The Arvada Center at 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. opened on July 4, 1976. Arvada Voices calls the 2025–26 season its 50th-anniversary season. The center has marked the anniversary with gallery shows and a big holiday musical. This fall, though, the event most closely tied to the number 50 is the Holiday Pottery Sale. This year it's billed as the 50th Annual Holiday Pottery Sale, and every piece on its tables comes from the people who teach and take classes in the center's own ceramics studio.
That's a good reason to plan your Arvada November and December around the building on Wadsworth. The calendar below runs in order, starting with what closes first.
Before November 8: the anniversary on the gallery walls
Two exhibitions about the center's own history are up now and close Sunday, November 8. "pARTy: Celebrating 50 Years" fills the Main Gallery. "Rigsby Revisited: 50 Years Later" is in the Upper Gallery. Both opened September 10, according to the Arvada Center's upcoming exhibitions page.
That leaves about ten days from this post's publication. That page doesn't list another gallery exhibition for the rest of November or December, so these two shows are the anniversary's gallery chapter. The Arvada Center event calendar also lists The After pARTy on November 5, the last gallery-related date before the shows come down.
November 27: the sale the studio makes
The center's holiday shopping starts on Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving. Two separate sales open that day under the same roof, the pottery sale at 10 a.m. and the art market at noon:
- The 50th Annual Holiday Pottery Sale offers functional and sculptural pottery by the instructors and students of the center's ceramics program. Purchases support both the artists and the Arvada Center.
- The 40th Annual Fine Art Market brings in jewelry, ceramics, ornaments, paintings, cards and other gifts from more than 100 Colorado artists. Admission is free and open to the public.
Both run through Sunday, December 13. Their hours don't match, which matters if you're heading over after work:
Holiday Pottery Sale | Fine Art Market | |
|---|---|---|
Opening day, Nov. 27 | 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Noon to 9 p.m. |
Monday and Tuesday | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Not listed |
Wednesday and Thursday | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Noon to 7:30 p.m. |
Friday and Saturday | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. |
Sunday | 1 to 5 p.m. | 1 to 5 p.m. |
After opening day, when both close at 9 p.m., the pottery sale stays open half an hour past the art market on weekday evenings. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the pottery sale is the only one of the two with listed hours.
The two sales also share a kickoff. An opening reception runs November 27 from 5 to 9 p.m. Guests can meet the artists and shop early, and the center asks for an RSVP through the event page. The Arvada Center says parking there is free.
Why the pottery sale belongs to the anniversary
The center's ceramics program teaches beginner through advanced classes for adults, teens and children, and its students can take part in the faculty and student pottery sales. So a mug on the sale table may well have come from a class held in the same building. The maker could be a neighbor who signed up for an evening wheel class.
The Clear Creek Courant profiled longtime ceramics coordinator Bebe Alexander, who served more than 30 years. The center's galleries director told the paper the program she built was among the region's best. The 50th sale shows what that program has been making, in the same season the center marks 50 years in Arvada.
For ornaments, cards and jewelry, the Fine Art Market has the wider pick from and its more than 100 Colorado artists.
November 20 through January 3: Joseph on the Main Stage
The center's holiday musical opens a week before the sales. "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" runs on the Main Stage from November 20, 2026, through January 3, 2027. The center bills it as a family musical with guest children's choirs.
BroadwayWorld Denver reported on October 21 that Kenny Moten is directing and that tickets start at $62. The show page lists the cast and creative team:
- Joseph: EJ Dohring
- Narrator: Adriane Leigh Robinson
- Pharaoh, Potiphar and Jacob: Desmond Newson
- Choreographer: Christopher Page-Sanders
- Musical director: Alec Steinhorn
If someone in your group needs access services, book around these performances:
- ASL-interpreted: December 2 at 7 p.m. and December 12 at 1 p.m.
- Audio-described: December 4 at 7 p.m. and December 9 at 1 p.m.
A December evening can cover both. The pottery sale is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, so on a weekday you can shop before a 7 p.m. curtain without leaving the building.
The smaller dates around the big ones
The rest of the calendar fills in around the musical and the sales. All of these are listed on the Arvada Center event calendar:
- November 12–14: Rockley Instrument Sale
- November 14: Animal Farm, music for kids
- December 11: Stories On Stage: Making Merry, an evening of holiday songs and stories with Emily Van Fleet, Aaron Vega and pianist Dan Graeber
- December 12: Hazel Miller and the Collective: Christmas with Soul, a gospel-inspired, jazzy holiday concert
Check each event's page for start times and ticket prices before you go.
December 12 is the busiest day of the season. That one Saturday brings an ASL-interpreted Joseph matinee at 1 p.m., Christmas with Soul, and the last Saturday of both holiday sales. If you only have one weekend for the center, that's the one with the most going on. If you'd rather have room to browse, the weekday afternoons of the pottery sale are the quieter alternative.
Tomorrow night in Olde Town
Before any of that, Olde Town Arvada has its own event this week. Trick or Treat Street 2026 runs Friday, October 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. Kids can trick-or-treat at dozens of Olde Town businesses, and there's a costume contest. New this year is trunk-or-treating among classic and unique vehicles. The event page doesn't list a cost.
Olde Town posts its holiday schedule, including the tree lighting, skating rink and Saturday events, on its events page. That's the place to check as December gets closer.
If your gift list leans local, Olde Town has a stop that fits with the pottery sale. Arvada Press reported that TeeLee Floral and Events moved into 5613 Olde Wadsworth Blvd., a former mayor's residence built in 1893. The shop sells bouquets of Colorado-grown flowers alongside a rotating selection of home goods and gifts, and it hosts classes. Owner ScheLeese Goudy told the paper she wants the stock to change often: "Every time you come in to pick up flowers for mom, there's something new there and different." The hours in that story were Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed Mondays. It's a few minutes from the Arvada Center, so a handmade bowl and a Colorado-grown bouquet can make one Saturday's errands.
Putting the season on the fridge
Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
Fri., Oct. 30, 5–7 p.m. | Trick or Treat Street | Olde Town Arvada |
Through Sun., Nov. 8 | "pARTy: Celebrating 50 Years" and "Rigsby Revisited: 50 Years Later" | Arvada Center galleries |
Nov. 20 – Jan. 3 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Arvada Center Main Stage |
Fri., Nov. 27, 5–9 p.m. | Opening reception for both sales, RSVP requested | Arvada Center |
Nov. 27 – Dec. 13 | 50th Annual Holiday Pottery Sale and 40th Annual Fine Art Market | Arvada Center |
Dec. 11 | Stories On Stage: Making Merry | Arvada Center |
Dec. 12 | Christmas with Soul, plus an ASL-interpreted Joseph at 1 p.m. | Arvada Center |
Brian Margolis and our team love that so much of Arvada's holiday season is made by people who live and work nearby, from the studio classes behind the pottery sale to the shops along Olde Wadsworth. If you're thinking about Arvada as home and want to know what a winter here looks like up close, The Margolis Team would be glad to talk it through. Contact Us anytime.
