Between the Last Chairlift and the First: Big Sky's Off-Season Calendar Belongs to the Town

Big Sky Resort lists most of its Mountain Village venues as closed right now, and the mountain doesn't reopen for winter until November 25. In that gap, the calendar is run almost entirely by a short list of local hosts. The Warren Miller Performing Arts Center, The Waypoint, the Big Sky Community Organization at BASE and the Arts Council of Big Sky put on nearly everything between now and Thanksgiving. Most of it happens in Town Center or Meadow Village, and the free events are some of the best on the schedule. When winter comes back, it doesn't happen all at once. It arrives in steps over about three weeks, and each step opens a different part of town.

What the mountain has put away for now

The resort's hours page lists Carabiner, Chet's Bar & Grill, Mocha in the Huntley, Montana Jack, Treeline Coffee Roasters, Umbrella Bar and Vista Hall as closed. Big Sky Sports, Big Sky Candle Bar, Different Spokes, Huntley Trading Post, Lone Peak Logo, Peak Pros and The Rider's Room are listed as closed too. A few resort venues are still open. The page shows Bunker Deck & Grill open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Big Sky Cap Co open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Resort Store in Town Center is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Monday through Wednesday. The page is a live schedule with no date on it, so check it before you plan around any single venue.

Most of the weekly basics are at the bottom of the hill. The Country Market's website lists daily hours of 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. In Town Center, HYDE Luxury Apparel is listed as open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sugar & Spice Florals is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both shops opened their Town Center storefronts this year, so this is their first fall in those locations.

October starts with a week organized for the town

The season starts with Big Sky Community Week, five days of events around town from Monday, October 5, through Friday, October 9. Town Center lists the Big Sky Chamber and the Resort Area District as organizers. It's a fitting start, since the people organizing this stretch of the calendar are mostly the same people it's for.

The Arts Council of Big Sky starts its own lead-up the same week. Its free two-part Cartonería workshop meets Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, October 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. Participants make figures or masks for the November 1 Parade of Catrinas. The workshop is one of the few October events that feeds into a later one. The masks made in those two sessions show up three weeks later in the parade.

Movies fill the evenings. The Waypoint's current calendar lists Practical Magic 2 from October 9 to 15, Heart of the Beast from October 16 to 22, and Wildwood from October 23 through November 5, with shows at 5 p.m. and again in the evening. WMPAC's next show is Jeki Yoo, a magic and quick-change act, on Sunday, October 18, at 5 p.m.

Halloween weekend puts three hosts on one weekend

Three hosts' schedules overlap at the end of the month. Town Center's all-ages Haunted Peaks Halloween Festival runs from Friday, October 30, through Sunday, November 1. BSCO's Costume Climb at BASE is on that Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. On Sunday, the Arts Council holds its free Día de Muertos celebration at the Big Sky Center for the Arts from noon to 7 p.m. It's listed as part of the Haunted Peaks festival. On Monday, November 2, the public altar and community visits continue from noon to 7 p.m.

The weekend has a clear order. It starts with an indoor climbing event for kids and moves through a three-day festival in Town Center. It ends with the Parade of Catrinas and a quiet weekday visit to the altar. Anyone who went to the October workshops has a mask in that parade.

November belongs to the stage

With the mountain still closed, early November is mostly theater and music, and almost all of it is at WMPAC.

• Thursday, November 5, and Friday, November 6: Big Sky Community Theatre performs Doublewide, Texas at WMPAC.
• Wednesday, November 11: BSCO hosts its Veterans Day Breakfast at BASE from 8 to 10 a.m.
• Sunday, November 15: Guitarist Luca Stricagnoli plays WMPAC at 5 p.m.

Both of WMPAC's touring shows this fall, Jeki Yoo and Luca Stricagnoli, start at 5 p.m. on a Sunday. That puts both shows in the late afternoon, before the evening.

The handoff takes three weeks

From here, winter comes back one step at a time. In date order:

1. November 23: The Skyline bus is set to start its 2026–27 winter schedule. The Big Sky Transportation District board reviewed a draft in September and plans to finalize the schedule at its October 15 meeting. Until that vote, the start date is a proposal. The draft is posted on Skyline's site, and the public can comment at the meeting or by email before it's final.
2. November 25: Big Sky Resort opens for daily winter operations, which are scheduled to run through April 11, 2027. This winter is the first full season for the Explorer Gondola, the 10-person lift that runs from the Mountain Village base to the Lone Peak Tram, and for Kircliff, the alpine observatory at 11,166 feet on top of Lone Peak.
3. November 27 to 29: Right after Thanksgiving, The Waypoint at 50 Ousel Falls Road shows Days Off, Warren Miller's 77th film, for three nights. The theater's listing for the event reads "Winter's greatest tradition is back."
4. December 5: WMPAC hosts Her Gift, Her Creation, a local artistic showcase, at 7 p.m.
5. December 10: M by The Alinea Group returns for its second winter, running through April 3, 2027. Chef Grant Achatz leads the multi-course tasting menu, which brings back signature dishes and adds new courses.

The bus schedule comes first because the rest of the sequence depends on it. Two days later the lifts open, and a ski film plays the weekend after that. Fine dining waits two more weeks.

Up on the mountain, Iglu Big Sky, the snow-and-ice bar in the Bowl at the base of the Tram, is coming back with a larger footprint. New this year, a dedicated staircase from the Explorer Gondola's top terminal gives guests walking access to the bar. Last winter, its first, Iglu opened in the middle of the ski season. The resort hasn't announced an opening date for this winter.

The Stroll brings Meadow Village and Town Center back together

The relay ends where the off-season calendar was based all along. The 2026 Big Sky Christmas Stroll runs from December 11 to 13. BSCO says it starts Friday in Meadow Village Center and moves to Town Center on Saturday, with Santa photos at BASE. Town Center's listing still says "Stay tuned for updates and event schedule(s) soon!" so the hour-by-hour program, including whether there's a tree lighting, hasn't been posted yet.

On Sunday, December 13, Montana Ballet's Nutcracker is at WMPAC from noon to 4 p.m. That makes the last day of the Stroll the same day as the last big show of the stretch, and both are in the same part of town.

Several things still have no date. BSCO's Marty Pavelich Ice Rink page lists a 2026 program schedule but no opening date for the 2026–27 ice season. It names the Big Sky Skating & Hockey Association as a rink partner. No local ski-swap date has been posted this fall. On the business side, earlier coverage projected openings for the Salt House storefront in Town Center and the Buck's T-4 property. Neither has been confirmed for this winter.

If summer's schedule felt like it belonged to the arena and the resort, it's worth comparing with our look at Big Sky's late-summer rhythm. In this season, the community hosts have the calendar to themselves until November 25.

Our team at Cheryl Ridgely follows Big Sky's calendar year-round, including the weeks between ski seasons when Town Center and Meadow Village carry the community. If you're weighing a second home or a full-time move here and want to know what the quiet months actually look like, Let's Connect.