The Short Answer
Markham's fall season runs from mid September through late November, and the anchors are AppleFest at the Markham Museum on Saturday, September 19, 2026, Doors Open Markham on Saturday, September 26, and the Markham Fair from Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4. Two outdoor farmers markets run into October, the Markham Village Farmers' Market on Saturdays until October 10 and the Stiver Mill market in Unionville on Sundays. Add Halloween on Main, the Festival of Lights and the Santa Claus Parade in November, and Markham has a community event nearly every weekend for three months.
Want this applied to your own property? Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885.
Why Fall Is the Best Season to Get to Know Markham
Buyers touring Markham in July see empty streets and closed patios. Buyers touring in late September see Main Street Unionville full, the Markham Fair midway lit up on McCowan Road, and heritage buildings open to the public. Fall is when the city shows its character.
Michael John Lau, a REALTORĀ® who helps home buyers purchase detached homes, townhomes and condominiums in Markham, Ontario, sends this calendar to relocating clients for a practical reason. A neighbourhood feels different when you visit it during something the community actually turns out for.
Questions About Your Situation?
Every Markham property and every timeline is different. Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885 and speak to a REALTORĀ® who works this market daily.
AppleFest 2026 at the Markham Museum
Saturday, September 19, 2026, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Markham Museum, 9350 Markham Road
AppleFest is Markham's signature fall festival and has run since roughly 1986. It won a Top 100 Festivals and Events Ontario award in 2025. The museum sits on a 25 acre site with more than 30 historic buildings, including the Christian K. Hoover House from about 1824, the Ninth Line Baptist Church from 1848 and the Cedar Grove Blacksmith Shop from about 1862.
Admission for 2026, including HST:
- Adults 19 to 54: $14
- Older adults 55 and over: $12
- Youth 4 to 18: $11
- Children 3 and under: free
- Admission plus pottery workshop: $35
- Markham Museum members: free, no ticket required
Buy in advance. Tickets purchased at the front desk on the day are subject to a price increase. Parking is free on site and in the surrounding area, though it fills. The event runs rain or shine, indoors and outdoors, and leashed dogs are welcome.
One date to be careful with: several listings still show September 27 for AppleFest. That was the 2025 date. The 2026 festival is September 19.
Doors Open Markham
Saturday, September 26, 2026, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Free admission.
Doors Open is the single best day of the year for a buyer trying to understand Markham's heritage neighbourhoods. Participating sites include the Markham Village Train Station, Fire Station No. 97, the Markham Museum, the Varley Art Gallery, the McKay Art Centre, the Unionville Curling Club, Stiver Mill, the Unionville Train Station, Heintzman House, the Thornhill Village Library, the Wong Dai Sin Temple and the York University Markham Campus. Walking tours depart at 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. depending on the location.
Neeraj Moolchandani on Touring a Neighbourhood in September
Neeraj Moolchandani, REALTORĀ® at Kaizen Real Estate, tells relocating clients to visit Markham on a festival weekend rather than a quiet Tuesday. Main Street Unionville during the Sunday concerts and Main Street Markham during the Saturday market tell you more about a community in an hour than a week of listing photos will.
What Neeraj watches for on those visits is who is actually out. Strollers, teenagers, older adults walking, people who clearly know each other. That mix is difficult to fake and difficult to read from data, and it is a reliable signal about how a neighbourhood will feel on an ordinary weekend once you live there.
Markham Fair, October 1 to 4
Markham Fairgrounds, 10801 McCowan Road, at Elgin Mills Road
The Markham Fair is the largest event on this calendar and one of the largest fall fairs in Ontario. The Markham and East York Agricultural Society was founded in 1844, and the fair draws upwards of 80,000 people a year with roughly 3,000 exhibitors entering more than 12,000 items across a 104 acre site.
- Hours: Thursday to Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Admission: adults $25, children 12 and under $10
- Midway: a Ride All Day pass is $46 and is sold in advance only, from mid August until the day before the fair. Discount passes are not sold during the fair itself.
- Included with gate admission: Monster Truck Madness with FMX bikes, the demolition derby, the truck and tractor pull, fireworks, equestrian and livestock shows, and the homecraft, horticulture, baking and photography competitions
Access is straightforward from Highway 401 at McCowan, Highway 407 at McCowan, or Highway 404 at Elgin Mills. Service dogs only, and the grounds are wheelchair accessible with free wheelchairs at two information booths.
Markham's Farmers Markets
Markham Village Farmers' Market
Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the parking lot at Main Street Markham and Robinson Street. The 2026 season began May 9 and runs to Thanksgiving, which makes Saturday, October 10 the final market day. Twenty or more regular vendors, including Forsythe Family Farms, Willy Bee Honey, Muddy York Brewing Co. and Willowtree Farms.
Stiver Mill Farmers' Market, Unionville
Sundays at the Stiver Mill, 9 Station Lane, beside the Unionville GO station. Confirm current hours and the closing date directly before making the trip, as the operator has not published a 2026 schedule.
Year round and farm markets
The York Farmers Market operates indoors year round. For fall produce, Reesor's Farm Market runs pick your own pumpkins and a family corn maze, Organics Farm is the one place in Markham where you can harvest organic apples straight from the orchard, and Carma Farms, Lionel's Farm and Judy's Tropical Garden all run fall programming. Lionel's Farm closes at the end of October. Just outside Markham, Applewood Farm in Whitchurch-Stouffville and Dixie Orchards offer pick your own apples and pumpkin patches.
See Markham the Way Residents Do
Fall is the best season to judge a Markham neighbourhood. The Kaizen Real Estate Team will build a tour around the communities you are considering.
Neighbourhood Events Through October and November
Unionville
- Markham Concert Band Sunday concerts at the Millennium Bandstand, September 13, 20 and 27, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
- Historic Unionville Walking Tour, September 13 and October 11, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
- Double Ninth Festival, September 19, 12:00 to 8:00 p.m.
- Halloween on Main, October 25, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
- Remembrance Day on Main, November 11, 10:50 to 11:30 a.m.
Main Street Markham
- Trick or Treat on Main Street, October 31, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
- Remembrance Day Parade, November 7
- 41st Annual Festival of Lights, November 27, with the tree lighting and live entertainment
- Santa Claus Parade, November 28
Across the city
- Markham-Unionville Terry Fox Run, September 20, Old Unionville Library Community Centre, 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
- Curbside Giveaway Day, September 19, city wide, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Celebrate Fall and Biodiversity at Swan Lake Park, September 26, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- Guided bird walks in Rouge National Urban Park on September 12 and at German Mills on September 19, both 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Varley Art Gallery
216 Main Street Unionville, free admission. The summer exhibitions closed September 7, and the 2026 fall exhibitions open with a reception on September 26, the same day as Doors Open Markham. Two reasons to be on Main Street Unionville that Saturday.
A Note on Timing
Two events that often appear in fall roundups are actually summer events. Taste of Asia ran June 26 and 27, 2026, and the Markham Village Music Festival ran June 19 and 20. Plan for those next summer rather than looking for them in October.
ScaryFest at the Markham Museum has not been announced for 2026. Previous editions ran the last weekend of October, so watch the museum's listings if you have young children.