Edmond's Winter Season Runs Through Mitch Park. Here's the Order It Lights Up.

Edmond's winter season comes in stages. The outdoor ice rink at Mitch Park opens on Saturday, November 7. Luminance, the walk-through light display, opens on the same West Covell Road grounds on Friday, November 20. The rink stays open a full month after the lights go dark. Downtown runs its own calendar alongside, mostly on Saturday afternoons. Knowing the order lets you plan the busiest Saturdays ahead of time.

This week comes before all of that. Storybook Forest opens at Arcadia Lake on Friday, October 23, so the season starts on the east side of town before it reaches Mitch Park.

The Sequence, Start to Finish

1. October 23–30: Storybook Forest, Spring Creek Park at Arcadia Lake
2. November 7: Edmond Outdoor Ice Rink opens at Mitch Park
3. November 12: Deck the Downtown and the tree lighting at Festival Marketplace
4. November 20: Luminance opens at Mitch Park, and the first Merry Marketplace night runs the same evening
5. November 28: Small Business Saturday, plus the first Saturday of downtown carriage rides
6. December 5: Christmas Movie Night downtown
7. December 12: Second and final Merry Marketplace night at Mitch Park
8. January 1: Luminance closes
9. January 31: The ice rink closes

The rest of this post goes through that list in order, starting with the event that's already on the calendar.

Arcadia Lake Goes First

Storybook Forest runs nightly from October 23 through October 30 at Spring Creek Park, 7200 E. 15th St. Hours are 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Kids walk a not-so-scary forest path around the lake, collecting candy from storybook characters. There's also a hayride, a game area, and a campfire with marshmallows, hot chocolate and stories read aloud. Tickets are listed at $15 per child and $5 per adult. Questions go to the Arcadia Lake office at 405-216-7471.

If you'd rather eat after the hayride than before it, Cheba Hut opened August 31 at 1389 E. 15th St. in Spring Creek Plaza, on the same street. It has a patio and is open daily until midnight, according to The Journal Record.

The Rink Is the Anchor, and It Outlasts the Lights

Once October ends, the season moves to Mitch Park, 1501 W. Covell Road, and stays there. The Edmond Outdoor Ice Rink opens November 7 and runs through January 31, 2027. That's the 16th season for the rink. The rink operates under an agreement between the City of Edmond, the Edmond Public Works Authority and operator Ice Challenge Enterprises, LLC. It's a five-month term that started October 1, 2026, and it can renew for four more seasons.

The rink opens on its own. For two weeks, skating is the only thing happening at Mitch Park. It also stays open 30 days after Luminance shuts down on January 1. That makes it the longest-running piece of the season by a wide margin.

The rink lists these hours:

General admission is listed at $15, or $13 with a military ID. Skating without a rental is $10, and so is admission for children 5 and under. The rink also offers group rates, private ice and school fundraisers. Check the rink's site before you go, because the page doesn't say whether those prices and holiday hours changed from last season.

Weekday hours start at 3 p.m., which matters if you have kids. The rink fits after school on weekdays. During the two school-break windows, it opens at noon.

November 20 Is When Mitch Park Fills In

Luminance opens November 20 and runs through January 1, 2027, from 5 to 10 p.m. every day. It's free. The Luminance site describes it as the only 3D holiday light walk-through display in Oklahoma. It's closed to cars, and it follows the Mitch Park trail system, so the displays are ADA accessible. The route covers more than 30 lit displays over about a quarter mile.

Some practical details from the event FAQ:

• Parking at Mitch Park is free.
• Leashed dogs are welcome, and owners pick up after them.
• Luminance doesn't sell concessions. You can bring your own coffee or hot chocolate, and the ice rink runs a small concession stand.
• Restrooms are on site.

Opening night is also the first of only two Merry Marketplace nights. The city's 2026 vendor application lists the market for Friday, November 20, and Saturday, December 12, from 4 to 8 p.m., in the Mitch Park vendor area. City rules allow no more than 15 vendor spaces, each 10 by 10 feet. With so few vendors on so few nights, this is the smallest and shortest-lived part of the season. In 2024, Merry Marketplace vendors and food trucks together sold $46,243.70 over the two event nights, according to the Luminance history page.

That page also gives a sense of how much the park sees each winter. Luminance counted 35,000 visitors in 2024, and the rink had more than 15,000 skaters that year. The lights came out of a 2017 City Council workshop on the future of Edmond's holiday celebrations. Luminance opened in 2018 with 20 displays. In 2019, the first year a trail counter was installed, it logged more than 35,000 visitors. By the city's own counts, 2024 attendance landed roughly where 2019's did.

Downtown Runs in the Daytime

Mitch Park is busiest in the evening, after 5 p.m. once the lights are on. Downtown Edmond holds most of its holiday programming in daylight, which means the two schedules seldom overlap.

The season downtown opens Thursday, November 12, with Deck the Downtown at Festival Marketplace, 26 W. First St., from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It's free and includes the lighting of downtown's 20-foot Christmas tree, Christmas dance presentations, Santa and Mrs. Claus, horse-drawn wagon rides, live reindeer, hot cocoa and live music.

After that, downtown events mostly fall on Saturdays. Christmas in Downtown runs Saturdays from November 28 through December 19, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free horse-drawn wagon rides along with shopping and dining. The Holiday Carriage Rides leave from Campbell and Broadway during those same hours. They're free and weather permitting. Small Business Saturday downtown is November 28. Silver Leaf Gems at 15 W. Campbell St. holds a free Holiday Extravaganza on Saturday, November 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas Movie Night is Saturday, December 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Broadway and Campbell. The movie hasn't been announced yet.

Apart from the December 5 movie night, downtown's Saturday events end by 3 p.m. Luminance turns on at 5 p.m. Because of that gap, one Saturday can cover both parts of town without any conflict.

December 12 has the most going on. The carriage rides end at 3 p.m., the final Merry Marketplace opens at 4 p.m., and Luminance comes on at 5 p.m. It's the last Saturday when every piece of the season is running at once. December 5 is the one Saturday with an evening event downtown, and since Luminance stays lit until 10 p.m., that night has room for both too.

After January 1, only the rink is left. January is a quieter month at Mitch Park, with the lights gone and the ice open through the 31st.

Lori Morrissey has watched how local traditions shape what a neighborhood feels like to live in, and Edmond's winter calendar is a big part of that. If this season has you thinking about your own home and what it might be worth, Lori Morrissey can prepare a free home valuation before the holidays get busy.