On the first full weekend of November, people in swimsuits and robes will walk through the galleries of the National Nordic Museum at 2655 NW Market St. Wood-fired saunas will be running nearby, along with cold plunges and a string ensemble. Two weekends later, the same building will be packed with craft stalls, glögg and Danish pancake balls.
The museum is the anchor for all of Ballard's November. Both of the month's big ticketed weekends happen there. The building is also one of the 33 stops on the Ballard Alliance's free Tomte Trail, which runs the whole month, and the trail's top prize, for anyone who collects ten stamps, is a family membership to that same museum. So the plan below goes to the museum twice in November, with the trail covering the weeks in between and running out on December 5 at HolidayFest.
Sunday, November 1: The Trail Opens on Market Day
The Tomte Trail runs from November 1 through December 5, 2026. Small tomten, the gnome-like figures from Scandinavian folklore, are hidden inside 33 Ballard businesses. You can pick up a paper passport at any participating shop or download it from Visit Ballard. Once you find the tomte in a shop, ask a staff member for a stamp.
Opening day is a Sunday, and the Ballard Farmers Market runs year-round on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Ballard Avenue and 22nd Avenue. That means the first stamp of the season can come on a normal market morning, without a separate trip.
The stamp count matters in two ways:
- Any passport, any number of stamps. Bring it to Ballard HolidayFest & Market on Saturday, December 5, between 2 and 5 p.m. in Marvin's Garden Park and you get a prize.
- Ten or more stamps. Fill in your contact information and drop the passport off at HolidayFest to enter the drawing for a National Nordic Museum Annual Family Membership. Winners do not need to be there for the drawing.
Ten stamps out of 33 is a reasonable goal. It works out to about two shops a week over the five weeks of the trail.
November 7 and 8: The Sauna Festival's Second Year
This is only the second year of the Seattle Sauna Festival. It debuted at the Nordic Museum last November. Ryan M. Davis and Ana Hernandez started it in 2025. My Ballard reported that Davis got the idea from the sauna village at Minneapolis's Great Northern festival. Hernandez owns PNW Mobile Spa, a family-run business that brings mobile wood-fired saunas, hot tubs and cold plunges to homes and events around the region.
The lineup of sauna operators has a regional reach. It includes PNW Mobile Spa, North Shore Sauna, Sauna Moon, Evergreen Sauna, Tempo Sauna, Alma Saunas and Willamette Sauna Haüs. The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. both days.
The two ticket types work very differently:
Ticket | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
General Admission | $79 | 90 minutes of saunas, cold plunges, music and programming, plus museum galleries |
VIP | $189 | All day on Saturday or Sunday, plus a robe, sauna hat, Nordic snack box and a beverage, plus museum galleries |
Both prices include fees and taxes, and the festival site showed tickets still available as of late October. General admission covers a 90-minute session, so the time you pick decides which music you'll hear.
- Saturday: Arcobaleno Strings from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Steve Solkela from 2 to 3 p.m., and Pat Riff from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday: Rachel Nesvig at 9 a.m. and again at 11 a.m., the Finnish Choral Society of Seattle from 1 to 2 p.m., and Pat Riff from 3 to 6 p.m.
Food is handled on site. Freya Cafe and a Nordic Flavor Lounge are serving Finnish salmon soup, medisterpølse, venison skewers and oysters, and there is also a Terrace Lounge.
The packing list is specific. Bring a bathing suit, a towel, a robe, shoes that slip on and off easily, a water bottle, and your own lock for the small lockers. Swimwear is required, and you sit on your towel inside the saunas. A robe and footwear are required inside the museum. The festival is open to adults, and to teens 13 to 17 who come with a parent. Tickets can't be refunded, but you can transfer one to someone else by emailing the organizers.
Both ticket types include the museum's galleries, and the museum is on the Tomte Trail list. If you hold a passport, it is worth checking at the front desk whether you can get your stamp the same day.
The Weeks in Between: Shops on the Trail, Plus What Opened This Fall
From November 9 to November 19 there are no big events. Those are the weeks when the trail does most of its work. The 33 stops are a mix of bookstores, gift shops, kids' shops and a few places you might not expect. They include Ballard Books, Secret Garden Books, Bakke Coffee Museum, Mox Boarding House, Pie Bird Bakeshop, Sweet Mickey's Candy Shoppe, Fair Trade Winds, Kurfunkle Kids Market, Woodland MOD, Thread Hunter, Gold Dogs and Restyle for Ryther. There's also a stamp at Fleet Feet and one at Eye Clinics of Seattle, which shows how widely the Ballard Alliance cast its net.
Several of the neighborhood's newest businesses can fill the gaps between stamps. None of them is on the trail. All of them opened between late August and early October.
- GoodMart, 5130 Ballard Ave NW. This is the second restaurant from chef Victor Steinbrueck, who opened Local Tide in Fremont in August 2020. The specialty is lunch trays: you choose a protein, mostly seafood, and it comes with rice, salad and something pickled. Seattle magazine's October 14 review describes walking right up to the counter on a Thursday afternoon and predicts that "there will be a line soon." As of early October it was in soft opening, Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those hours make it a good weekend lunch stop between shops.
- Cairo, 5465 Leary Ave NW. An Egyptian restaurant open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Mondays. The Infatuation reviewed it in October.
- Dirty Couch Brewing, 1110 NW 50th St. It took over the former Wheelie Pop Brewing space. Current hours are Monday through Thursday 3 to 9 p.m., Friday 3 to 10 p.m., Saturday noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday noon to 9 p.m. Opening at noon on weekends means you can stop by after a morning of stamp collecting.
- We Fix Old Stuff, 4818 14th Ave NW. A repair workshop founded by Ashley Zaworska and David Nebert, in the same building as Moon Moon Lighting Co. Axios Seattle reported that it opened October 2. Walk-in hours are Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed daily from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday is by appointment. If you'll be pulling out a string of lights or an old lamp for the season, mid-November is a sensible time to bring it in.
- Sea Rose, 5903 24th Ave NW. Co-owner Sonu Hamade developed the concept with her daughter Raya, according to My Ballard. The restaurant's site now lists daily hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
One more is still in progress. Yoka Tea co-owners Marcellus Beza and Amy Park are renovating a second location at 5335 Ballard Ave NW. My Ballard reported on October 7 that no opening date had been set and that a water-heater leak had set the work back several weeks.
November 20 to 22: Julefest Brings the Month Back to Market Street
Julefest is the second of the museum's two weekends. Ticket prices change depending on the day you go and whether you buy online or at the door:
- Friday, November 20, 21+ Night Market, 5 to 9 p.m. $20 for adults online, $25 at the door. Members pay $15 online and $20 at the door. This ticket also covers the full weekend.
- Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $12 for adults online, $16 at the door. Youth tickets are $5, children under 12 get in free, and members get in free.
A Friday night ticket costs $8 more than a weekend ticket bought online, and it covers Saturday and Sunday as well. That makes it the better deal for adults who plan to come back for a second visit. Free member admission on Saturday and Sunday is also part of what makes the trail's family membership prize valuable.
Inside, there are rows of stalls with handmade gifts, traditional foods and Scandinavian clothing. A 21+ beer garden serves glögg, mead and beer all day, and Nordic performers from around the state play in Valhalla Beer Hall. Guests 21 and over can join the Valhalla Mug Club. Membership comes with a limited-edition 20-ounce glass mug featuring the Yule Cat from Icelandic folklore, your first two beers, and two tickets to visit the museum after Julefest. Julefest admission is sold separately. The æbleskiver are a long-running tradition: fluffy Danish pancake balls served with lingonberry sauce, powdered sugar and whipped cream.
Julefest ends on Sunday, November 22. That leaves about two weeks before passports are due at HolidayFest on December 5. HolidayFest runs from 2 to 8 p.m. in Marvin's Garden Park. This year it adds a new market along the northern end of Ballard Avenue NW, with vendors, a fire pit with s'mores, a Tomte Toss, and food and drink specials from nearby restaurants. Free photos with Santa run from 2 to 5 p.m., and you need to be in line by 4:30. Prizes are handed out only from 2 to 5 p.m., so bring your passport early.
Every Ballard November has people asking what you're doing for the holidays. Some of them are also asking themselves whether to stay in their current place or move to another part of the neighborhood. If that's you, Zac Lee can give you a clear, data-backed look at what your home is worth before the spring market. Get your free home valuation, and use the quiet weeks between the sauna festival and Julefest to plan your next step.
