Day celebration is in Duluth this year, according to the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. The Twin Cities ceremonies that ran in past years at the Veterans Service Building in St. Paul and at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center had not posted 2026 details. The dates circulating elsewhere belong to last year, so I left them out rather than print a time I could not confirm. Suburbs here run their own observances, and the city or township calendar is where those live.

New around the area this year

St. Paul opened a new library building in Hamline-Midway. The branch had its grand opening on July 18, 2026. The Saint Paul Public Library describes a single-floor plan built for accessibility, with solar panels and a geothermal heat pump. The design was shaped by 2,355 survey responses and community events that drew 664 people. Over on White Bear Avenue, the Hayden Heights branch has been closed since March 25 for an eighteen-month renovation.

The long Minneapolis freeway project is in its last stretch. MnDOT's I-94 and I-394 page describes intermittent lane and ramp closures and a reduced lane count on I-94 between the Lowry Hill Tunnel and Highway 55. MnDOT has the work on 34 bridges and ramps wrapping up this month, weather permitting. Out at the northwest edge of the metro, MnDOT's I-94 Gap project between Albertville and Monticello is scheduled to have all six lanes open in late fall. If you are shopping in Wright County and commuting in, that is the stretch that changes your drive.

The Blue Line extension is in a design year right now, and construction has not started. The Metropolitan Council has final design running through 2026 and major construction anticipated to start in 2027 on the 13.4-mile line through Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park. The Council set the budget at $3.58 billion in June, and MPR News reported in September that a local funding gap of about $224 million has to be closed first. So if you are looking at a home along that route, no train runs on it for several years yet, and the home has to work for your commute the way things stand today.

Several employers named Twin Cities expansions this year. The Minnesota Chamber's 2026 retention and expansion report counts three of them. Daikin Applied is putting about $163 million into a research and test lab at its Plymouth headquarters. Boston Scientific has committed more than $139 million across new and expanded Minnesota facilities that could add up to 440 jobs, and nVent Electric is expanding in Blaine for as many as 175 jobs. Chick-fil-A opened in Shakopee on October 8 and said it would open in Stillwater later this month, about 180 jobs between the two, according to the company's announcement.

A job that starts here changes which documents a lender reads on your file, and it matters early whether you are taking a salaried position or working for yourself once you arrive. Getting pre-approved in Minnesota covers what gets reviewed before anybody writes a letter, and self-employed mortgages in Minnesota covers the returns side of it.

Common questions

What is happening around the Twin Cities at Thanksgiving 2026?

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The Turkey Day 5K runs in downtown Minneapolis and the St. Paul Turkey Trot runs a 10K at 7:30 a.m. and a 6K at 8 a.m. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's Northern Lights show is closed for the holiday. The Minnesota Hmong New Year fills Saint Paul RiverCentre that weekend, on the 28th and the 29th, and both Christmas markets are open Friday through Sunday.

When do the Christmas markets open in Minneapolis and St. Paul in 2026?

Both open on Friday, November 20, and both run on weekends through December 20. The Minneapolis Christkindl Market is at North Loop Green on Fifth Street North, and the European Christmas Market is on the East Plaza at Union Depot in St. Paul, where admission is free. Each market's own page carries its hours, and published hours differ between listings.

When does GLOW open at CHS Field in 2026?

Thursday, November 19, from 5 to 9 p.m., on select nights through January 3, according to Explore Minnesota's listing. GLOW donates a dollar from every ticket to local charities. The nights the festival is dark were not all published when I checked, so the festival's own calendar is where to check a specific date.

Is Holidazzle happening in 2026?

Not the way you remember it, and no 2026 schedule had been posted when I checked on October 21. The Minneapolis Downtown Council has ended Holidazzle, and CBS Minnesota reported that a winter-long downtown campaign called Winterapolis is taking its place from November through February.

When is the last outdoor farmers market of the season in the Twin Cities?

The St. Paul Farmers Market in Lowertown is listed outdoors through Saturday, November 21, and its indoor market through Sunday, November 22. The Minneapolis Farmers Market's own 2026 schedule runs the Lyndale market through October 31, and it had not posted any November weekends when I checked. The Mill City winter market moves indoors to the Mill City Museum on the first and third Saturdays from November through April.

Are all of these inside Minneapolis and St. Paul?

Several are not. The Northern Lights show is in Chaska out in Carver County, the Festival of Trees is at Mall of America in Bloomington, and the Chanhassen Turkey Trot runs on Thanksgiving morning. The county a home is in changes its tax bill and its school district here, and the thirteen Minnesota counties in this metro do not all work the same way on recording taxes. The Twin Cities buyer's guide goes through that county by county.

I am moving to the Twin Cities this winter. Where should I start?

You'll want to start with which county and which city the home is in, because that pair decides the tax bill, the school district, and whether a city point-of-sale inspection applies before a sale closes. The homestead exclusion is the other piece, and it only applies once you have claimed the home as your own. The Minnesota page covers the statewide rules, including the two recording taxes, and refinancing in Minnesota explains why the mortgage registry tax belongs in that math too. If you are a veteran, how VA loans work in Minnesota covers entitlement and the funding fee. Then please give me a call and tell me which towns you are looking in, and I can tell you what your numbers look like in each of them.