Old Poway Park Saturdays: Fall Markets, Train Rides & Hours
October 1, 2026
October 1, 2026
According to a San Diego Union-Tribune report, the Poway Arts and Crafts Guild has made its Artisan Market at Old Poway Park a weekly event. It now runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Dec. 19, set up around the boardwalk by The Hamburger Factory at 14122 Midland Road. That change puts the market alongside the park's other two Saturday regulars, the Poway Certified Farmers' Market and the Poway-Midland Railroad, on every weekend the railroad has posted this fall.
No single group runs the Saturday. A nonprofit guild, a certified farmers market and a volunteer railroad each work on their own schedule. The overlap between their hours is what decides how much of the park is running when you get there. From now through Nov. 7, the last Saturday on the railroad's posted calendar, that overlap is easy to predict, with a change on Oct. 24. Knowing each group's schedule is the difference between catching all of it and catching a piece.
Here is how the three regulars line up on a standard fall Saturday.
| Operation | Run by | Saturday hours | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poway Certified Farmers' Market | Certified farmers market at 14134 Midland Road and Temple Street | 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Year-round |
| Artisan Market | Poway Arts and Crafts Guild, a nonprofit | 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Weekly through Dec. 19 |
| Locomotive rides | Poway-Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc., with the City of Poway | 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. | Posted Sept. through early Nov. 2026 |
The farmers market hours come from Patch's 2026 county market guide. A 2026 UC Master Gardener event listing puts the market at Old Poway Park, 14134 Midland Road, so it's inside the park, not down the street. The railroad's calendar lists locomotive service on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. The city describes the operation as a partnership between the City of Poway and Poway-Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc.
Put the three side by side and the full-park window is three hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Before 10, both markets are open but the locomotive hasn't started. After 1, the farmers market is closing, the last train leaves at 1:45, and the Artisan Market stays open alone until 2. A family that shows up at 1:30 still gets a train ride and the artisan booths, but the produce stalls will be gone.
The railroad's posted rules are what most often change a morning's plan. Its visit page lists them in detail:
One detail needs checking before you go. The operator's page puts the child fare at ages 2 to 12. An October 2025 city announcement listed ages 3 to 12, with children under 3 riding free. The operator's page is the more recent of the two, but it's worth confirming at the depot window if you have a 2-year-old.
The Artisan Market has a reason to exist beyond the table sales. Part of the fee each artisan pays for a booth goes to the Jenna Parke and Voletta Hervy Donation Fund, which supports art programs in Poway Unified School District middle and high schools, according to guild president Ray Eaton. Last year the guild sent 13 checks totaling about $4,000 to teachers to help them buy supplies. Going from occasional to weekly means more market days through Dec. 19, and each one brings in booth fees.
The guild is also keeping its selling separate from the farmers market. Artisans are hosting an informational table at the Poway Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Eaton explaining how that table will work:
"We will not be selling products at the Farmers Market, just showing the craftsmanship of our artists."
He said anyone who wants to buy a piece will be sent to the Artisan Market. The two markets share a park and a morning, but the guild's table is its own informational outreach.
For lunch between the two, The Hamburger Factory sits right on the boardwalk. The Union-Tribune's May 2026 burger roundup counted 11 burgers on its menu, including an $18 Smashburger, at the Old Poway Park location. A 2025 Pomerado News report said the restaurant had added a covered patio overlooking the park.
On most fall Saturdays the three regulars have Midland Road to themselves. The weekend of Oct. 3 and 4 is different, because several separately organized events are scheduled on top of them. In time order, here is what is posted:
Rendezvous is run by the Old Poway Park Action Committee. It recreates late-1800s activities for fourth-grade students, including gold panning, encampments, and wood and pottery projects. Guild artists handle the woodcraft and the student silhouettes, and Eaton expects about 660 students over the two days. So on the busiest weekend of the fall, the guild's volunteers are working the Saturday market and a student history event in the same park at the same time.
The timing also works across the city line. The Poway morning winds down around 1:45 p.m., and Rancho BEERnardo opens at 2 p.m. in Rancho Bernardo, so the two don't overlap.
The schedule changes again for Once Upon a Hallowe'en on Saturday, Oct. 24, which runs from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Old Poway Park. Train rides, carnival games and treats cost extra, and Haunted House admission is $1.
That day the railroad replaces its usual morning locomotive with a cable car from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. The locomotive runs in the evening instead, from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Anyone coming for the markets that morning will find a smaller car on the tracks. The steam locomotive comes out once the Halloween crowd starts arriving.
Some of the season isn't on any calendar yet. The railroad's posted fall schedule ends with a locomotive run on Saturday, Nov. 7, followed by no service on Sunday, Nov. 8. Service after that, including December, is still unconfirmed. The city hasn't announced a 2026 date for Christmas in the Park. The date on its calendar belongs to the 2025 event.
The guild has one December plan on record. Working with the Old Poway Park Action Committee, it is preparing a surprise holiday art installation featuring four guild artists. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Eaton saying, "look for the installation around the fountain in early December."
After Dec. 19, the weekly Artisan Market schedule ends and the year-round farmers market keeps its 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday hours. The Artisan Market has 12 Saturdays left, from this weekend through Dec. 19. The locomotive is posted for the first six of them, through Nov. 7.
If your Saturdays in Old Poway Park have you thinking about what's next for your family here, whether that's a first home near Midland Road or a move from somewhere far away, I'm glad to help with patient guidance in English, Japanese or Spanish. Mariko Tortolero is happy to talk it through over a coffee near the depot. Let's Connect.
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