On the morning of Friday, October 23, city crews were up early blowing leaves, sweeping streets and wrapping parking cones for the next day's Emma Crawford Coffin Races. The City Administrator's newsletter said the town expected thousands of visitors. November looks very different. The events on November 6 through 8 happen in a co-op gallery, a painter's studio and Soda Springs Park. Later in the month the season moves into Manitou's own shops, and the Chamber's holiday hunt pays out its prizes in Manitou Money. Between the coffins and Christmas, almost everything on the calendar sends your spending to someone who makes or sells things a few blocks from home.

Three markets on three days, all within walking distance

The first full weekend of November has a market every day, and each one is smaller than the last big event. Here they are in order, from the Visit Manitou Springs events calendar:

1. Friday, November 6. Commonwheel Artists Co-op opens its annual Holiday Market. The calendar lists it through December 27.
2. Saturday, November 7. Karen Storm and Julie Kirkland host a Holiday Fine Art Sale at Karen Storm's studio. Expect discounted original work, greeting cards and small pieces, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the studio.
3. Sunday, November 8. The Manitou Art Center brings its free Altitude Makers + Farmers Market to Soda Springs Park, with handmade goods from painted artwork to herbal teas and honey, plus belly dancing and live music.

The Commonwheel market sets the price scale for the whole month. The co-op says the market has run for more than 30 years. It puts the typical item under $75, with gifts starting at $10. The range covers functional ceramics, glass, metal ornaments, knitted hats and oil paintings of local views. Those are prices for buying a gift for a neighbor, a teacher or the person who feeds your cat, the kind of gift you pick up more than once a season. The Holiday Market and the Moonlight Market can show up as "TBD" in other places online, so check with Commonwheel before planning around a specific evening.

Saturday's studio sale is even more local, a visit with two working painters in their own space. Sunday's market costs nothing to get into, and the vendors are makers rather than resellers.

Two shows that stay up past the holiday rush

You don't need a weekend to get to the galleries this month. Two exhibits run well past Thanksgiving:

• "Kinda Loose" at Green Horse Gallery, through December 3, is a show of experimental pieces that respond to current events.
• "The Wall — A Montage of First Amendment Rights" at the Manitou Springs Heritage Museum, through December 31, collects hundreds of historical buttons, posters, images and ephemera. It also includes photographs of Manitou Springs by Rhonda S. Van Pelt.

The Heritage Museum show stays up the longest of anything on the November calendar. That makes it the easy answer when relatives come in for Thanksgiving and want something to do on Friday that isn't Pikes Peak.

The city spends the quiet weeks on things residents use

When the crowds thin out, the city's newsletter turns to services for the people who live here. The October 23 City News reads like a winter checklist for residents.

The tennis and pickleball courts have been resurfaced and are open again. The work was paid for by the El Paso Boulevard/Beckers Open Space Fund through the Parks and Recreation maintenance budget, not the city's general fund. The city also asked players for one thing once the weather turns:

"To continue enjoying the resurfaced courts, please do not use snow shovels on the courts during cold seasons. The new surfaces can be damaged by the metal blades on many snow shovels."

The city says it will clear snow from the courts itself when needed.

The same edition covers how plowing works on residential streets. Manitou has four snowplow routes. Main roads and school routes come first, and secondary roads are cleared as conditions and resources allow. Residents clear their own driveways and are asked not to shovel snow into the street.

Other dates from the city:

• November 1–15: Twice-yearly cleanup at Crystal Valley Cemetery. Broken or worn decorations will be removed, and the city asks that flowers be placed in vases.
• Friday, November 13: Vitalant blood drive, 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., at Memorial Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue. Sign up at donors.vitalant.org with blood drive code 20046.
• Monday, November 16: City Council Budget Meeting.
• Tuesday, November 24: City Council Open Mic Night.

None of these will bring in a crowd. All of them are meant for the people who live here.

Places to stop between errands

Two businesses on the usual walking route are going into their first holiday season. The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Manitou Sweet Spot opened in March at 952 Manitou Avenue, run by co-owners Feda and Kamil Elwazeir. Up the hill, the Gazette also covered the May 8 grand opening of IncliNation Café at 124 Ruxton Avenue, from co-founders Christel Aime and Kat Tudor.

Winter changes how some regular stops work, too. Swirl says its patio moves to counter service in winter. It also lists Thanksgiving Day as a closure day, so plan your Thursday-night drink somewhere else.

Thanksgiving week moves the season into the shops

The second half of November takes the market idea from the first weekend and stretches it across downtown for a month.

Wednesday, November 25 is the busiest night. Santa and the tree lighting are at the Town Clock from 5 to 7 p.m. The Chamber's Elf on the Shelf hunt starts the same day. Each week, three elves are hidden in local shops or restaurants, and weekly drawings award $25 in Manitou Money. The hunt ends Sunday, December 20, at noon. The prize can only be spent with local businesses, and finding the elves means walking into those same businesses, which is the whole design.

Visit Manitou Springs also promotes an annual window decorating contest. You walk downtown, look at the holiday displays and vote for your favorite. It works well with the elf hunt, since you'll already be checking storefronts.

November 27–29 is Victorian Christmas at Miramont Castle.

Saturday, November 28 is Small Business Saturday.

Put them side by side and Thanksgiving week runs from a tree lighting on Wednesday, through a castle open house on Friday, to a Saturday set aside for Manitou Avenue's independent stores, with the elf hunt running under all of it. By the time Commonwheel's Holiday Market closes on December 27, the town's holiday spending will have gone through the co-op, the studios, the shops and the restaurants for most of two months.

Your November, on one list

• Nov 1–15: Crystal Valley Cemetery cleanup
• Nov 6: Commonwheel Holiday Market opens, listed through Dec 27
• Nov 7: Holiday Fine Art Sale, Karen Storm Fine Art Studio
• Nov 8: Altitude Makers + Farmers Market, Soda Springs Park, free
• Nov 13: Vitalant blood drive, Memorial Hall, 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
• Nov 16: City Council Budget Meeting
• Nov 24: City Council Open Mic Night
• Nov 25: Santa and tree lighting at the Town Clock, 5 to 7 p.m.; Elf on the Shelf hunt begins
• Nov 27–29: Victorian Christmas at Miramont Castle
• Nov 28: Small Business Saturday
• Through Dec 3: "Kinda Loose" at Green Horse Gallery
• Through Dec 31: "The Wall" at the Manitou Springs Heritage Museum

Marci Clark keeps a running calendar of what's happening around the Pikes Peak region, from the first Commonwheel weekend to the last elf drawing. If you're hosting family over Thanksgiving, or helping a friend who just moved to town figure out what Manitou's holidays look like, reach out to Lux Living Properties. Let's Connect.