Local Life · Events
Big Bear keeps a busy calendar year-round — anchored by one of Southern California's most famous Oktoberfests and the beloved Village Christmas Tree Lighting, with races, derbies and concerts in between.
Mark Your Calendar
Visit Big Bear keeps the full town calendar. This is the shorter list that matters if you own here or are thinking about it — the weekends that set your nightly rate, fill your winter, or make a showing hard to schedule. Ordered by what is coming up next.
A Friday evening market through the warmer months.
What it means for owners. A standing Friday-night reason to arrive early, which helps turn two-night weekends into three. Worth naming in a summer listing.
The valley's headline event and one of the longest-running Oktoberfests in Southern California, now in its 56th year — German beer and food, live music, stein-holding and log-sawing.
What it means for owners. The biggest block of peak rental weekends in the Big Bear year. Ten consecutive weekends of reliable demand is unusual for a mountain market, and pricing them like an ordinary autumn weekend leaves real money behind. It is also the hardest stretch of autumn to schedule a showing — traffic into the Village backs up from mid-afternoon.
The Chamber's briefing on the state of the business district.
What it means for owners. Worth an owner's time once a year. It is where the commercial side of the valley talks about visitor numbers, construction and what is opening — the leading indicators behind rental demand.
Public workshops on the City of Big Bear Lake's General Plan update.
What it means for owners. The one on this page that is not about rental rates. A General Plan update sets land use and zoning direction for years, and short-term rental policy sits downstream of it. If you own here, or are buying to rent, this is the room where the rules that affect your return get discussed.
A downhill point-to-point marathon and half marathon starting in the mountains.
What it means for owners. Runners book early and bring family, and the point-to-point format means they need lodging the night before rather than driving up on the morning. A reliable pre-ski-season weekend in what is otherwise a soft fortnight.
A two-day cyclocross race weekend.
What it means for owners. Two-day format means two-night bookings, and it lands on the same weekend as REVEL — together they make the first full weekend of November busier than its reputation.
A seasonal harvest weekend at the estate.
What it means for owners. A Moonridge-specific draw on an Oktoberfest weekend — the kind of thing that keeps the upper Moonridge streets busy and is worth knowing if you are showing there.
The resorts open as soon as conditions allow, with snowmaking usually carrying the first runs.
What it means for owners. The switch that flips the whole winter rate card — nightly rates step up the week the lifts spin and hold until spring. Because the resort sets the date on snow rather than the calendar, owners who price the first winter weekends in advance tend to undercharge them. Watch for the announcement rather than assuming a date.
The valley's Veterans Day ceremony.
What it means for owners. A community fixture rather than a rental driver, but it falls in the quiet fortnight before the lifts open and is part of what people mean when they say the valley still feels like a town.
The zoo runs an after-dark light display through the holiday season.
What it means for owners. An eight-week run that gives families a reason to come up on ordinary December weeknights, not just weekends. Useful for owners trying to fill the gaps either side of Christmas week, and the single best thing to name in a listing aimed at families with young children.
The first big family travel week of the winter, often before the lifts are turning.
What it means for owners. Occupancy climbs well before the ski season opens, which catches owners who tie their winter rates to opening day. Price this week on the holiday calendar, not on snow.
The lighting kicks off the holiday season downtown and pulls the Village into its busiest stretch of the year.
What it means for owners. Marks the opening of the holiday booking window more than it drives demand itself. Thanksgiving through New Year is the highest-occupancy run of the winter, and this is usually the weekend the remaining Christmas inventory goes.
A Thanksgiving-morning community run.
What it means for owners. Not a demand driver on its own, but it is the thing that gets Thanksgiving guests out of the house and into the Village, and it is worth mentioning to anyone weighing a Moonridge purchase for the community feel.
Holiday weekends at the zoo with Santa.
What it means for owners. Pairs with Wild Lights to make the zoo the anchor of a family December weekend. Moonridge owners should be naming the zoo in their listings this time of year.
A staged Christmas production over several nights.
What it means for owners. A multi-night run in the week before Christmas, which is exactly when owners are trying to fill the nights before the holiday block starts.
The longest sustained holiday stretch of the year in the valley.
What it means for owners. The highest-rate fortnight of the winter and the one that books earliest — often by October. Minimum-stay rules matter more here than price: a well-set minimum is usually worth more over these two weeks than a higher nightly rate.
Trout and bass derbies run on the lake through the warmer months.
What it means for owners. Early-season derbies matter more than the summer ones: they pull bookings into April and May, otherwise the softest stretch of the year between ski season and summer.
Live music and community events run through the summer in and around the Village.
What it means for owners. Less a rate driver than an occupancy smoother — they help fill the mid-week gaps in July and August that would otherwise sit empty between weekend turnovers.
Fireworks over the lake, watched from the shore, from boats and from decks around the water.
What it means for owners. The highest-occupancy night of the year. Lakeview and lake-adjacent homes carry a genuine premium this week, and a deck with a line of sight to the water is worth naming in a listing. The fireworks have been under discussion because of bald eagle nesting — see the blog — so confirm each year rather than assume.
Trail and ultra races on the forest trails above the lake, drawing runners and crews from across the state.
What it means for owners. Smaller than Oktoberfest but the guests skew to whole-house bookings for crews rather than couples. Overlaps the opening Oktoberfest weekends, which is part of why early September is tighter than owners expect.
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