Once the piers come out on Delavan Lake, the area's weekend calendar shifts to the brick streets of downtown Delavan. The event that opens the season is a fundraiser. On Saturday, October 24, the Delavan Historic Foundation hosts the Downtown Delavan Brew Walk. Tickets cost $35, and the event's proceeds support the Delavan Historical Society's relocation fund and the foundation's public art projects.
The way that walk is set up, and the address where it starts, explain most of what happens downtown between Halloween and mid-December. One nonprofit's passport events, one Legion hall on South Second Street, and one half-acre park by the water tower carry the season.
The $35 Passport and Where It Goes
The foundation sells Brew Walk tickets through its Zeffy event page. A standard ticket costs $35 and a designated-driver ticket costs $18. Tickets can't be refunded. The event is 21 and over, everyone shows a photo ID at check-in, and the organizers ask that no children attend.
This year's theme ties into the country's 250th birthday. The foundation describes beers from the United States poured with food samples at more than 10 downtown locations. Guests fill in a tasting passport along the way and can enter a prize drawing at each stop. TNT Ace Hardware is sponsoring the two big prizes. Stamped passports go back to the check-in point for the final drawing.
The foundation's page states the purpose directly:
Proceeds from the event support the Delavan Historical Society's Relocation Fund and the Delavan Historic Foundation Public Art Projects and more.
The times differ between sources. Visit Delavan's listing shows 3 to 7 p.m. The foundation's own ticket page has check-in from 3 to 5 p.m. and the walk itself from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. The organizer runs the ticket page, so its schedule is the one to plan around.
The Legion Hall Doing the Back-Office Work
Brew Walk check-in happens at American Legion Post 95, 111 S. 2nd Street. That is not on Walworth Avenue. It sits just off the main street.
The same building keeps showing up on the fall calendar. A week after the Brew Walk, Visit Delavan's Goblin Walk and Parade gathers at the Post Office, 333 E. Walworth Ave., on Saturday, October 31, from 6 to 7 p.m. From there it walks to the American Legion. The City of Delavan's calendar also lists trick-or-treating that night.
The pattern goes back several years. When the foundation ran the Holiday Wine Walk in 2023, regular guests checked in at City Hall, 123 S. Second St., and VIP guests checked in at Post 95. Those 2023 details are history, not this year's plan. They still show South Second Street serving as downtown's staging area year after year, which is useful to know before parking for any of these evenings.
Halloween Lands on the Brew Walk This Year
Costumes are part of October 24 in 2026. The foundation's page says Halloween costumes are "highly encouraged but not required." Boxed & Burlap, the café at 230 E. Walworth Ave., has its own Fright Night on its 2026 events page for that same Saturday.
So Saturday, October 24, brings two costume crowds to one block of Walworth Avenue at once. The Goblin Walk follows the next Saturday along a route that ends at the same Legion hall. For anyone downtown in costume, that makes two Saturday evenings in a row with somewhere to go.
Which Doors the Passport Opens
Neither the Brew Walk page nor the Holiday Wine Walk listing names this year's participating businesses. The stops a passport adds up to come from the storefronts that make up the district. The Delavan-Darien Chamber describes that district as a historic brick-street downtown with antique and collectible shops, galleries, clothing, specialty and jewelry stores.
These downtown names are currently operating:
- Remember When Antiques & Collectibles sells antiques, collectibles and housewares, and it houses the National Cookie Jar Museum. Its Visit Delavan profile lists Friday and Saturday hours.
- Beall Jewelers describes its downtown Delavan showroom as two floors of inventory.
- Kristin Hardwick, LLC, at 407 E. Walworth Ave., is a fashion house for custom designs, alterations and embellishments.
- Fika Self Care Studio offers self-care services in Delavan and has verified customer reviews dated May and June 2026.
- Pete's Parkside Pub is at 103 N. 2nd St. and posts daily hours.
- LSJ Music Company, at 127 Park Place, is running a Music Explorers class series this November.
Two familiar names have moved off this route. Brick Street Yarn's current listing puts it at 725 E. Wisconsin St., Unit C. Curate Design Group opened a larger studio at 714 E. Geneva St., according to At The Lake Magazine. Anyone with an older walk map in a kitchen drawer will find both stores somewhere else now.
November Turns From Tasting to Shopping
The second passport event, the Holiday Wine Walk, is on Saturday, November 21, from 3 to 7 p.m. along Walworth Avenue. Visit Delavan's listing describes red and white wines, food samples and a tasting passport filled in at more than 12 downtown businesses, "and maybe do some holiday shopping." That count is a few stops higher than the Brew Walk's "more than 10." November's walk asks guests to step into more shops.
The 2026 listing doesn't yet give a ticket price, a check-in location or an organizer. The 2023 edition was a Delavan Historic Foundation event. The foundation's Ticket Tailor page currently shows no events listed. If the Wine Walk follows the Brew Walk, tickets will most likely appear on a different platform, so Visit Delavan's event page is the place to watch.
A week later, Small Business Saturday on November 28 runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It has no ticket and no passport. The shops that poured samples on the 21st open their doors for full holiday shopping hours instead.
December Moves One Block North
The season's last chapter shifts to Tower Park. Visit Delavan describes it as a half-acre park north of Walworth Avenue at the water tower.
On Friday, December 4, the chamber lists the Christmas Tree Lighting, COMET Caroling and Parade Around the Park at Tower Park, 117 Park Place. Santa arrives on a firetruck, and the parade is a walk-through of participating floats. The chamber lists 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Visit Delavan's December calendar shows 6 to 8 p.m. Arriving by 5:30 covers both versions.
Delavan Dasher Days fill the mid-December Saturdays. Delavan Connect Communities describes stocking-stuffer deals at local businesses, caroling, Santa appearances and a window-decorating contest. December 19, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., is listed consistently. The first date is not. One Visit Delavan event record says December 13, while its description says December 12. The organizer is the only source that can settle it.
Last year's schedule gives a sense of the scale. In 2025, Dasher Days included a Christmas market with pop-ups, carolers, Santa, and Clydesdale carriage rides for $10. Riders boarded at LSJ Music Co. on Park Place or at Kristin Hardwick LLC on East Walworth Avenue. That was 2025's lineup, and the 2026 program hasn't been posted in that detail. The two pickup points show the route, though: the carriages connected Tower Park to Walworth Avenue, the same ground the passport walks cover in October and November.
The Downtown Calendar, October Through December
- Wednesday, October 21, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The fourth annual Taste of Delavan: Bites & Bottles, a multi-chamber event at Staller Estate Winery & Distillery, W8896 County Road A. This is the one stop outside downtown.
- Saturday, October 24. Brew Walk. Check in 3 to 5 p.m. at American Legion Post 95, then walk from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Costumes encouraged.
- Saturday, October 31, 6 to 7 p.m. Goblin Walk and Parade, from the Post Office to the American Legion.
- Saturday, November 21, 3 to 7 p.m. Holiday Wine Walk on Walworth Avenue.
- Saturday, November 28, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Small Business Saturday.
- Friday, December 4. Tree lighting and COMET Caroling at Tower Park.
- Mid-December Saturdays. Dasher Days, with December 19 confirmed from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Of the seven, the Brew Walk is the only one with a published price, a check-in address and a named beneficiary so far.
At The JH Collective, we follow Delavan's downtown calendar as closely as the lake's, because the streets around Tower Park and the Legion hall shape how a Delavan Lake home is lived in after the boating season ends. If you're thinking about what your property could mean to a buyer who wants both, we'd welcome the chance to talk it over. Request a Complimentary Market Review & Private Consultation.