Kevin McHugh, vice president of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, remembers Starlighting from before he helped run it. He told the Douglas County News-Press that when he took his own children years ago, it was a gathering on the lawn in front of the county building with a few vendor tents and maybe up to 1,000 people. Last year, nearly 49,000 people attended.
This Saturday, Nov. 21, the star on top of the Rock lights for what the News-Press calls its 90th year. The afternoon is full of stages and booths, but the whole event builds to one moment at about 5:30 p.m. According to the Town of Castle Rock, the Town's Christmas tree and downtown holiday decorations come on when the star does. They stay lit until Jan. 23, when the National Western Stock Show ends. The trolley loop, the carriage rides and the Festival Park market all happen in the weeks between those two dates.
A Depression-Era Beacon With a Firefighter Crew
The star came out of hard times. The News-Press reports that near the end of the Great Depression, community leaders built a 40-foot star for the top of the Rock, partly to draw travelers and partly as what the paper called "a beacon of light and hope." It was first lit during the 1936 holiday season and has been lit every year since. It usually comes on the weekend before Thanksgiving and stays on through the Stock Show at the end of January.
The paper puts the star at 100 bulbs, citing the Town's website, and says Castle Rock Fire and Rescue maintains it. CBS Colorado has profiled the four firefighters who do that work and call themselves the "Keepers of the Star." Their work includes new wiring and sockets, structural upgrades recommended by engineers, and a gradual switch from incandescent bulbs to LEDs.
That is the part of the star most people never see. The rest of Saturday is about a crowd almost 50 times the size of the old lawn gathering arriving downtown.
What a Crowd of 49,000 Does to Downtown Streets
Parts of downtown close for 14 hours. The 2026 event map lists these closures from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.:
- Perry Street, from 5th to 2nd
- North Wilcox Street, from 5th to 3rd
- 4th Street, from Jerry to Perry
- 3rd and 2nd streets, from Wilcox to Perry
The same map warns drivers not to park on or near the train tracks, because those vehicles will be towed.
For most people the practical answer is a free shuttle. The Castle Rock Chamber lists three pickup lots and two downtown garages:
| Option | Location | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Free shuttle | AdventHealth Castle Rock, Alexander lot | 1 to 8 p.m. |
| Free shuttle | Douglas County High School, south building | 1 to 8 p.m. |
| Free shuttle | Douglas County Fairgrounds, Lot 5 | 1 to 8 p.m. |
| Parking garage | Encore garage, Perry and South streets | Event day |
| Parking garage | Douglas County garage, 3rd and Jerry streets | Event day |
Return shuttles leave from the downtown drop-off points. The garages are closest, but they are also inside the area surrounded by closed streets. The fireworks come right after the star lights, so expect many people to start leaving at the same time.
Bring a card. The Chamber says its event purchases are cashless, so credit and debit cards are the way to pay.
The Afternoon Before 5:30
The event is free and runs from 2 to 6 p.m. in Historic Wilcox Square and Festival Park. The day runs in this order:
- 2 p.m. Festivities begin. Santa is in Festival Park until 4:15 p.m. The Kid Zone by the county building has a petting zoo, face painting, games and vehicles brought by the National Guard.
- 2 to 5:30 p.m. Live entertainment runs on four stages. McHugh told the News-Press that local youth and school choirs and dance studios were invited to perform on two of them.
- All afternoon. More than 115 sponsors and nonprofits fill the booths along the streets, according to the Chamber's estimate in the News-Press. Chamber beverage booths sell hot chocolate, spiked hot chocolate, beer, wine and water. There are food trucks too, and tickets are sold for the Castle Rock Professional Firefighters' annual Chili Supper at Castle Rock Fire Station 151.
- 5 p.m. The lighting ceremony starts on the Main Stage at 4th and Wilcox.
- About 5:30 p.m. The star lights, followed right away by fireworks if weather and conditions allow.
- 6 p.m. The festivities end. Shuttles keep running until 8 p.m., when the street closures end.
The booths go back to the event's beginnings. "Part of the original thinking was it was an opportunity for nonprofit organizations to get out in front of the public," McHugh told the News-Press. Over time, the Chamber also started letting sponsoring businesses sell products at booths.
One more detail this year is the Chamber's online "Flip the Switch" bid. The winner gets to light the star onstage. Bidding was scheduled to close Nov. 12, and the winning bidder lights the star from the Main Stage. McHugh told the paper that serious planning starts right after the Chamber's Fair Parade in early August, and that more than 100 volunteers work the event.
Nine Weeks of Holiday Events Downtown
After Saturday, the holiday season moves to smaller downtown events with their own schedules. The Downtown Alliance, a partnership between the Downtown Merchants Association and the Downtown Development Authority, runs most of them. The DMA says it organizes visitor events for about 160 member businesses.
- Carriage rides start the next day. They leave from Festival Park from Nov. 22 through Jan. 3, Wednesday to Friday from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m. There are no rides on Nov. 26, Dec. 24, Dec. 25 or Dec. 31. Tickets must be bought in advance, and online sales were scheduled to open Nov. 18, according to Downtown Castle Rock.
- The free winter trolley runs a three-stop downtown loop on Mondays and Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 23 through Dec. 29. The Downtown Merchants Association lists it as ADA-accessible. It runs on weeknights, and the carriages do not run Mondays or Tuesdays.
- The Festival Park Starlight Market runs Friday, Dec. 4, from 3 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is free, with more than 40 craft and food vendors, a decorated tree, hot cocoa, food trucks and music, according to the Town calendar.
- Storytellers and S'mores is back in Festival Park on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., with holiday readings, marshmallows and hot chocolate. It is also free.
The Town's Season of the Star announcement suggests seeing the downtown light displays on foot, by car or by trolley. Those lights, along with the Festival Park tree, come on at the same moment as the star this Saturday and go dark on Jan. 23.
If family is in town for the holidays and you'd like to talk through which parts of Castle Rock have the best everyday view of the star, or anything else about life near the Rock, J. Garland Thurman is happy to have that conversation over coffee. Let's Connect.
