Hampton Park's Market Is Off Until April. The Park's Winter Calendar Isn't.
The fall run of the Hampton Park Farmers Market wrapped up on Wednesday, Oct. 28. It filled the Rose Pavilion from 3:30 to 7 p.m. for six straight Wednesdays, starting Sept. 23, and Basic Kitchen poured beer, wine and soft drinks at the pavilion bar. The market is already approved to return on April 7, 2027. That leaves about 23 weeks with no Wednesday market.
The park stays busy through those weeks, just without a weekly rhythm. The dated events between now and April fall on a few Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons, and nearly all of them raise money. The Charleston Parks Conservancy partners on the market and also runs two of the biggest winter events, including a fundraiser for the city's parks. If you live in Wagener Terrace and walk Mary Murray Drive most days, your winter in the park looks like this.
| Date | Event | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14, 2026 | Veterans Day 5K Fun Run/Walk | 9 a.m. | $35, or $25 for veterans and active duty |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 2026 | MADD 5K and Fun Run, plus memorial walk | Fun Run 7:30 a.m., 5K 8 a.m., walk 10 a.m. | 5K $35 plus fee, Fun Run $15 plus fee |
| Sun., Feb. 7, 2027 | Shucked & Sauced | 1 to 4 p.m. | $185, ages 21 and older |
| Sat., Feb. 13, 2027 | Building Healthy Communities 5K and Wellness Expo | 9 a.m. | See registration page |
| Sun., March 7, 2027 | Teddy Bear Picnic | 1:30 to 4 p.m. | Free |
| Wed., April 7, 2027 | Hampton Park Farmers Market returns | 3:30 to 7 p.m. | Free to attend |
Every event on that list uses the same address, 30 Mary Murray Drive. The calendar is front-loaded into November and then thins out over the holidays. Nothing is dated in the park between the Nov. 21 race and the first weekend of February.
The two November Saturdays come one week apart, and both start early.
The Veterans Day 5K Fun Run/Walk at Hampton Park starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14. Standard entry is $35, and veterans and active-duty service members pay $25. The course is three loops around the park, so runners will pass the same stretch of the perimeter three times in one morning. If your usual dog walk follows the outer loop, plan around that. Proceeds go to Lowcountry Veterans, a local veterans scholarship and the Charleston VA Medical Center Food Pantry.
The following Saturday, Nov. 21, starts even earlier. The 2026 MADD 5K and Fun Run sends off the Fun Run at 7:30 a.m. and the 5K at 8 a.m., and packet pickup happens that morning by the Hampton Park gazebo. The 5K costs $35 plus a $3.10 signup fee, and the Fun Run costs $15 plus $1.90.
A memorial walk follows later that morning. MADD's campaign page for the walk lists in-person registration from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., a ceremony at 9:30 and the walk at 10. Adult registration is $35 with a T-shirt or $25 without, and youth registration is $30 or $20. The race page says the walk begins right after the ceremony and that 5K runners can join it free of charge as a cool-down.
Taken together, those two Saturdays bring organized activity to the park from early morning until about midday. If you'd rather have a quiet loop, go in the afternoon.
After the holiday gap, the calendar picks up again with the Conservancy's biggest event of the season.
Shucked & Sauced is set for Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Rose Pavilion. The city's Special Events Committee agenda lists an all-inclusive ticket at $185 and an age limit of 21. It also names the restaurants pouring and plating:
The same agenda says the money raised goes directly toward improving Charleston's parks. It also notes that pets and coolers aren't allowed. Tickets aren't on sale yet. The Conservancy's own page puts it this way:
"This event sells out every year. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know when tickets go on sale!"
If you want to go, join the newsletter now. That matters more than any other date on this calendar, because the sale will open sometime this winter and the event sells out.
Six days later, on Saturday, Feb. 13, the park hosts the 12th annual Building Healthy Communities 5K Run/Walk and Wellness Expo. It starts at 9 a.m., and proceeds support MUSC Children's Health Wellness Works. That puts a Sunday afternoon event and a Saturday morning event in the same week. February is the second busiest stretch of the off-season, after November.
The Teddy Bear Picnic is the only event before the market's return that's free for everyone, with no ticket or registration. It runs Sunday, March 7, 2027, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The city agenda calls it a "beloved free tradition" with a new theme this year. Planned features include:
The organizers estimate about 1,950 attendees. That's the largest projected crowd of any Hampton Park event on this agenda, nearly four times the 525 estimated for Shucked & Sauced and the 500 expected at each spring market Wednesday. So the free afternoon is also the busiest one. If you live on a nearby block, expect more cars along the edges of the park that Sunday than on any market day.
The tree giveaway is also good timing for anyone in Wagener Terrace planning yard work. It lands in early March, well ahead of the warm months.
The spring market application went through the city's Special Events Committee in September. It was approved with conditions for six consecutive Wednesdays: April 7, 14, 21 and 28, and May 5 and 12, all from 3:30 to 7 p.m. The plan calls for 12 to 16 farmers, beer, wine and concessions from the Rose Pavilion, kids' activities and live music. That's the same six-week length as the fall season that just ended.
This fall's vendors included Lowland Farms, Kindlewood Farms, Spade and Clover, Chucktown Acres, Holy City Hogs, Counter Cheese Mongers, Brandons Bread, Luthers Market and Bear Swamp Flowers. The spring list hasn't been published yet.
The Conservancy also holds a year-long authorization to rent out the Rose Pavilion for all of 2027, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Each booking still needs its own park permit, so private events can appear on the pavilion's schedule with little notice. None of them are public dates you can plan around. The Conservancy also runs volunteer gardening sessions across its parks and gardens. Its volunteer page lists those, but it doesn't give a winter schedule specific to Hampton Park.
So the public calendar for the next five months comes down to five dated events. There are two Saturday races in November, an oyster roast and a 5K one week apart in February, and a free picnic in March. Then the first spring market opens at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7.
If you're watching the Shucked & Sauced ticket sale or the spring market dates and wondering what a season of park events means for the blocks around Hampton Park, I'm glad to talk it through. Anna Gruenloh at The Exchange Co. follows Wagener Terrace closely, down to the park calendar. Let's connect.
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