The five acres of lawn at 701 McClelland Drive do more work than any other patch of grass in Sonoma County. From the first Sunday in April through the first Sunday in December, the Windsor Certified Farmers Market sets up on the Green. From June through late August, the concert stage goes up on Thursday nights. In between, there are movies, a taco festival, a chili cook-off, and the finish line of Levi's GranFondo. If you already live here, the question isn't whether to go. It's how to plan around it.
This post is a working guide to the 2026 summer season on the Town Green, plus a look at what's changing on the blocks around it. Consider it a cheat sheet for the neighbors who use downtown as an extension of their own backyard.
The 2026 Summer Nights on the Green Lineup
The concert series returns for its 24th season, and the Town of Windsor confirmed the format in its April 14 Insider Edition: ten Thursday concerts running June 4 through August 13, plus two additional "Farm Night" concerts hosted by the Windsor Certified Farmers Market that stretch the season out to August 27. Street fair opens at 5 p.m., live music runs 6 to 8 p.m., and the whole thing is free.
The early-summer lineup published by Happenings Sonoma County reads like a deliberate crowd-pleaser:
| Date | Act | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Jun 4 | Kenny Metcalf as Elton | Elton John Tribute |
| Thu, Jun 11 | Wonderbread 5 | Dance/Pop |
| Thu, Jun 18 | Pride & Joy SF (Pride Night) | R&B, Soul |
| Thu, Jul 23 | Summer Nights on the Green | TBA |
The Town's sponsorship page estimates the series draws up to 60,000 attendees across the ten-week run. Do the math against the roughly 15,000 Windsor households the Town says it markets to, and the concert series is effectively hosting more than three visits per household over the summer. That is not a special event. That is a habit.
The Market That Anchors the Rest of the Week
The Windsor Certified Farmers Market, launched in 2001, runs Sundays from the first Sunday in April through the first Sunday in December, with a second market layered on Thursday evenings during the concert season. The organization describes the Green as a five-acre park with lawn space, picnic tables, and a children's playground alongside the market footprint. If you are trying to explain to a friend in San Francisco why Windsor's downtown feels different from a strip of storefronts, the answer usually starts here.
A few things worth knowing if you are new to the market rhythm:
- Sunday brunch is a category, not a suggestion. The market highlights ready-to-eat meals, coffee, and picnic-style seating on the Green as a core part of the experience.
- Thursday nights double up. The 5 p.m. street fair is not separate from the market. It is the market, extended, with food vendors and farm-fresh produce feeding the concert crowd.
- Family lawn games are set up on Thursdays. If you have kids and were planning to pack a soccer ball, you can leave it home.
The Town of Windsor's 2026 community calendar lists more than a month's worth of additional events that touch the Green: the Earth Day Celebration, Levi's GranFondo, the Native Arts Festival, the Windsor Half Marathon, National Night Out, the Windsor Chili Cook-Off, the Holiday Celebration, and the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove. Discover Windsor summarizes the downtown calendar as more than 30 annual events. That is close to one event every eleven days, and it is why the walkable blocks around the Green tend to hold their evening energy through the shoulder seasons in ways smaller Sonoma County downtowns do not.
Two Dates to Circle Now
Two 2026 events deserve early planning, because parking and picnic strategy get real:
Windsor Taco Fest & Lowrider Show — Saturday, July 11, from 4 p.m. on the Town Green. The lowrider show has become a distinct draw of its own, and it lands on a summer Saturday that will absolutely fill the surrounding lots.
Family Movies on the Green — Tuesday nights, July 7 through August 4. Films begin fifteen minutes after sunset. Free.
If you have a household of school-age kids, the Tuesday movie run and the Thursday concert run mean two of every week's five weeknights already have a plan on the Green. Add Sunday market and you have three.
What's Changing on the Blocks Around the Green
The most consequential food-and-drink news for Windsor in 2026 is not a concert. It is a building. Sonoma Magazine reported in the spring that the owners of Grata Italian Eatery, chef Eric Foster's Windsor River Road restaurant, are opening a casual, saloon-style pub in the long-vacant Windsor Brewing Co. space on Windsor Road. The Windsor Brewing building has been dark for years. Handing it to the Grata team is the closest thing downtown Windsor has to a bet on itself.
Grata itself opened in May 2025 and made a fast case for Windsor as a serious dinner destination, with dishes like the Grata Burrata and Spring Harvest Gnudi that have drawn regional press coverage. A second concept from the same kitchen, aimed at the more casual end of the dial, changes the walking radius from the Green. It gives you a place to land after a Thursday concert without leaving downtown, and it fills in the block between the existing anchors.
Those existing anchors are worth naming, because they are the everyday-life map most useful to residents:
- KC's American Kitchen on the Green side, known locally for its patio and its "blue eyed" burger
- The Publican, the neighborhood pub option that has held down its corner for years
- Cafe Noto for morning coffee before the Sunday market
- Lupe's Diner for the reliable weekend breakfast run
- Jimmys Lakeside Grill at the Windsor Golf Course, if you want the pond-and-fountain patio a little off the main drag
- Bell Village, the retail complex anchored by Oliver's Market, for the grocery-and-errand loop that most Windsor households build their week around
You can build a full Thursday evening without moving your car: park once, walk the market, catch the concert, grab a plate from a food vendor or step off the lawn for a table at KC's or The Publican, and be home before the second encore.
The Weekday Rhythm Most Visitors Miss
The Green earns its five acres because it is used on Tuesdays and Wednesdays too, not just on marquee weekends. Water fitness classes and adult softball leagues run out of the Town's recreation calendar. The Windsor Senior Recreation Center hosts a Friday multimedia art class for adults 50 and up. Youth swim lessons, camps, and adult sports leagues all layer onto the same downtown weeks the concerts do. For a household choosing between "we'll drive somewhere fun this weekend" and "we'll walk to something tonight," Windsor's advantage is that the second option keeps showing up on the calendar without you having to look for it.
One footnote for pet owners: as of April 1, 2026, the Town of Windsor transitioned animal services to the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter and Sonoma County Animal Services. Licensing, lost-and-found, and adoptions all now route through those providers. Worth updating your bookmarks.
Make Downtown Yours This Summer
If you have been in Windsor long enough to have a favorite bench on the Green, none of this is news to you. The point is that 2026 is a particularly full year: a full ten-week concert season with two bonus Farm Nights, the return of Taco Fest and Family Movies, and a downtown food scene that is about to add a Grata-run pub in a building most of us had stopped noticing.
When your household is ready to buy, sell, or think through what a move within Sonoma County actually looks like, the Borrall Hodes Team is a phone call away. Book an Appointment to talk through your Windsor plans with a team that lives and works these blocks year-round.
