"We've been hearing so much how people want continuity, how they wanted an opportunity to vend in the off-season, and how their income stopped," Clark Fork River Market executive director Kaylee Nassiri told KPAX and Missoula Current in October 2025. A few days earlier, the Missoula City Council had voted to make the market year-round.
This fall is the second time Missoula's Saturday market moves indoors for the winter instead of closing. For anyone living in Phase 8 whose weekends run through North Higgins, the season ends on October 31 and picks up again two weeks later on Ryman Street. The winter version is smaller and runs under a separate set of food rules. It exists because of a specific council vote.
Two finales on the same Saturday
Both downtown markets wrap up their outdoor seasons on Saturday, October 31.
The Missoula Farmers' Market, which has been running since 1972, holds its last 2026 market that morning on North Higgins. October hours are 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
A short walk south, the Clark Fork River Market at 225 S. Pattee St. is treating its outdoor finale as a party. The plan includes trick-or-treating through the stalls, free CFRM fanny packs for the first 75 people at the Information Booth, and Keith Hardin playing the weekly live music slot under Beartracks Bridge from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The market is also celebrating a new title. In American Farmland Trust's 2026 America's Farmers Market Celebration, 1,896 markets drew more than 116,687 public votes between August 1 and September 30, and the AFT results list Clark Fork Market as Montana's state winner. The market calls this being named the #1 farmers market in Montana. The ten national winners are a separate list.
Why a winter market needed a council vote
In October 2025, the council adopted a resolution sponsored by council member Mike Nugent that officially established the Clark Fork winter market. That status gives vendors access to exemptions they would not have otherwise.
Shannon Therriault, director of environmental health at the City-County Health Department, explained to KPAX that going "through this official route" lets a farmers market use "some very specific exemptions and allowances in the retail food law and the local food choice act." The same report said this lets vendors sell bread and other home-cooked foods they bake themselves without a license, and lets coffee be sold without a license too.
Montana DPHHS guidance on the Montana Local Food Choice Act lays out how this works for shoppers:
- Homemade foods from producers who follow the Act are exempt from licensing, certification, packaging, labeling and inspection rules when sold directly to an informed end consumer in Montana, including at a farmers market.
- The seller has to tell buyers that the item has not been licensed, permitted, certified, packaged, labeled or officially inspected.
- The food has to be made in a private home kitchen, not put together at the market.
- A market can set stricter conditions than the law requires.
That disclosure is why a loaf of bread on a winter table may come with a short explanation from the baker.
The week the market skips, and the 21 Saturdays after it
The winter market's vendor application sets the season at November 14, 2026 through April 3, 2027. It runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Badlander and Locals Only, 208 Ryman St. Last winter, the first one, ran on the same schedule from November 15, 2025 to April 4, 2026.
Here is the calendar from the outdoor finale on:
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Last outdoor market for both the Missoula Farmers' Market and Clark Fork.
- Saturday, Nov. 7: No Clark Fork market. This is the only break.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: The indoor winter season opens on Ryman Street.
- Every Saturday through April 3: 21 indoor markets in total, then the outdoor season returns.
Shoppers lose one weekend, and the hours run until 1 p.m., half an hour later than the Missoula Farmers' Market's October close.
The space is different. Under the application, stalls are about 7 feet by 7 feet, tents aren't allowed, and prepared-food vendors can't use open flames indoors. KPAX reported in 2025 that Clark Fork had grown to about 215 vendors in summer, and Nassiri said the winter market would be smaller.
The vendor rules keep it regional. Sellers must grow, raise or make their products in Western Montana, west of the Continental Divide, and those who use local ingredients get preference. Before the first winter opened, Nassiri said shoppers would find "greenhouse-grown vegetables, micro greens, kombucha, baked goods, beef and dairy products, and products using the Montana Local Food Choice Act." That was a forecast for last season, not a list for this one. The market's calendar for the Nov. 14 opening only says live music is "stay tuned."
The one carryover that's confirmed is Double SNAP Dollars. The program's September 30 update says it works at both the Clark Fork Winter Market and the Missoula Valley Winter Farmers Market this winter.
The second winter market hasn't posted dates yet
Missoula has two winter markets. The Missoula Valley Winter Market is a separate operation, and last season it ran at Southgate Mall. Its website says the 2026 site is still being built, and so far it links vendor materials, including an application and rules, but no market dates. Last winter it opened on November 8, the first Saturday of the month. That date suggests it could cover the Nov. 7 gap this year, but nothing confirms it yet.
Buying from local farms between markets
The Western Montana Growers Cooperative's six-week fall CSA runs from October 15 to November 19 with Thursday deliveries. Each weekly share has 5 to 7 items, including fall fruit, vegetables and storage crops like winter squash and onions. The co-op's page lists registration closing on October 12. Add-ons can include local eggs, milk, cheese, bread and coffee.
For walk-in shopping, the co-op's retailer directory lists these Missoula stores:
- Good Food Store, 1610 S. 3rd St. W. The store says it carries locally grown produce "just about every day of the year."
- Rattlesnake Market & Cafe, 2501 Rattlesnake Dr.
- Pattee Creek Market, 704 S.W. Higgins Ave.
- Orange Street Food Farm, 701 S. Orange St.
- Grizzly Grocery, 447 Hill St.
According to the Missoulian, Green Source plans to open Green Source Local Market at 617 S. Higgins. It will sell meat, eggs, dairy, bread, produce and honey, sourced partly from Missoula County and the Bitterroot. The owners' only timeline so far is "Opening soon."
When the holiday markets join the Saturday routine
In November and December, holiday markets start overlapping with the winter season:
- Nov. 13–14: The Prairie Sisters Christmas Vintage Market fills the Commercial and Culinary Buildings at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. Early shopping runs Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. That Saturday is also the winter market's opening day.
- Dec. 5: Holidays on Higgins, the event that used to be the Parade of Lights, runs 3 to 7 p.m. downtown. It now has a stationary float parade and a tree lighting at 6 p.m. on North Higgins. Downtown Missoula Partnership says the makers market will have more than 40 local makers. The winter market closes at 1 p.m. that day, so a morning on Ryman Street and an afternoon on Higgins fit in one Saturday.
- First three weekends of December: Free carriage rides downtown on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m., leaving from East Pine between Higgins and the Missoula Art Museum.
- Dec. 13: The Missoula Holiday MADE Fair fills the University of Montana's Adams Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The organizer, Handmade Montana, expects more than 200 local artists and nonprofits. VIP entry from 9 to 11 a.m. costs $15, and entry is free from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phase 8 townhomes are built for lock-and-leave living, and that suits a winter Saturday downtown. If you're looking at Canyon River homes close enough to make Ryman Street part of your winter weekends, Stephanie Nelson can show you the townhomes before the indoor season opens on November 14. Start Your Canyon River Story.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
