Between now and the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Livingston Depot Center hosts three of the town's biggest November gatherings. One of them exists to keep the building standing. The others raise money for a food pantry, pay for holiday lights and support a community theater. The November calendar is busy. It is also mostly a fundraising calendar, and it keeps coming back to the same building on Park Street.
What follows is the month in date order. Most of these events pay for something. Several are on the same night. And the Depot's role grows from one week to the next.
Halloween Week Starts the Month Indoors
The last days of October already run on the indoor schedule. The Shane Lalani Center for the Arts at 415 E. Lewis St. opened Shrek the Musical on Friday, Oct. 23, with a 7:30 p.m. curtain. The run continues into mid-November. The Shane Center lists the production's sponsors as the Livingston Tourism Business Improvement District, Basecamp Supply and Construction, the Kitchen Shop on Main, the Yellowstone Valley Lodge & Grill, and Carol Lalani in memory of Sal Lalani. So a family musical on Lewis Street is paid for by a downtown kitchen store, a lodge down the valley and a construction supplier.
The city has its own Halloween programming. The City of Livingston calendar lists Parent's Night Out: Halloween Fun! on Friday, Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m. For parents, the night before Halloween is covered.
The Weekend the Depot Raises Money for Itself
The second Friday of November is the night the building's purpose shows most clearly. The Livingston Depot Foundation holds its Wine & Beer Tasting on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. This is the event's 21st year, and the money goes toward preserving the Depot building, which the foundation calls the anchor of downtown.
The tasting page splits the evening into two tiers:
- Sneak peek, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.: you arrive before the crowd for passed hors d'oeuvres from local chefs, first samples of regional craft beer and specialty wine, a signature Depot wine glass to keep, and the first look at the silent auction.
- Main event, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: tastings, appetizers, the silent auction and the wine pull, with music from the Jazz Nectar Trio.
Tickets run $50 to $75. The foundation recommends buying ahead, and only a limited number will be sold at the door. There is one change for 2026. The main event adds more tasting options, including a Depot Signature Fauxtail and other non-alcoholic drinks. The silent auction draws on the region: overnight getaways, fine art, dining and offerings from local businesses.
The Depot has served for more than four decades as a museum and a community center, and the foundation depends on community support to keep its preservation and education work going. The same rooms that host the tasting will host two more big community nights before the month ends. On Nov. 13, the building is raising money to keep hosting them.
The tasting also lands on the last weekend of Shrek. The final performance is Sunday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m. That makes mid-November a weekend when a household can support both of downtown's main cultural buildings, the Depot on Friday night and the Shane Center on Sunday afternoon.
Thursday, Nov. 19, Belongs to Second Street
Dan Bailey's Outdoor Company calls the Cold Snap Film Festival its most beloved event. This year is its 18th. The program covers more than fly fishing and ski footage. Dan Bailey's describes it as outdoor storytelling about nature, human-powered adventure, environmental justice and inclusion outdoors.
The screenings fill Thursday, mostly along a few blocks of Second Street:
- 3:30 p.m.: the pre- and post-party opens at Katabatic Brewing and runs until 9 p.m.
- 4:30 p.m.: first showing at the Empire Twin Theatre, 106 N. Second St.
- 7:30 p.m.: second showing at the same theater.
Tickets are $10. They are sold at the shop, and buyers need to say which showing they want when they purchase. With two showings at a single-screen-sized price, an early showing can still leave time for dinner, and a late showing can follow work.
That Thursday is also the Thursday before Thanksgiving, the day Explore Livingston lists for the Catherine Lane & Friends Holiday Open House, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 120 S. 2nd St. If the open house follows that listing, both events happen on Second Street the same day. You could spend the afternoon at the open house and walk to the Empire Twin for the 4:30 p.m. showing.
Friday, Nov. 20, Moves the Party Back to the Depot
Cold Snap doesn't end at the theater. On Friday, Nov. 20, the Pray For Snow Celebration starts at 6 p.m. at the Livingston Depot Center, and admission is free. Dan Bailey's lists a silent auction and raffle, live music, dancing, and food and beer from Follow Yer' Nose BBQ, Gil's Goods and Neptune's Brewery.
All proceeds go to Loaves & Fishes. The organizer says last year's event raised a record amount. That is the second Depot fundraiser in seven days, and it benefits a different cause. The first paid for the building. The second uses the building to raise money for a local food program.
The two nights have different price points by design. Thursday is the ticketed screening. Friday costs nothing to walk in, and the giving happens through the raffle and auction. A household that skips the films can still show up Friday and support the same cause.
Saturday, Nov. 28, the Park Outside Takes Over
The month's last big Depot night moves outside. Light Up Livingston is free on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. in Depot Park. This year Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26, so the event lands on National Small Business Saturday. Explore Livingston says it schedules the lighting on that day so people will shop and eat at locally owned downtown businesses before and after, and it offers a Small Business Saturday Passport for adults.
The evening runs on a set schedule:
- 4 p.m.: a candy cane hunt begins, with hundreds of candy canes hidden around Depot Park.
- Throughout: free kids' crafts inside the Depot run by Links for Learning, holiday characters, and hayrides in the park on a John Deere tractor, with in-kind support from Frontier Ag Solutions and straw bales from the Spur Line.
- Downstairs: the Model Railroad Club runs its trains in the basement between the Gourmet Cellar and the Depot, 20 people at a time.
- 5:30 p.m.: Santa lights the trees, then heads inside the Depot to meet children.
The scale shows how much organizing goes into it. The Depot Park display has more than 100,000 lights on 38 trees, paid for by the Holiday Lights Committee and its donors. Downtown also gets 90 large snowflake lights on its light poles, through the Downtown Livingston Business Improvement District, the Tourism Business Improvement District and the Holiday Lights Committee. Admission is free, and the only costs on the night are food and drinks.
By the end of the evening, the Depot has been used three ways in one month. It is a fundraiser for itself on Nov. 13, a free party for Loaves & Fishes on Nov. 20, and the indoor half of the town's tree lighting on Nov. 28, with kids' crafts upstairs, trains in the basement and Santa inside.
Where the Calendar Goes Next
The holiday season moves to Main Street and Second Street the following week. The Livingston Chamber lists the Christmas Stroll for Friday, Dec. 4, 2026, from 4 to 8 p.m. The Depot Park lights stay up through the season, so the trees lit on Nov. 28 will still be on for the stroll six days later.
Here are the dates in one place, from now through early December:
- Fri, Oct. 30, 5:30 p.m.: Parent's Night Out: Halloween Fun!, City of Livingston
- Fri, Nov. 13, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Depot Foundation Wine & Beer Tasting, Livingston Depot Center
- Sun, Nov. 15, 3 p.m.: final Shrek the Musical performance, Shane Lalani Center
- Thu, Nov. 19, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.: Cold Snap Film Festival, Empire Twin Theatre
- Fri, Nov. 20, 6 p.m.: Pray For Snow Celebration, Livingston Depot Center
- Sat, Nov. 28, 4 to 7 p.m.: Light Up Livingston, Depot Park
- Fri, Dec. 4, 4 to 8 p.m.: Christmas Stroll, downtown
Three of those seven dates happen at the Depot or in the park outside it.
The Depot Foundation, Dan Bailey's and the Holiday Lights Committee are a big part of why a Livingston November looks the way it does. If you're thinking about where you'll spend the next few winters, whether that's within Livingston, closer to Bozeman or somewhere in between, Jon Bertelsen at Bozeman Realty can talk through how each town's year actually runs. Search Bozeman listings or schedule a personal consultation with Jon.
