Labor Day is barely in the rearview and Lake Street is already being measured for barricades. The 52nd Annual James J. Hill Days runs September 11–13, and for residents who have penciled in the same three days every fall since the kids were in strollers, one detail in the 2026 program rewrites the old routine.
For years the unspoken rhythm of Hill Days went like this: skip the Friday setup crowds, do the carnival and Dachshund Races on Saturday, catch the parade Sunday afternoon, walk home. The evenings were pleasant enough, but they were not the reason people came.
That is not the shape of the 2026 festival. The Wayzata City Council approved a special event permit for two concerts as part of James J. Hill Days 2026, restoring a major live-music component many viewed as one of the festival's signature attractions, with the concerts planned for Sept. 11 and 12 in conjunction with the festival. Promoter Rick Born is running them.
If you have been treating Friday night as setup night, the 52nd edition is the year to reconsider. The concerts are the reason the weekend re-centers on Lake Street after dark.
That single permit reshuffles almost every other choice you make across the three days, from where to park to when to eat to how you pace the kids through the carnival.
The 2026 hours run Friday 5–10 pm, Saturday 10 am–10 pm, and Sunday 10 am–4 pm, with the anchor programming clustering around different parts of downtown each day.
| Day | Anchor programming | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Sept. 11 | Street Market opens, Sandvold Stage kicks off, first restored evening concert | Lake Street and Sandvold Stage at Minnetonka Avenue and Lake Street |
| Saturday, Sept. 12 | Dog park events, Dachshund Races, pickleball brackets, second restored concert | Depot area, Wayzata Country Club, Lake Street |
| Sunday, Sept. 13 | Parade, Doggy Olympics, Coaster Cart Derby | Lake Street |
Presented by Sandvold Financial Group, the festival draws more than 80,000 guests over three days, which means the difference between a good evening and a bad one is almost entirely about when you arrive and which block you commit to.
The James J. Hill Days Street Market runs from Friday at 5 pm through Sunday, featuring more than 175 vendors along Lake Street across Business, Health and Wellness, Home and Garden, Non-Profit, Arts and Crafts, and Sports and Fitness categories. If you have walked Lake Street on a Friday afternoon during setup, you already know it takes about an hour after the 5 pm bell before the crowd density feels comfortable rather than claustrophobic.
Live music fills the streets from the Sandvold Stage at Minnetonka Avenue and Lake Street. In prior years the Friday lineup started with local bands and wrapped by nine. With the restored concert permit on the 11th, Friday evening is now the piece of the weekend most likely to sell out the parking on the north side of Lake Street early.
Practical read: if you live within a mile of downtown, walk. If you are driving in from the Ferndale or Highcroft side, get to your parking by 4:30.
Saturday is the day the festival splits into three parallel festivals happening in the same square mile.
The dog park programming, sponsored by Ambassador, is the throughline for anyone with a leash. Anchor times to know:
Pickleball takes over the Depot end of the festival. Competitive matches in the 3.0–3.75 men's, women's, and mixed doubles brackets run from 8 am to 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday on the freshly paved courts next to the Depot, with drop-in play opening after the brackets finish. A 3.75+ tournament runs Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at the Wayzata Country Club with up to 8 teams.
And then there is the carnival, which is the loudest and most visible piece of the festival and the least in need of a plan. Do it between the dachshunds and dinner, or after the second concert lets out, when the lines thin.
Sunday is the day that most resembles the Hill Days your parents remember. The Hill Days Parade, sponsored by Davey Tree, returns on Sunday with floats, music, and community fun along Lake Street, with this year's Grand Marshal Kurt Klapprich celebrating retirement after 40 years with Wayzata Public Works.
The dog park stays busy. The Doggy Olympics runs from 12 to 2 pm, and by the time the parade wraps and the Street Market starts packing out at four, most of the Lake Street storefronts have handled their busiest weekend of the calendar.
Some pieces of the festival are older than most of the neighborhood. Since 1975, the weekend following Labor Day has honored James J. Hill, once the owner of the Great Northern Railroad Company, who built the present Wayzata train Depot in 1906. That is the reason the Depot end of Lake Street is the geographic center of gravity for the whole festival, not the carnival or the stage.
The Wayzata Bay Fireworks Show is the other piece of the tradition, and it is the moment when the residents who skipped the market and the concerts show up on the lawn anyway. If you have a boat, you already know the anchoring is easier on the east side of the Bay. If you do not, the Great Lawn works.
The one editorial note worth ending on: the festival is now a night festival on Friday and Saturday and a day festival on Sunday. That is not how it was two years ago. Plan around the shift and the weekend gets easier. Ignore it and you will spend the concerts looking for parking.
If you are new to the neighborhood and this is your first Hill Days, welcome to the weekend Wayzata plans its September around. If you have been coming since the 1980s, look at the Friday and Saturday concert schedule before you set your usual pattern. And if you have been thinking about whether this stretch of Lake Street is where you want to spend the next chapter of your life, Shannon Brooks and the Brooks Team are happy to walk the neighborhood with you any weekend of the year. Schedule a free market consultation and we will meet you at the Depot.
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