This Saturday's first holiday shopping in Sundance happens out at the Crook County Shooting Sports Building on Fairgrounds Loop Road, not on Main Street. Expect honey, leather, cupcakes, bread, and turned wood on folding tables five weeks before anyone says "Shop Small."
From there the season works its way into town in steps. It starts at the fairgrounds on October 24 and moves to a pumpkin hidden within a mile of city limits the next week. On November 28 it's inside the downtown storefronts, and on December 4 it's on Main Street itself. Several of the same local makers have shown up at more than one of these stops in past years. If you plan the season around that path, you'll catch them.
Saturday Morning, October 24: Where the Makers Set Up First
The Fall Vendor Fair runs Saturday, October 24, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Crook County Shooting Sports Building. The listing promises handmade goods, home products, baked treats, and gifts from small businesses around the area, and lunch will be available. The building is on Fairgrounds Loop Rd.
The featured vendor list leans local. It names Sundance Silver Smithing & Lapidary, RG Bees, Stickman Cupcakes, Crusty Crew Bread Co., Tina's Wild Ideas, Wild Hyde & Heart, Chipmunk Creations, Chris's Creations, Pine Ridge Creations, Woody Jundt Woods, and Leather for the Hills, along with a few national direct-sales brands.
Here's what a few of those names make, and where you can find them after Saturday:
- RG Bees is beekeeper Renee Brunson's honey operation. It sells direct to customers and has sold at local farmers markets. Its online shop carries raw local honey, infused and whipped honey, and beeswax, so you can restock between fairs.
- Leather for the Hills comes over from Box Elder, South Dakota. According to its website, it handcrafts custom leather goods: biker gear, handbags, wallets, briefcases, and messenger bags. It points customers to its Leatherhills Etsy shop for orders.
- Stickman Cupcakes and Tina's Wild Ideas both appeared on the Chamber's vendor lists for Ladies Night in past Novembers. More on that below, because it's where these two names lead next.
The Chamber calendar also lists the CCMSD Long Term Care Bazaar on two different dates, October 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and October 24 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neither listing gives a venue, so check with CCMSD before you plan around it.
Saturday Evening: The Same Day Ends at Sundance Secondary
The fair closes at 3 p.m., and the school's Halloween night starts at Sundance Secondary an hour and a half later. That makes October 24 a full Saturday if you have kids in costume. Here's the evening as the school posted it:
- 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Trunk-or-Treat in the parking lot
- 5 to 7 p.m. Halloween Carnival
- 5:30 p.m. Costume Contest
- 5:30, 6, and 6:30 p.m. Jackpot Prize Drawings
- 6 p.m. Drawing for an unlimited-play wristband
You have to be there to win the costume contest and the jackpot prizes. Dinner comes from the carnival menu. The $7 BOO Dawg Special is a hot dog, the $10 Road Kill Delight is pulled pork, and both come with chips, a cookie, and water. Buy 50 or more tickets and you get a free glow-in-the-dark tote bag while supplies last.
October 26 to 30: A Pumpkin Hunt That Finishes at 313 1/2 Main St.
Next comes Range's Great Pumpkin Hunt, which runs Monday, October 26 through Friday, October 30. Range hides a real pumpkin decorated with its logo somewhere in Sundance, and also in Dubois, Forsyth, Newcastle, Thermopolis, and Worland. Clues come out each morning on Eagle Country radio and on Range's Sundance Facebook event page under #sundancepumpkin.
The rules keep the search close to town and off anyone's property. The pumpkin will be outside on public land within one mile of city limits. It won't be on a golf course, in a municipal or government building, inside a private business, or on private property. Range employees and their immediate families can't play, and the same person or household can't win in back-to-back years.
If you find it, you bring it downtown to Range at 313 1/2 Main St. and claim the 4th Annual Grand Prize. The prize itself reads like a list of Sundance businesses, and many of them are the same storefronts that come back into the season in late November.
| Prize | Donor |
|---|---|
| $114 one-year subscription | The Sundance Times, Moorcroft Leader & Wyoming Pioneer |
| $89.99 portable work light | Sundance Hardware & Sporting Goods |
| $85 Rough Edge Shelf | Serendipity Floral & Gifts |
| $80 Halloween basket and gift card | Decker's Market |
| $50 shirt, glass, and gift card | Longhorn Saloon & Grill |
| $50 Chamber Bucks | Sundance Chamber of Commerce |
| $40 gift certificate | Crook County Museum & 1875 Art Gallery |
| $25 mug | Bruce Speidel Gallery |
| $25 gift card | Uncle Louie's Diner |
| $20 gift certificate | Wild West Espresso |
The Crook County Library keeps its usual rhythm through hunt week too. According to the Sundance Times library column, Stories and More for grades 1 through 6 and toddler-to-kindergarten Storytime both run Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., which puts one on October 28. The same column lists Maker Day for kindergarten through sixth grade on Friday, October 23, from 1 to 3 p.m. That's the afternoon before the vendor fair.
November 28: The Makers Move Inside the Storefronts
The season comes back to Main Street on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Chamber's 2026 Visitor Guide lists November 28 as Shop Small Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Ladies Night Block Party in downtown Sundance from 4 to 8 p.m., so the two overlap for an hour. That's an hour earlier than the 2024 event, which ran 5 to 8 p.m.
Businesses for 2026 haven't been announced yet, so last year's format is the best guide to how the evening works. The Chamber's 2024 Ladies Night page described the check-in this way:
"Check in first to get your wine glass, shopping bag, punch cards and more then continue on to all the following shops, many including great sales and new merchandise."
In 2024, check-in was at the SSB Meeting Room next to the Post Office. That year's business stops included 1875 Gallery, Bruce Speidel Gallery, Crook County Library, First American Title, Longhorn Saloon, Old Stoney, Serendipity Floral & Gifts, Sundance Hardware, Sundance Spa & Healing, Vilas Pharmacy, and Wild West Espresso. Treat that as last year's list, not this year's.
The 2024 format also puts the October fair in a new light. That year, vendors set up inside the businesses, and the Chamber's list included Stickman Cupcakes and Tina's Wild Ideas, with Tina's described as hand towels, T-shirts, koozies, and home decor. The 2023 Ladies Night list had Stickman Cupcakes, Tina's Wild Ideas, and Leather for the Hills too. In 2022, the Sundance Times photographed Stickman Cupcakes being sold inside Wild West Espresso during Ladies Night.
None of those names are confirmed for 2026. Still, the pattern explains why the fairgrounds in October is a good preview: some of the tables you browse on October 24 have, in past years, turned up again inside a downtown shop on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Two other dates matter that month. City Hall is closed on Veterans Day, November 11, and on Thanksgiving Day and the day after, November 26 and 27. If you have city business to handle before the holiday weekend, plan around those days.
December 4: Main Street Itself Lights Up
The last stop puts the whole street to work. The Annual Festival of Lights Parade comes down Main Street Sundance on Friday, December 4, at 5:30 p.m., and the Chamber's guide promises local events before and after the parade throughout town. The guide also tells readers to check the Chamber's events page for the latest schedule. That's the place to watch for the pre- and post-parade details as December gets closer.
Here's the season at a glance:
- Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fall Vendor Fair, Crook County Shooting Sports Building
- Saturday, October 24, 4:30 to 7 p.m. Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween Carnival, Sundance Secondary
- Monday, October 26 to Friday, October 30 Range's Great Pumpkin Hunt, with finds returned to 313 1/2 Main St.
- Saturday, November 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Shop Small Saturday
- Saturday, November 28, 4 to 8 p.m. Ladies Night Block Party, downtown Sundance
- Friday, December 4, 5:30 p.m. Festival of Lights Parade, Main Street
Over those six weeks, a jar of RG Bees honey or a Leather for the Hills wallet from the fairgrounds, a gift card from the pumpkin prize list, and a punch card from Ladies Night can all come out of the same local season.
I've watched these small Saturdays carry the Black Hills into winter for a long time, and I'm always glad to compare notes on which tables are worth getting to early. If you're curious how Sundance or any of our neighboring towns spends the rest of the year, reach out to Sandra Donahue. Let's Connect.
