St. Helena's Friday Market Moves Up Main Street for the Winter

St. Helena's Friday morning market has finished its 40th season at Crane Park. Starting this month, Friday shopping happens at 738 Main Street, where Long Meadow Ranch hosts the Farmstead Farmers' Market from November through April. The host is new, the hours start a little later and the stall list is shorter. Several of the same vendors still have tables. The move also puts winter Friday shopping back on Main Street, where the market started 40 years ago.

Forty Seasons, Ending at Crane Park

According to the St. Helena Farmers' Market's own history, the first market was held on Main Street on July 4, 1986. Angwin resident Sheila Mannix organized it. Growers Stan DeVoto, the Vigil family and Cathy Curlee were among the first sellers. In 1996 the market moved to Crane Park, and it has spent every summer since under the trees there.

This year's season opened Friday, May 1, with a ribbon cutting. The St. Helena Star's opening coverage described a market that had grown from a handful of farmers into more than 50 vendors a week. Ray Ray's Tacos marked the anniversary by donating the cake. Ed Smith manages the market, and the state's certified farmers' market list, dated October 1, 2026, names him too.

The Register's community calendar listed Friday, October 30 as the last Crane Park market of 2026. The market's homepage now thanks shoppers for the 2026 season and points to a return to Crane Park in May 2027. The St. Helena Farmers' Market runs from May through October, and it stops there.

A Different Host for the Same Friday Slot

The St. Helena event listing lists Long Meadow Ranch as the winter market's host. The ranch's farmers' market page lists its winter Farmstead market and the summer St. Helena market as two separate entries.

Long Meadow Ranch has its own history with markets. The ranch writes that the farmers' market "is where it all began for the Halls with their first garden at the Long Meadow Ranch Mountain Estate." It still sells its organic produce, beef and honey at market every week. When Crane Park closes for the season, the ranch becomes the host instead of one of the vendors.

The two Fridays differ in a few practical ways.

Long Meadow Ranch set the winter market's opening for Friday, November 6, with the season running through April. The ranch describes it as a seasonal market "that carries the harvest through the cooler months." Anyone who shops the market gets a cup of drip coffee on the house. After that opening week, the next Friday on the calendar is November 13.

The Stalls That Make the Move

The handoff matters because some stalls appear on both lists. Santa Rosa Seafood and Woodlands Charcuterie appear on the Crane Park market's vendor pages and on Long Meadow Ranch's Farmstead lineup. The Greek Table and Ray Ray's Tacos were both named in the summer opening coverage, and both are on the winter list as well.

Long Meadow Ranch lists these vendors for Farmstead this winter:

• Long Meadow Ranch, selling its organic produce, beef and honey
• Santa Rosa Seafood
• Woodlands Charcuterie
• Gerard'z Honeybees
• Natalia's Dacha
• Ray Ray's Taco
• Katryana Zide Chocolates
• West Won Bread
• The Greek Table
• Pasta Prelude
• Aloha Organix
• Medina Berry Farm, new this season
• The Fruit Tree, new this season

That's 13 names. Crane Park had more than 50 vendors a week this summer. The winter market covers the basics of a Friday shop: fish, cured meats, bread, honey, pasta, chocolate and produce, with tacos and Greek food for anyone who arrives hungry. It works more like a weekly errand on Main Street than a morning out in the park. The two new stalls are the main reason to look more closely this year. The ranch flags both Medina Berry Farm and The Fruit Tree as new.

The Same Month, a 38-Foot Tree at Hunt Avenue

The evening before Thanksgiving brings the season's other big Main Street event. On Wednesday, November 25, from 5 to 7 p.m., the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, Beringer Vineyards and the City of St. Helena light the 38-foot Beringer Holiday Wine Barrel Tree on Hunt Avenue. The Chamber's event listing includes snowfall, Santa lighting the tree, a winter market, vintage lighted holiday cars, food and wine, live music from Vybe Society, and a Kids Zone.

This year's lighting also marks two anniversaries, because St. Helena and Beringer Vineyards both turn 150 in 2026. The tree's spot at Hunt Avenue and Main Street is on the same street as the Farmstead market at 738 Main.

For a household planning the rest of November around Main Street, the dates are:

1. Friday, November 13 and Friday, November 20: Farmstead Farmers' Market, 8 a.m. to noon, 738 Main St.
2. Wednesday, November 25, 5 to 7 p.m.: Wine Barrel Tree Lighting Ceremony on Hunt Avenue.
3. Friday, November 27: The Farmstead market's regular Friday slot, the day after Thanksgiving.

Every Friday market from November through April falls between 8 a.m. and noon at the same address. Crane Park's next season starts in May 2027.

If a Friday at 738 Main St. has you thinking about what a full year in St. Helena could look like for your household, from the summer market to the winter one, The Joel Toller Team would be glad to share what we know. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.