The gates at Swan Island Dahlias stay shut for the first half of October. This happens every year. The farm stops hosting visitors so its crews can get ready for the fall and winter harvest. The Canby Farmers Market held its last regular Saturday on September 26. So the two outdoor anchors of a Canby summer have both stepped back.

The weekends don't go quiet, though. Starting Saturday, the busiest address in town is the Clackamas County Event Center at 694 NE 4th Ave. Its calendar has something nearly every week from now through December 19. Fill in the rest with one harvest market, a park in its first fall, and a few evening spots, and you have Canby's fall.

Why the dahlia gates are closed, and the date that still matters

This year's Swan Island festival ran August 1 through September 30. Visitors walked almost 50 acres of fields and a display garden with more than 375 varieties. The banner at the top of the farm's website now reads "Closed October 1-17." The Mercantile's own hours page gives a slightly longer window, closed October 1 through 18. If you're planning around that weekend, go by the longer date. October 18 is a Sunday, and Sundays aren't on the Mercantile's regular off-season schedule anyway. That schedule is weekdays 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., October through June.

Don't expect a fall tuber sale at the farm. Swan Island's FAQ lists local cash-and-carry tuber sales in April and May only. You can order online right now, though. Tubers for spring 2027 are already listed. The farm's shipping schedule splits Oregon orders into two windows:

• Orders placed August 1 through October 14, 2026 ship the week of April 13, 2027.
• Orders placed October 15, 2026 through April 15, 2027 ship the week of April 19, 2027.

October 14 is a Wednesday, ten days from today. If you picked out a favorite variety in the fields last month, ordering before then gets your tubers about a week sooner in April.

One last market on Holly Street

The farmers market's 2026 vendor schedule ran Saturdays from April 25 to September 26. It marked September 26 as "LAST MARKET DAY!" and then added one more date: a Harvest Market on Saturday, October 17. The market sets up on N. Holly Street between NW 2nd and NW 4th avenues.

The sources don't agree on the details. The Herald Pioneer's September 30 events roundup describes the market as running "Saturdays through October," 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The vendor form gives 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and shows just that one October date. The vendor schedule is the more specific of the two, so plan on October 17. Check the market's own channels before you go on any other October Saturday.

October 17 is also busy across town. The 4-H Tack & Bake Sale opens at the Event Center at 8 a.m. that morning. Both events fit into one Saturday morning.

The Event Center calendar, from now to December

With the fields closed and the market down to one date, most of what's left on Canby's fall calendar happens at the fairgrounds. Here's the order:

1. Saturday, October 10: Canby Historical Society Flea Market, starting at 9 a.m.
2. Saturday, October 17: 4-H Tack & Bake Sale, starting at 8 a.m.
3. Saturday, October 24: a free Resource Fair, noon to 4 p.m.
4. Sunday, November 8 through Saturday, November 14: Country Christmas Bazaar. The Sunday preview sale runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and costs $5. Monday through Saturday the show is free and opens at 10 a.m. each day.
5. November 27 through December 19: Clackamas County Winter Fair.

The list gets denser as it goes. It starts with single Saturdays, moves to a full week of bazaar in November, and ends with more than three weeks of Winter Fair. That's the main reason the fairgrounds, not the fields, set Canby's weekend schedule this time of year.

One gardening event falls in between. The Canby Garden Club is holding a free fall crafting program on Tuesday, October 13, at 1 p.m. at Rutz Family Farm, 7199 S. Zimmerman Road. It's on a weekday afternoon, and it's one of the few farm-based things on the Canby calendar while Swan Island is closed.

If you want a corn maze or pumpkin patch, Fir Point Farms at 14601 Arndt Road in Aurora holds its Harvest Festival every weekend in October. It has hay rides and cider. Its listing doesn't give hours, so check before you drive over.

Daphne Glen Park's first fall

There's a new outdoor option this year. Daphne Glen Park, at N. Locust Street and NE 20th Avenue, opened to the public on August 7. The city held its grand opening ceremony on August 18. The Canby Chronicle reported that the park had been in some stage of planning since at least 2011. Its opening was delayed by a supply chain problem with the splash pad, a contract dispute over the grass, and the late safety inspection those caused. All of that has been resolved.

The name comes from what used to grow there. At the council meeting where the name was adopted, the interim public works director explained that the property was once a nursery that grew daphne plants. In a town whose best-known fall attraction is a flower farm, the new park is named for an old one.

The Herald Pioneer's July preview listed walking paths, a playground, a picnic area, a half soccer field, a basketball court, a splash pad and restrooms. The city's own park page lists the splash pad and restrooms among its amenities, but it doesn't say whether the splash pad is still running this time of year, and it still reads "More Info Coming Soon!" The paths and courts don't depend on the season. This is the park's first October, so it may take a visit to learn which amenities stay open.

Evenings and the river crossing

Some of Canby's fall plans happen after dark. The Sip & Slice, a speakeasy-style eatery at 272 N. Grant St., was announced in February. It's now open and takes reservations. Its website lists hours of 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Those hours start earlier than the plan published in February.

On the more casual side, a new Little Caesars at 1447 SE 1st Ave. held its grand opening Saturday, October 3. It's open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Downtown has one more evening event on the calendar before the bazaar. The City of Canby lists a First Thursday Night Market for November 5, 5 to 8 p.m. Participating local businesses and nonprofits will offer specials, deals and giveaways. That's three days before the Country Christmas Bazaar preview, so the first week of November has both.

If your weekend plans cross the Willamette, call first. Clackamas County lists the Canby Ferry's general hours as 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The ferry runs on demand, not on a set schedule. It doesn't run on holidays, during special events, or when the river reaches 70 feet. The county's status line is 503-650-3030.

The Holly Street market's 2026 season opened in late April, and Swan Island's fields open to visitors each August. Until then, the Event Center calendar fills Canby's weekends, from the flea market on October 10 through the Winter Fair's last day on December 19.

At Wings NW Real Estate, we follow Canby's calendar much as we follow its land: what the growers are doing each season, which parcels used to be nurseries, and how that history shapes the town today. If you're thinking about acreage or a home near Canby's farm country, let's talk through your next move. Schedule a strategy call.