In Hill City, the Holiday Season Peaks the Day After Thanksgiving

The 1880 Train's Holiday Express keeps running out of Hill City until January 2. Most of the town's holiday calendar comes much sooner. It's packed into two November dates, Saturday the 21st and Friday the 27th, and the second of those is busier than anything that follows in December.

The timing shapes your plans if you live here. Hosting family over Thanksgiving week puts your guests in town on the day with Hill City's fullest holiday schedule. If you're waiting until mid-December to "do the Christmas things," you'll catch the quieter part of the season, when the train carries most of it and a few Main Street kitchens have cut back their hours.

Here's how the season builds, and where to eat while it does.

Saturday, November 21 turns the season on

The lead-up starts a week earlier. Hill City Center lists a Main Street Volunteer Day on November 14 as part of its Light Up Hill City plans. Then several things open on the same Saturday:

• Evergreen Bazaar, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Eras Event Center, according to the November calendar in Black Hills Electric Cooperative's magazine.
• European Market at Old World Plaza downtown, opening at noon. The Hill City Chamber's listing runs it through 7 p.m. on December 19.
• Trees and Trains, a festival of trees in tribute to Rick Mills. The Handbag Store's events page places it in the Harley-Davidson building downtown, with hours of noon to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
• Light Up Hill City, when the town's Christmas lights come on at 6 p.m.

The Handbag Store's Pink Friday sale also runs Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21. That makes the weekend a reasonable time to get some shopping done before Thanksgiving.

The Evergreen Bazaar location is the newest part of that list. The Eras Event Center is on the former Prairie Berry Winery property. Prairie Berry and Miner Brewing closed in December 2024, as KOTA reported at the time. Since then, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research has bought the property and is converting it into a natural history museum, with a grand opening scheduled for June 4, 2027, according to KOTA. Museum Director Sharon Weaver told the station she expects it to be "one of the largest tourist locations that have come about in the past couple decades." The Rapid City Journal reported that the event center is in the renovated former Addie Camp General Store and is the first part of the project to open to the public. The museum is still more than half a year away. For now, a holiday bazaar is an easy way to see how the property is changing.

Friday, November 27 stacks everything into one day

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The next day has the season's tightest schedule.

1. 9 a.m. The Kris Kringle Craft & Vendor Fair opens at Hill City Center and runs until 4 p.m. It returns Saturday, November 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2. 11 a.m. The first Holiday Express of the day leaves the 1880 Train depot. More departures follow at 12:45, 2:30 and 4:15 p.m., and Saturday has the same four times.
3. Noon. Trees and Trains opens for its Friday hours, according to The Handbag Store's listing.
4. 2 to 4 p.m. Snacks with Santa takes place at Hill City Center, the same building as the craft fair.
5. 6 p.m. The Lighted Christmas Parade comes down Main Street. The cooperative's calendar lists it as the Olde Tyme Christmas Parade, along with an Olde Tyme Christmas promotion from participating businesses that day.

The day can work for a family with young children. The Holiday Express is a one-hour round trip from Hill City to the "North Pole," where Santa boards for the ride back. The 4:15 departure gets back to town well before the parade. If you'd rather see Santa on foot, Snacks with Santa takes up the middle of the afternoon at Hill City Center. You could also do both, with the craft fair in the same building to fill the time between.

Dinner needs the most planning. At the Alpine Inn, 133 Main Street, pagers for the 5 p.m. seating are handed out starting at 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant doesn't take reservations, and it accepts cash or check only, with an ATM inside. If you pick up a pager at 4, you can sit down at 5 and be finished in time for the 6 p.m. parade. If you get there at 5:30, the timing gets much tighter. Groups of eight or more should call ahead.

December belongs to the train

After Thanksgiving weekend, the calendar gets much lighter. The European Market and Trees and Trains both continue through December 19. Otherwise, December is mostly built around the 1880 Train's schedule:

There's also one quieter departure before the holiday rush, at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The railroad says every ride includes hot cocoa, a sugar cookie and a candy cane. Each child gets a bell to ring for Santa and a chance to talk with Mrs. Claus and Santa. The railroad's schedule page also says it is now booking only the Holiday Train, so the full schedule and tickets are online.

Before you plan a December visit to Trees and Trains, check where it is. The Handbag Store lists the Harley-Davidson building from November 21 through December 19. The cooperative's November calendar lists a Trees & Trains Exhibit at the S.D. State Railroad Museum from November 27 into January. Call ahead before driving over, especially after the 19th.

Where to eat while Main Street slows down

Restaurant hours tighten through the season, and each place sets its own schedule. Here's what the restaurants nearest the parade route post for this time of year:

Turtle Town, 205 Main Street, says it stays open year-round but changes its hours with the seasons. It suggests calling or checking its Google listing before you go.

The 1885 Steakhouse hours affect planning for the Wednesday departures. If you take the November 25 or December 23 train, the steakhouse will be closed that day. The Alpine Inn is open both Wednesdays.

The Alpine Inn's closed dates matter most for late-December plans. It's closed on Thanksgiving Day and on December 24, 25 and 26. Because it doesn't open Sundays, the next chance for a meal there is Monday through Wednesday, December 28 to 30. Then it closes for winter from December 31, 2026, through January 27, 2027, and reopens January 28.

The Holiday Express is still running then. Its last departures, at 2:30 and 4:15 p.m. on January 1 and 2, come after the Alpine Inn has closed. If you're taking guests on a New Year's train ride and want to eat on Main Street afterward, make dinner plans with another spot ahead of time.

If you're hosting this season, I'm happy to share what I know about the Hill City events on your list, whether that's Thanksgiving weekend or a quiet train ride after Christmas. If a winter weekend in town has you thinking about a home of your own in the Black Hills, I'd be glad to talk that through too. Reach out to Cher Rhoades and Work with Cher on whatever you're planning in Hill City next.