This Saturday, October 31, the Pasadena Mistletoe Market opens at 9 a.m. inside the Pasadena Convention Center at 7902 Fairmont Pkwy. Entry is $5, cash only, and the doors close at 4:30 p.m. By December 12, the same grounds will have hosted four more holiday markets and the Chamber's biggest food night of the year.
Most Pasadena holiday seasons look like that, with the shared calendar centered on one city-owned fairground. What's new this year is that the city is planning two gathering places at the same time. One is a district on the land around the fairground. The other is a downtown that, by the city's own description, Pasadena still needs to create. The first MuralFest on Shaw Avenue, held Saturday, October 24, was the first public event on that second front.
Five Dates, One Address
The season's dates line up on a single property. Here is the run, pulled from the City of Pasadena calendar and Visit Pasadena:
| Date | Event | Hours | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Pasadena Mistletoe Market | 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | Convention Center, $5 cash entry |
| Thu., Nov. 5 | Taste of the Town | 5 to 9 p.m. | Convention Center & Fairgrounds |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | 5th Annual Pasadena Nutcracker Market | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Convention Center & Fairgrounds |
| Sat. and Sun., Nov. 28 and 29 | Bay Area Nutcracker Market | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day | Convention Center & Fairgrounds |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Pasadena Christmas Market | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Convention Center & Fairgrounds |
Taste of the Town is the Pasadena Chamber's evening of food from local restaurants and businesses, with live entertainment and an auction. The city's event listing gives the timing. VIP entry starts at 4 p.m., public doors open at 5, and the program and live auction begin at 6.
The holiday markets are only part of the bookings. On the same city calendar, the weekends between them carry Convention Center events like the Clipper Beasts Barber Expo on December 6 and Lugnut Larry's Auto Fair at the BBQ Pavilion on December 13. The Pasadena EDC also counts the property as home to the city's signature celebrations, including 4th Fest and the Pasadena Livestock Show & Rodeo.
The Same Grounds Are Now a Planning Site
That steady traffic is the reason the fairgrounds are now on the drawing board. The Pasadena Economic Development Corporation has started an Entertainment District Master Plan with the design firm SWA Group. It covers roughly 200 acres around the Convention Center that the EDC says are available for future development. The stated goal is to reposition the existing civic and entertainment buildings inside a larger mixed-use destination for residents and regional visitors. The plan's completion date is listed as Q2 2027.
In a September 16 article from the Pasadena EDC, the EDC wrote that the plan will look at what would be useful for three groups: event attendees, residents in surrounding areas, and nearby businesses. Anyone at a Nutcracker Market this November fits the first group, and many fit the second.
The public's first formal chance to weigh in happens inside the building being planned:
- Wednesday, November 18: community visioning evening workshop, held in Spanish, at the Pasadena Convention Center
- Thursday, November 19: the same workshop, held in English, same location
- Who can attend: the EDC invites all Pasadena residents, business owners, community members and the public
The EDC lists the workshops as evening sessions. The project page names Karina Tomlinson, Economic Development Manager, as the contact for anyone who wants the exact start time.
The building itself is on a separate track. The EDC's Convention Center Expansion & Renovation project would modernize and expand the facility into a flexible conference and event venue. Related work includes parking lot lighting upgrades. Swart Architects is handling design, and both the budget and the completion date are listed as TBD. For this season, the markets happen in the building as it stands today.
Shaw Avenue Held Its First Festival on October 24
The second plan points to a different part of town. On October 24, Pasadena MuralFest closed Shaw Avenue from Munger to Charles for a free, all-ages day of live mural painting and music. The listing also promised food trucks, games, a pumpkin patch, a local vendor market, and classic cars and motorcycles. Visit Pasadena billed it as the first annual MuralFest and titled its preview "MuralFest Brightens Historic Downtown Pasadena With Local Art."
Nine artists were listed: Daniel Maldonado, David Maldonado, Adrian Avila, Alex Roman Jr., Alan Davis, Ernesto Sandoval, Jesse Deleon, Gabriel Escobedo and Sylvia Blanco. The plan called for several murals to be painted on nearby buildings during the day, plus a portable mural wall where anyone could add to a shared piece. According to Visit Pasadena, the festival grew out of summer Art Walks it ran with Texas Markets and with David Maldonado and Adrian Avila. Port Houston was the visionary sponsor, and ILA and Zeppelin Coffee were presenting sponsors.
The festival built on several years of city work on the same blocks. In 2021, the EDC's Project Revive put $85,000 into murals across the Shaw district. Seven artists were chosen from 30 submissions. Their work went up at Pasadena Sporting Goods, at Awards by GCT on Shaver Street, along the freeway access road, and on Main Street, where Anat Ronen painted. In July 2022, the city finished Shaw Avenue Phase I between Carl Street and McMasters Avenue. That covered $2.8 million in repaving, wider sidewalks and utilities, and another $1 million for crosswalks, pedestrian lighting, trees and street furniture.
The street work was finished in 2022, and MuralFest was the first festival built around it. Dr. Jo Estrada, Manager at Visit Pasadena, explained the reasoning in the festival preview: public art "instills community pride and actually encourages people to go out and explore their city."
A Downtown the City Says It Still Needs
The fairgrounds district is a named project with a consultant and a deadline. The downtown is one step behind. In its September article, the EDC said the city was accepting proposals for a separate downtown master plan to find high-potential areas and the kinds of businesses that could do well there. That plan would guide development for the next 10 to 20 years. The same Pasadena EDC article quotes Arturo Marquez, the EDC's Director of Economic Development:
"We are looking to create our own downtown with walkable areas for residents, mixed-use spaces, and a balance between businesses and recreational amenities. This will be another gathering place for residents where they can enjoy their time together and attend local events."
The words "another gathering place" assume there is already a first one, and on this season's calendar that first one is Fairmont Parkway. The downtown plan has not named a location yet. Even so, the city's storefront program already names the older corridors. The EDC's 2026 Facade Forward grant matches half of eligible exterior costs, up to $50,000 per project, for upgrades like signs, awnings, storefronts, murals and sidewalk cafés. Its guidelines list Historic Pasadena corridors along Pasadena Boulevard, Red Bluff Road, Richey Street, Shaver Street, Main Street and Shaw Avenue as possible project areas. Board minutes describe the program as citywide, so other corridors may qualify too.
For both plans, the EDC says it will hold stakeholder meetings. It also asks residents to fill out its economic vision survey, which asks which businesses, restaurants and stores would make Pasadena more enjoyable to live and work in.
A Late-Fall Plan Built Around Both
- Saturday, October 31: Mistletoe Market at the Convention Center, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bring $5 in cash.
- Thursday, November 5: Taste of the Town. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the program and auction start at 6.
- Saturday, November 7: the 5th Annual Pasadena Nutcracker Market, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 18, or Thursday, November 19: the Entertainment District visioning workshop, in Spanish or in English, at the same Convention Center.
- Any weekend: walk Shaw Avenue between Munger and Charles to see the MuralFest site, then find the 2021 murals at Pasadena Sporting Goods and at Awards by GCT on Shaver Street.
- Saturday, November 28, through Saturday, December 12: the Bay Area Nutcracker Market, then the Pasadena Christmas Market to close the season.
If you're curious how plans like the fairgrounds district and a new downtown could shape your part of Pasadena, Donnette Premier Group is happy to walk you through it, starting with a free home valuation and a neighborhood guide that tracks what's changing near you.
