Georgetown’s Fall on the Square: Markets and Music for Little Ones

Once the Texas heat finally breaks, the Georgetown Square fills back up. The historic Courthouse Square is the heart of downtown, and fall packs it with a costume stroll, market booths, live music, and a children’s musical at the Palace Theatre, all within a short walk of each other.

Most of it’s free, and nearly all of it works with a little one’s schedule. Bring a stroller, a water bottle, and a snack for the walk, and you’ve got a great fall weekend (or weekday morning) without ever leaving downtown!

Candy Crawl and Market Days on the Georgetown Square

The first big date is Sunday, October 25, when the Downtown Candy Crawl runs from 1 to 4 p.m. It’s free, it goes on rain or shine, and costumes are encouraged, so pull out the dinosaur suit or the superhero cape and let your preschooler lead the way from shop to shop. Point out the pumpkins and window displays as you go, and let your child guess what each shop sells inside.

Then circle Saturday, November 14. Market Days on the Square wrap up their season that day, with artisan and craft booths, food trucks, and local musicians playing from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Strollers roll fine on the wide sidewalks, and the lawn around the courthouse gives your kiddo room to wiggle between stalls.

If a potter or woodworker is working at their booth, stop and watch for a few minutes. Watching something get made by hand is real-world science, right up close. Then turn the walk into a game, and see if your child can spot five different colors along the rows or count the booths selling something to eat. For more ideas around town, our guide to kids activities in Georgetown has a long list.

Frog and Toad at the Georgetown Palace Theatre

Just off the Square, the Georgetown Palace Theatre has been part of downtown since it opened in 1926. If your family likes old buildings and the stories behind them, our guide to exploring Georgetown history with young children has plenty more to point out on your walk.

This fall, the Palace’s Theatre for Young Audiences is staging A Year with Frog and Toad, the musical based on Arnold Lobel’s books, from October 20 through November 7. Weekday shows run Tuesday through Friday at 10 a.m. and noon for school groups, and the Palace adds weekend public performances at low ticket prices, so check its calendar for the family dates. The show runs about an hour. The Palace aims it at kindergarten through fifth grade, which makes it a good fit for an older preschooler who can sit through a full story.

Frog and Toad are best friends who aren’t much alike, and the show follows them through all four seasons. Talk it over on the walk back to the car! Try asking which season was their favorite, or which friend they’re more like, Frog or Toad.

Fall Storytime at the Georgetown Public Library

Two blocks from the Square, the Georgetown Public Library runs its regular storytimes from September through May. Family Storytime for kids 5 and under meets Wednesdays at 9:30 and 10:15 a.m., plus Thursdays and Fridays at 9:30, 10:15, and 11 a.m., with books, rhymes, and plenty of singing. If your preschooler is getting closer to kindergarten, the KinderReady circle time meets Wednesdays at 11 a.m., and Sensory Storytime runs on the second and fourth Fridays at 10:30 a.m.

Keep the music going at home with Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney. Max doesn’t feel like talking, so he answers everyone by drumming on buckets, hatboxes, and garbage cans, copying the sounds of the city around him, right up until a marching band comes down the street.

Hand your child two wooden spoons and an upside-down pot, and let them drum along with the story. Then see if they can tap out the beats in their own name. Max gets one tap, and Mar-i-sol gets three!

San Gabriel Park Playgrounds Near Downtown Georgetown

A few minutes north of the Square, San Gabriel Park has playgrounds, shady lawns, and walking trails along the San Gabriel River. Fall is the comfortable season to spend a whole morning there, and it fits easily before or after a trip downtown. Pack a picnic and let the afternoon stretch out as long as your crew can handle!

Collect a handful of leaves along the river trail and sort them at the picnic table by size or color. See if your child can find the biggest leaf and the smallest one, then line the rest up in between. For more green space around town, our roundup of Georgetown parks and outdoor spaces has the rest.

Preschool and Childcare at Creative World School in Georgetown

A preschooler who stops to watch a potter work or drums along with the band on the Square is asking questions the whole time, and those questions are where our days start at Creative World School in Georgetown. Our hands-on Exploratorium™ gives kids room to test their ideas, and our iSTEAM days put inquiry first. Your child’s own “what if?” leads, and the science, technology, engineering, art, and math follow, from a block tower that has to balance to a song the whole class dances out together.

We’d love to show you around this fall. Bring your preschooler’s questions along!