Main Street or the Riverwalk? How Jenks Splits Its Fall Weekends Between Two Ends of Town

Most of Jenks's fall calendar this year happens in two places. One is the Oklahoma Aquarium and Jenks Riverwalk by the river. The other is Main Street and the Downtown Commons a short drive inland. In October most of the dated events are on the river side. By late November the focus has moved to Main Street. On Saturday, November 21, both ends run full programs on the same day, with the Christmas Parade on Main Street in the morning and the Native Christmas Market at the Riverwalk in the afternoon.

This year Main Street also has more daytime places to stop between events than it did a year ago. Three food and coffee businesses have opened on its 100 and 200 blocks since October 2025.

The Calendar, End by End

Count the dates in October and the river side has most of them. HallowMarine runs six days, STEAM Night has its own evening, and the Riverwalk handles the community trick-or-treat. Main Street and the Commons have one major October night. From mid-November on, the main events move to Main Street, and the two ends meet on November 21.

October Runs Through the Aquarium

The Oklahoma Aquarium's 22nd annual HallowMarine is the largest part of the October schedule. It's an indoor trick-or-treat at 300 Aquarium Drive. The two afternoon sessions on October 16 and 17 run from 2 to 5 p.m. The four evening sessions on October 23, 24, 30 and 31 run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Entry closes an hour before the end, at 5 p.m. for daytime sessions and 8 p.m. for evening sessions. That matters if you're planning around a soccer game or a dinner reservation.

Between the two HallowMarine weekends, the Aquarium's STEAM Night on Tuesday, October 20, offers hands-on STEM projects from 6 to 8 p.m. It's free for members and included with daily admission for everyone else.

On Thursday, October 29, the Jenks Chamber's Trick-or-Treat 2026 takes over Jenks Riverwalk at 300 Riverwalk Terrace from 4 to 6 p.m. Vendors set up decorated tables and hand out treats, and the Chamber's rules don't allow them to sell anything.

The Riverwalk has added several regular tenants over the past 18 months. Suite Shots Jenks opened April 17, 2025, and District Burger followed on May 5, 2025. At the Jenks Chamber's annual banquet, Suite Shots was named New Business of the Year. School of Rock held its grand-opening ribbon cutting there on October 31, 2025. Mvskoke Waters Gallery opened at Riverwalk Crossing on December 13, 2025. The Riverwalk describes it as the Tulsa metro's first tribally owned art gallery.

The October Dates Downtown Shares With the River

Main Street's side of town has two dates in October, and both fall on the same day as a HallowMarine session.

The first is Saturday, October 17. The Historic Jenks Chili Cook-Off, presented by the Jenks America Museum, runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Veterans Park, and admission is free. The Aquarium's afternoon HallowMarine session starts at 2 p.m. that day, so you could do lunch at the cook-off and the Aquarium afterward. One note on the cook-off: its published listings give two different street addresses for Veterans Park, so check the Jenks America Museum's page before you head out.

The second is Friday, October 23. Symphony & Sweets, presented by River Spirit Casino Resort, brings the Jenks High School Orchestra and local sweets vendors to Jenks Downtown Commons from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It's free, and the Chamber suggests bringing blankets and lawn chairs. TTCU and Jenks Riverwalk are listed as sponsors, which is another sign that the two ends of town plan the season together. HallowMarine's first evening session starts at the same time that night.

The Commons is an established venue. It opened with a ribbon cutting in March 2017 at the corner of 2nd and A streets. It was a Vision 2025 project with a $1,572,996 allocation, and it was built with a stage, green space, restrooms and bike racks for both everyday use and organized events.

What Changed on Main Street's 100 and 200 Blocks

Main Street now has more places to stop between those events than it did last fall.

Jenks Coffee Co. at 103 E. Main St. and Pure Kitchen and Market at 102 E. Main St. both opened in October 2025, across the street from each other. Co-owners Britny Pittman and Justin Wenzel built the coffee shop around five private booths, which are first come, first served. They also have two conference rooms, and the smaller one has a play area for kids. Either room can be reserved ahead for $30. Without a reservation, the rooms stay open and are shared with other guests.

"Jenks was the only place that made sense. There's a loyalty and community spirit here that you don't find everywhere." — Britny Pittman, co-owner of Jenks Coffee Co., speaking to TulsaPeople

Owner Cynthia Beavers opened Pure Kitchen as a second location of Pure Food and Juice. She told TulsaPeople that customers had been asking for a south Tulsa location. The Jenks space is a 100-year-old former antique store, and the build-out took almost a year. The menu combines power bowls and salads with comfort dishes like chicken and dumplings and beef Bolognese. There's also a full bar with a cocktail menu, plus a market for juices, smoothies and to-go meals. The original Brookside location on Peoria Avenue closed in January 2026, so Jenks is now home base for the menu.

The newest addition is a block east. Laurannae, a bakery and coffee shop, opened at 212 E. Main St. on Friday, July 17, 2026, in a building that had been a KFC until it closed in 2024. It's a second location for the business, which still runs its shop at 112 W. Commercial St. in Broken Arrow.

Laurannae is the closest of the three to the Commons. That makes it a likely stop before Symphony & Sweets or before the parade crowd fills the street on November 21.

If late July was your first look at Jenks after dark, our post on the month the Aquarium turned into an evening town covers the summer version of that river-side schedule. This fall, Main Street's newer businesses give the inland end of town its own reasons to visit.

November Moves Up to Main Street

The first November date is still on the river side. The Gold Jacket Open on Thursday, November 5, is a four-person virtual-golf scramble at Suite Shots Jenks. Registration opens at 5:30 p.m., tee-off is at 6:30 p.m., and entry is $160 per team.

After that, the main holiday events are on Main Street. The Chamber's free Lights On! 2026 runs Friday, November 20, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. with Santa, vendors and live entertainment. The countdown to light up Main Street begins shortly after 6 p.m. If you want to see the lights come on, plan to be there before 6.

Saturday, November 21, in Order

The next day is the only one this fall when both ends of town run major events back to back:

1. 10 a.m. to noon. The 2026 Jenks Christmas Parade runs along Main Street, hosted by the Jenks Chamber.
2. Midday. Main Street's food and coffee stops are right on the parade route, from Pure Kitchen and Jenks Coffee Co. on the 100 block to Laurannae on the 200 block.
3. 1 to 7 p.m. The Muscogee Nation's Native Christmas Market opens at Jenks Riverwalk, 300 Riverwalk Terrace. The Nation announced it on September 30, 2026, as its fourth market at the Riverwalk, and it's free to attend.
4. Late afternoon. Mvskoke Waters Gallery is at Riverwalk Crossing, so the gallery is close by if you're visiting the market.

The parade ends an hour before the market opens, so you can catch both on the same day.

Our team spends a lot of time in Jenks, on Main Street and at the Riverwalk, and we enjoy watching how much each fall calendar adds for people who already live here. If you're wondering how a home within walking distance of Main Street or the Riverwalk would be valued today, The Bradshaw Group can put together a free home valuation that accounts for the recent changes on your end of town. You can request it on our valuation page, and we're happy to go over it with you.