The Avenue of the Fountains Runs on a Timetable This November

On a Wednesday morning in November, the Avenue of the Fountains has a market on each side of the street. Pottery and woodworking are set out on one side. Tamales, honey and eggs are on the other, facing Fountain Park. Both open at 10 a.m. and close at 2 p.m., and both came back the same week.

From now through Thanksgiving, nearly everything downtown Fountain Hills puts on uses this one street and the few blocks around it. Over three weeks it hosts the markets, a three-day art festival that closes surrounding roads, a monthly concert, a 5K and a parade. The events rarely compete for space because each has its own day and hour. Once you know the order, the month is easy to plan.

Wednesday is two markets

The season opened on November 4 and runs through April 28, 2027. The two markets keep the same hours, but they're separate operations with different addresses and different goods.

• Art on the Avenue sets up at 16858 Avenue of the Fountains. Its vendors sell handmade work: jewelry, photography, pottery, woodworking, home décor and wearable art.
• The Fountain Hills Farmers Market sets up at 16831 E. Avenue of the Fountains, across from Fountain Park. It has 55 to 60 food vendors plus food trucks and some health and wellness vendors, selling produce, baked goods, honey, tamales, prepared foods and eggs.

The town describes the Wednesday market season as free and easy to get around with strollers and wheelchairs. It's also the only November event downtown that happens every week. The bigger events stack up around it.

The festival weekend closes the streets around it

The first of those events starts tomorrow. The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce's Fall Fountain Festival of Fine Arts & Crafts runs Friday, November 13, through Sunday, November 15, on Avenue of the Fountains and Saguaro Boulevard. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Chamber lists more than 400 juried artists, along with food concessionaires, entertainment, and beer and wine. Admission is free.

The festival takes up more of the street grid than the markets do, and the weekend's driving depends on it. The visitor guide lists closures on Saguaro Boulevard from E. Palisades Boulevard, on Parkview Avenue from N. Saguaro Boulevard, and on Verde River Road from E. Parkview Avenue. Parking is free in these places:

1. The River of Time Museum
2. The municipal buildings
3. Fountain Park
4. Designated downtown spaces
5. Street parking outside the closed blocks

The festival takes place twice a year, in February and November, and the town counts it among the largest arts and crafts fairs in the Southwest, drawing tens of thousands of visitors. If you live a few blocks off Saguaro, it may be easier to walk in than to drive around the closures.

The week between festival and holiday

After the festival tents come down, the next week fills with smaller events, and several of them happen after dark.

The Leonid meteor shower peaks the night of November 16 into the 17th. The American Meteor Society's 2026 calendar puts the moon at 41 percent illumination, first quarter, and notes that moonlight may hide fainter meteors while the moon is up. Fountain Hills has been an International Dark Sky Community since 2018. The Fountain Hills Dark Sky Association's list of viewing spots includes the eastern side of Fountain Park, plus Four Peaks Park, Golden Eagle Park and Desert Vista Park when their field lights are off.

The River of Time Museum & Exploration Center opens its Annual Holiday Mart on November 18, and it runs through December 19. The next evening, November 19, is the month's third Thursday. The town's free concert series brings Arizona musicians to the Centennial Pavilion downtown on the third Thursday of each month from November through April. Godspell plays at Fountain Hills Theater through November 22.

There's also a cost deadline that week. Standard registration for the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot closes on November 15, the festival's last day. The price goes up on November 16.

Thanksgiving morning uses the Avenue twice

The month ends with the busiest morning of the year on this street. Two organizations run back-to-back events on Thursday, November 26, about two hours apart.

The Turkey Trot has a timed 5K and a fitness walk. Runners 12 and under pay $25 for the 5K during standard registration and $30 late, and the walk costs the same. Tax and processing fees are added. You must register in advance because there's no race-day sign-up. The town's announcement describes this year's Mayor's Challenge: $1 goes to charity for every runner who finishes ahead of the mayor. Last year's challenge raised more than $12,000 for Extended Hands Food Bank.

The parade has run every year since 1984, and this year's theme is "Happy Birthday America!" The Chamber's listing names local businesses, veteran groups, classic cars, service organizations, marching bands, animals, dance routines and motorcycle shows. Santa Claus comes last, on his first holiday-season visit to Fountain Hills.

The gap between the two start times lets one household do both. The race starts just east of Verde River Drive at 7:15. The parade starts at Saguaro and Parkview at 9:30, a short distance away. A 5K finisher has time to get home or find a coffee before the floats start.

The building at the center of it

All of this happens around a project that isn't open to the public yet. The International Dark Sky Discovery Center is going up in the middle of downtown, and its homepage says "Opening Early 2027." Its September 24 update said Phase 2 work was moving quickly. An earlier update set a construction target of December 31, followed by at least one to two months of furnishing.

The plans give a sense of what will eventually anchor these events. The Dark Sky Observatory will have a 20.5-foot dome and a 27.5-inch PlaneWave telescope for public viewing, research, live broadcasts and astrophotography. The Craig and Ruth Gimbel Hyperspace Planetarium will seat 60 under a 39-foot tilted dome. One exhibit, on Polynesian celestial navigation, is being built inside its own half dome. It was developed by Split Rock Studios in Minneapolis together with the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Honolulu.

The project also has a direct connection to the Avenue. Fountain Hills requires public art, and the Center's certificate of occupancy depends on meeting that requirement. The Center commissioned Fountain Hills resident Brian Schader to make a $35,000 sculpture of Galileo, with a globe, a telescope and a backlit book telling his story. Schader also made the Fountain of Light on Avenue of the Fountains. As of the September update, the Center was looking for a sponsor to fund the sculpture. If you walk the Avenue between the two markets or toward the festival booths, you can see the Fountain of Light, Schader's earlier work for downtown.

If the Fall Fountain Festival or a Wednesday on the Avenue has you thinking about how life downtown fits your own plans, Bob Martz and The Martz Group are glad to talk through Fountain Hills and the East Valley with you privately. Request a Private Market Consultation when it suits you.