In November, the farm tables in Deering Oaks set up an hour later. Through October, the Portland Farmers' Market opened at 7 a.m. on Saturdays and Wednesdays. In November it opens at 8 a.m., and it stays outdoors under the oaks through Wednesday, November 25. That date is the day before Thanksgiving. After it, the market leaves the park until spring.
On December 5 the market opens again as a Saturday-only market in the gym at Stevens Square Community Center, 631 Stevens Avenue in Deering Center. Between those two dates, Portland has one Saturday with no market, and winter brings changes in schedule and building that are easy to miss if you only shop in summer.
Six Markets Left Under the Oaks
The Portland Farmers' Market's 2026 season page lists the outdoor season at Deering Oaks from April 18 through November 25, 2026. The market's homepage confirms that both the Saturday and Wednesday markets are held in the park. Counting from Saturday, November 7, here's what's left:
- Saturday, November 7, from 8 a.m.
- Wednesday, November 11, from 8 a.m.
- Saturday, November 14, from 8 a.m.
- Wednesday, November 18, from 8 a.m.
- Saturday, November 21, from 8 a.m.
- Wednesday, November 25, from 8 a.m., the last outdoor market of the year
The Portland Food Map's upcoming events list also marks November 25 as the last day of the year for the Deering Oaks market. The Wednesday market has ended on Thanksgiving Eve for years. The Press Herald's 2025 story on the winter market came out on Thanksgiving Eve and reported that the outdoor market had ended that day.
The calendar works out so the last outdoor market falls on the busiest shopping day of the cooking year. If you're planning a Thanksgiving table around Maine produce, November 21 and November 25 are your last two chances in the park. For turkeys, pies and sides beyond the market, the Portland Food Map points readers to its Maine Thanksgiving List, a statewide guide to community meals, restaurant dinners and places that take pre-orders.
The Saturday With No Portland Market
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so the next day the market could meet is Saturday, November 28. Nothing is scheduled. The outdoor season is over by then, and the Portland Food Map lists the first 2026/27 Winter Farmers' Market for December 5 at Stevens Square Community Center, at the corner of Stevens Avenue and Walton Street. That leaves nine days between the last market in Deering Oaks and the first one indoors.
For a Saturday market that weekend, the nearest option on the calendar is in Brunswick. The Brunswick Winter Market opens its 2026/2027 season on Saturday, November 14. It runs 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Andross Mill Complex, 14 Maine Street, and promises the same time and place through the winter months. The Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets' 2026–2027 schedule lists the same hours and address, with a season from the second Saturday in November to the last Saturday in April. Its members include small vegetable growers, bakers and other makers of prepared foods, Maine seafood sellers, and craftspeople. Brunswick's season starts while Portland is still outdoors, on November 14 and 21, and continues on November 28, when Portland has nothing.
Two Mornings a Week Become One
Winter changes more than the address. Here's the outdoor season compared with the winter market, as both venues list them:
Outdoor season | Winter market | |
|---|---|---|
Location | Deering Oaks Park | Stevens Square Community Center gym, 631 Stevens Ave. |
Days | Saturdays and Wednesdays | Saturdays only |
Hours | 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., 8 a.m. in November | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
2026/27 dates | April 18 to November 25, 2026 | From December 5, through mid-April |
From December to April there's no Wednesday market, and Saturday starts an hour later than November and two hours later than summer. The vendor count shrinks too. Before last winter's opener on December 6, 2025, year-round vendor Jessica Koubek of Good Shepherd's Farm in Bremen told the Press Herald to expect about 19 vendors. That season ran every Saturday through April 11, 2026. She described the indoor market's growth this way:
"The market has really grown exponentially in the last four to five years. We've got so much to offer — you can find just about anything."
So the winter market is a smaller, steadier version of the summer one, made up of farms that keep selling through the cold months. The market hasn't posted an end date for the 2026/27 season yet. Its season page describes the indoor run only as December to mid-April.
A Gym on Stevens Avenue, Since 2017
The winter market isn't new to Stevens Avenue. The Press Herald reported in 2017 that the market was moving to the Maine Girls' Academy at 631 Stevens Ave., with its first market there on Saturday, December 2 of that year. Earlier, the building was Catherine McAuley High School.
The market has stayed put since then, but the building around it has changed. It's now the Stevens Square Community Center, which describes itself as a restoration and modernization of the old school and part of a master-planned, 19-acre Stevens Square campus. In a 2024 post about the project, the developer describes the 50,000-square-foot building and its renovations. A former music room, the lobby and the existing swimming pool became a fitness center, and the building now has an indoor heated saltwater pool and a 480-seat auditorium. The Atrium serves as the lobby and as seating for a café. The same post names the café as Tally's Kitchen and the developer as Kevin Bunker, founder and principal of Developers Collaborative.
A few practical details about the building are worth knowing on a winter Saturday. Per the center's own description:
- The main atrium is a public space, free for Portland residents, meant for reading, remote work or a quiet break.
- The market in the gym is open to the public.
- The pool, health and wellness center, theater, event venue, offices and child care run through memberships, rentals or bookings.
- The restrooms inside aren't designated as public. They're for members, tenants and people at booked events.
When the market first moved here in 2017, it said the new location had plenty of easy parking, public transit access and lots of room to shop, and that it took cash, credit, debit and SNAP/EBT. Moving from the park to Stevens Avenue also puts the market in a different part of the city for the winter. Shoppers who stroll to Deering Oaks from the West End or Parkside will find the winter market about a neighborhood farther out, in Deering Center.
Who's Still Selling When It Moves Indoors
The farms in the gym from December to April are the ones that grow, store or make food to sell all year. Several vendor profiles on the market's site list the Saturday winter market among the places they sell:
- Alewives Brook Farm lists vegetables and berries.
- Green Spark Farm grows heirloom and traditional organic vegetables.
- Balfour Farm sells small-batch cheeses, pork, cured salami and eggs.
- Good Shepherd's Farm of Bremen is the year-round vendor quoted by the Press Herald last November.
The profiles show where these farms have sold in past winters. The market hasn't published a complete vendor list for the 2026/27 indoor season. The Saturday lineup did grow this year: the Press Herald reported in April that Petrullo Farms and Hallowell Harvest Farm were new when the outdoor market opened.
As for what's on the tables in winter, the market's general description includes root and storage vegetables, greenhouse greens, tomatoes and cucumbers, dry beans and corn, Maine-grown flour and oats, mushrooms, honey and maple syrup, pies, breads and baked goods, apples and cider, and meats including pork, beef, veal, lamb, chicken, turkey and duck. It also lists dairy from cows and goats, including raw milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir and butter.
One program carries over from the park to the gym. The market's homepage says SNAP/EBT matching is back to 100% through Maine Harvest Bucks, which doubles SNAP spending with tokens for fruits, vegetables and food-bearing plants. Shoppers can sign up at the Market Information Booth. The market has deep roots in the city: its history page traces Portland's first public market to 1768.
For this year's calendar, the dates are November 25 for the last Wednesday in Deering Oaks, November 28 for the Saturday with no Portland market, and December 5 for the first Saturday morning on Stevens Avenue.
Bailey Pate and the Maine Real Estate Co team keep track of calendars like this one, down to the Saturday with no market. If you're thinking about a home near Deering Oaks, in Deering Center, or anywhere else in Greater Portland and want a local to talk it through with, Get in Touch.