What's on in Santa Fe, United States through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Ski season (25 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Ski season (25 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — Spring break in United States

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Ski season (25 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Ski season (25 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Santa Fe Opera season

  27 Jun – 25 Aug · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Two months of repertory in an open-sided theatre in the hills north of town, where the sunset behind the stage is part of the staging. Tailgating in the car park before curtain is the local ritual. Source ↗

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Monsoon storms

  1 Jul – 10 SepRisk

  Storms build over the Sangre de Cristos most July and August afternoons, drop hard for an hour and leave the light everyone paints here. Walk the high trails in the morning.

Still on: Santa Fe Opera season (27 Jun – 25 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Santa Fe Indian Market, Zozobra and Fiestas de Santa Fe

• Festival

  Santa Fe Indian Market

  14–24 Aug · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  The largest Native arts market in the world takes over the plaza on the third weekend of August, with a thousand artists booked into a few blocks. Rooms in town go months ahead. Source ↗

• Season

  Green chile roasting

  15 Aug – 30 Sep · usuallyHarvest

  Drum roasters appear in supermarket car parks and the whole town smells of burnt chile skin for six weeks. Buying a sack roasted and frozen is what people here actually do with it.

• Festival

  Zozobra and Fiestas de Santa Fe

  28 Aug – 14 Sep · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  A fifteen-metre marionette stuffed with the year's written-down troubles is burned in front of tens of thousands on the Friday before Labor Day, and the town's fiestas follow the week after. Source ↗

Still on: Santa Fe Opera season (27 Jun – 25 Aug (usually)), Monsoon storms (1 Jul – 10 Sep)

Peak crowds — Zozobra and Fiestas de Santa Fe, Summer break in United States

• Nature

  Aspens turning

  25 Sep – 15 Oct · usuallyAutumn colour

  The stands along the ski basin road and up towards Aspen Vista turn in the first week of October, high enough that the town cottonwoods are still green when they go.

Still on: Monsoon storms (1 Jul – 10 Sep), Green chile roasting (15 Aug – 30 Sep (usually)), Zozobra and Fiestas de Santa Fe (28 Aug – 14 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Aspens turning (25 Sep – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Thanksgiving break in United States

• Season

  Ski season

  25 Nov – 5 Apr · usually

  The ski area is twenty-five minutes up the mountain from the plaza and tops out above 3,600 metres, which is why a town at this latitude has a season at all. It usually runs from late November into early April. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Canyon Road farolito walk, Winter / Christmas break in United States

• Festival

  Canyon Road farolito walk

  24 DecChristmas & New YearCrowded

  On Christmas Eve the galleries put paper lanterns along the adobe walls of Canyon Road, close it to cars and let the whole town walk up it singing. Cold, slow and worth the queue for parking. Source ↗

Still on: Ski season (25 Nov – 5 Apr (usually))