Which downtown Monterey market is open at 7:30 on a weeknight this month? Since the start of October, it hasn't been the Tuesday market on Alvarado Street. That one is on its shorter October-through-April schedule and closes at 7. It's the Paseo Night Market, the new Friday market on the Alvarado Mall beside the Portola Hotel & Spa. It runs 4 to 8 p.m. and has two dates left in its first season, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.
Starting tomorrow, then, the latest market evening downtown has two Fridays left. After Oct. 30, the downtown week goes back to a single market night, and that one closes an hour earlier.
Two Markets, One Street, Different Clocks
The two markets share a street and very little else. Here is how they compare this month.
Paseo Night Market | Old Monterey Marketplace and Farmers Market | |
|---|---|---|
Night | Fridays | Tuesdays |
October hours | 4 to 8 p.m. | 4 to 7 p.m. |
Where | Alvarado Mall, 200 Alvarado St., next to Portola Hotel & Spa | Alvarado Street between Del Monte and Pearl |
Size | 20 booths | 3½ city blocks |
Season | Began Sept. 18, runs through Oct. 30 | Year-round, rain or shine |
Organizer | Good Roots Events | Old Monterey Business Association |
Cost | Free | Free |
The hours are what flipped. From May through September, the Tuesday market runs 4 to 8 p.m., which gives it the same closing time as the Friday market. Once October started, Tuesday's schedule dropped to 4 to 7. The Paseo market kept its 8 p.m. close. So for this one month, the newcomer runs an hour longer than the established market.
Who Is Behind the Friday Market
The Old Monterey event listing names Good Roots Events as the presenter. It describes the Paseo Night Market as 20 booths of local farmers, artisans and food producers, starting Sept. 18. When Monterey County NOW announced it, the paper called it a new nighttime farmers market where shoppers can find "fruits, veggies and other locally made and sourced goods" in the plaza by the Portola Hotel, on Fridays through Oct. 30.
Good Roots isn't new to the Peninsula. On its own site, the company describes itself as a Bay Area event-planning firm that works with local food purveyors, farmers, business owners and artists, and it puts sustainability first. It also manages certified farmers markets in Portola Valley and in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The Paseo market brings that operator to downtown Monterey, in the evening, at the bottom of Alvarado.
Good Roots and the Old Monterey listing haven't said whether the Paseo market will come back in 2027. For now, the Oct. 23 and Oct. 30 dates are the last ones on the calendar.
The Tuesday Market Is Still the Anchor
The Old Monterey Marketplace and Farmers Market runs every week, rain or shine, along Alvarado between Del Monte and Pearl. It covers 3½ blocks of produce, crafts and food vendors. According to the Old Monterey Business Association's event page, it won two Monterey County Weekly awards for 2026: Best Farmers Market and Best Place to See and Be Seen.
The association's calendar lists Tuesday dates through Dec. 22, 2026, with no change to the footprint. The only seasonal change is the hour it lost at the end of the evening. That lost hour is what gave the Friday market its edge this month.
The difference in size matters too. Tuesday fills several blocks of the street itself. The Paseo market is a 20-booth plaza market on the pedestrian mall next to the Portola. If you stop by on a Friday, expect a quick loop of one plaza rather than a walk up three blocks of stalls.
What Opened Between the Two Markets This Fall
Alvarado Street has also changed between the two markets. In September, Monterey County NOW reported that Gelato Pazzo had opened at 482 Alvarado St. The paper wrote that "they do more than just gelato," and that "if you were a fan of the OG Il Vecchio you'll probably find some familiar menu items and a familiar face in the place," calling the cafe Carl Alasko's newest venture. An Old Monterey listing also advertised a grand-opening celebration for Friday, Oct. 16, so by now the cafe has been open for weeks and has had its formal celebration too.
The same Monterey County NOW roundup noted that "gelato must be trending in Monterey County." The Carmel favorite Gelato-by-the-Sea has opened a Cannery Row shop at 700 Cannery Row, next to The Fish Hopper. For downtown, though, the new spot within walking distance of either market is the one on the 400 block of Alvarado.
The Saturday Between the Last Two Fridays
The two remaining Paseo dates bracket a full weekend at the foot of Alvarado. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the 7th Annual California Seaweed Festival runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monterey History and Art Museum at Stanton Center and at Custom House Plaza. Admission is free. The program includes talks, demonstrations, seaweed tastings and live music from researchers, chefs and ocean advocates. Organizers present the festival as a celebration of ocean biodiversity "at a moment when kelp forests along the Monterey Peninsula have dramatically declined."
That same morning, the City of Monterey is holding a free Budget Brews drop-in at Plumes Coffee House, 400 Alvarado St., from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Residents and community members can learn about the City budget and give feedback.
Put together, those eight days on one street look like this:
- Friday, Oct. 23, 4 to 8 p.m. Paseo Night Market on the Alvarado Mall, the next-to-last date.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 to 11:30 a.m. City budget drop-in at Plumes, 400 Alvarado St.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. California Seaweed Festival at Stanton Center and Custom House Plaza.
- Tuesday, Oct. 27, 4 to 7 p.m. Old Monterey Marketplace on Alvarado between Del Monte and Pearl.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 4 to 8 p.m. The final Paseo Night Market of 2026.
The Friday market, the festival and the coffee house are all within a short walk of each other at the lower end of Alvarado. For one weekend, the stretch from the Portola to Custom House Plaza carries most of what's happening downtown.
The Downtown Calendar After Oct. 30
Once the Paseo market wraps, downtown evenings go back to one weekly market on Tuesdays, 4 to 7 p.m., under the October-through-April schedule. The rest of the fall calendar moves to single-day events on and around Alvarado:
- Sunday, Nov. 8: The Monterey Bay Half Marathon starts on Del Monte Avenue downtown and runs along Cannery Row. The listing warns of road closures and parking restrictions in downtown, New Monterey and Cannery Row.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday in Old Monterey along Alvarado and Franklin streets, with special offers and activities to be announced.
- Friday, Dec. 4: The free Traditional Tree Lighting on the Colton Hall lawn at 570 Pacific St., 5 to 6 p.m., with cookies, cider, music and caroling.
The tree lighting falls on a Friday, but it lasts an hour and ends at 6. For the rest of the year, no Friday market is listed on the Alvarado Mall, and the Tuesday market keeps its 7 p.m. close through April.
If you like the Paseo market, Oct. 30 is your last chance to tell Good Roots Events, at goodrootsevents.com, that you want it back next fall. For more on how downtown runs between its big weekends, see our piece on the Golden State Theatre's centennial and our Monterey neighborhood page.
At David Lyng Real Estate, we've kept up with Monterey Bay's weekly calendar since 1980, and we enjoy a new market night on Alvarado as much as anyone. If you have questions about downtown Monterey, a block you're curious about, or a home near the Tuesday market, contact us. We're happy to talk it through.