Greenwood Village's Holiday Lighting Is Free but Needs a Ticket. Here's How to Plan the Rest of December Around It.

There's a lot to do in Greenwood Village this December without spending anything. The Curtis Center has two free gallery shows. A holiday pop-up at The Landmark has free entry most evenings through New Year's Eve. Neither one asks you to sign up ahead of time. Only one free event on the month's calendar does, and it's the one the city throws for its own residents.

The Mayor's Holiday Lighting is on Saturday, December 5, from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 6060 South Quebec Street. It costs nothing. It also holds only 1,000 people, and you get in by registering online. So the rest of December is easy to fit around. The lighting is the part you have to plan.

What the lighting is

The city's event page says Mayor George Lantz and City Council will light City Hall. Residents get warm drinks, live music and entertainment, and a visit from Santa Claus. The page calls it the annual Mayor's Holiday Lighting, and the invitation is addressed to Greenwood Village residents.

The 2026 date is a day earlier than last year's. The 2025 lighting was on Saturday, December 6, with the same 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. hours at the same City Hall address. If you've been putting "first Saturday of December" on your calendar, this year that means the 5th.

How registration works

Every Greenwood Village special event is free for residents. The city does require registration for some of them, and this is one. Sign-up runs through the city's recreation catalog, and the listing spells out the details:

• Fee: $0.00
• Registration window: opened October 7 at 6 a.m. and closes December 5 at 3:30 p.m.
• Capacity: 1,000 participants
• Ages: all ages
• Requirement: a catalog account, needed before you can register

The account setup has one catch. The city says not to use the social sign-on buttons for Apple, Google or Facebook, because accounts made that way don't get receipts or notifications. Make the account with an email address so the confirmation actually reaches you.

The cap isn't close to filling yet. In early November, the catalog showed 90 of the 1,000 spots taken. The window technically stays open half an hour after the lighting begins. Even so, if you register ahead of time, you won't be standing in the cold at 3 p.m. filling out a form on your phone. If you have questions about registering, email the Parks, Trails and Recreation Department at [email protected] or call 303-486-5773.

The second location on this year's listing

The 2026 registration schedule shows 3 to 5:30 p.m. on December 5 at two places: Greenwood Village City Hall and Carson Park.

Last year's setup was different. The city's November 2025 newsletter put the lighting at City Hall, said parking there was limited, and sent event parking to Harlequin Plaza. If you went in 2025 and plan to park the same way, check with Parks, Trails and Recreation at the number above about how the Carson Park listing affects arrival this year. Ask the city directly. Don't go by last year's routine.

Everything else this month is walk-in

Once the lighting is booked, December gets simple. The other things on the calendar are free and need no registration, so they can fill any open evening or weekend afternoon.

Two shows at the Curtis Center

The city's Curtis Center for the Arts on East Orchard Road opened two exhibitions on November 7, and both are free and open to the public. In the South Gallery, "Fragments: Work by Julia Rymer, with Guest Artist Deborah Howard." In the North Gallery, "Elemental: Artwork from the Seed Sisters Collective." The city's October newsletter announced both.

The end date matters for "Fragments." Julia Rymer's site lists its run as November 7 through December 19, 2026. That's two weeks after the lighting. If the gallery is on your December list, go before the third weekend of the month, not over the holiday break.

A holiday lounge at The Landmark

For an evening out, Elfie's Enchanted Lounge has taken over the first floor of Comedy Works South at The Landmark for the season. It has Christmas décor, string lights, and a decorated, heated patio. The menu is seasonal: holiday cocktails, mocktails and food. Visit Denver's listing gives a November 5 to December 31 run, opening at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

A Times-Call guide to holiday pop-up bars published November 5 places Elfie's at Lila B. Lounge, 5345 Landmark Place, and says entry is free. The lounge's calendar has recurring holiday movie and game nights. It also lists special events, including a Holiday Wine Tasting and a Santa Brunch. For those, check the lounge's own schedule before you plan a date around them.

Fitting it all into December 5

The lighting is a Saturday afternoon event, and the other two fit around it easily. Here's one way the day could go, using only the hours listed above:

1. Early afternoon: Register if you haven't, using an email-based account, before the 3:30 p.m. cutoff. Better yet, do it this week.
2. 3:00 p.m.: Get to City Hall at 6060 South Quebec Street for music, warm drinks, Santa, and the lighting with Mayor Lantz and City Council.
3. After 5:30 p.m.: Head to The Landmark. Elfie's opens at 4 p.m. on Saturdays, so the lounge and its heated patio will already be going when the lighting ends.

The Curtis Center works better on a separate day. "Fragments" is up through December 19, which leaves two more weekends after the lighting to see both galleries.

A newer stop on Yosemite

If you want to try somewhere different during the season, The Sen Tea House at 4940 South Yosemite Street is one of Greenwood Village's newer spots. Westword's roundup of August 2026 openings included it. Tea after a gallery visit, or a stop before the lounge, gives December one more name from this year's openings.

If you're thinking about your first December in Greenwood Village, or wondering what your current place is worth before the new year, Nick Evancich and THE LIST know these streets from City Hall on Quebec to The Landmark. Let's connect. Start with a free home valuation, and we'll talk through your plans over the holidays.