If you went to a First Saturday Sale at Pilgrim Place this year, with coffee and a doughnut before 9 a.m. and an armchair or a box of paperbacks carried home by 11, you already shopped at the Pilgrim Place Festival. You just saw part of it.
The Saturday sales run on booths taken from the festival. Pilgrim Place describes them as bringing "the spirit of the Festival to the community year-round." This Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, the whole sale is back at 625 Mayflower Road, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Admission is free. The Claremont Courier calls this the 78th festival. The first one was in 1948, which makes it 34 years older than Village Venture and the Claremont Heritage Home Tour.
Six Saturdays, Two Hours Each
In 2026 the First Saturday Sales ran on a tight schedule: one Saturday a month, 9 to 11 a.m., at the same Mayflower Road address.
| 2026 sale date | Note |
|---|---|
| April 4 | Season opener |
| May 2 | |
| June 6 | |
| July 11 | Moved from the first Saturday because of the Fourth of July holiday |
| August 1 | |
| September 5 | Last listed sale of the season |
Each of those mornings offered books, furniture, housewares, clothing, fine art, plants and vintage pieces. Shoppers had two hours, so the regulars learned to go straight to one table, buy, and leave.
The festival runs on a different clock. It lasts six hours a day for two days, twelve hours in all, compared with the two hours of a single Saturday sale. The same resale categories come back, joined by everything that only appears in November.
What November Adds to the Saturday Booths
The official 2026 festival page lists what returns and what's added. The resale side comes back larger: furniture, housewares, holiday décor, framed art, jewelry, clothing, books, plants, collectible stamps and coins, and what Pilgrim Place calls "unique international treasures." The festival also brings things the Saturday mornings don't have:
- Hand-crafted work by Pilgrim Place's artisan residents, including paintings, pottery, fine jewelry, woodwork, stained glass, quilts, and knitted and woven pieces
- Free children's activities, with crafts, rides, live animal exhibits and a chance to learn about the native Tongva peoples
- Food, including snacks and meals, fresh produce, pies, jams, jellies and baked goods
- Live music and entertainment from local artists and ensembles
Every purchase on both days goes to the same place as the Saturday sales: the Resident Health and Support Program. Pilgrim Place says the program helps residents stay in their homes when the costs of daily living or unexpected medical bills outrun their resources.
Pilgrim Place also describes the resale tables as part of its commitment to caring for the earth, since buying a used lamp or bookcase keeps it in use. So the Saturday sales and the festival serve the same fundraiser, and in November the whole of it is open at once.
Last Year's Map, Read as a Floor Plan
The festival brochure Pilgrim Place printed for November 2025 gives the clearest picture of how all of this fits onto the campus. The 2025 map named these areas:
- Food Court, Guest Seating and the Festival Stage
- Bakes & Sweets and the Coffee Shop
- Book Place, the Clothing Emporium and Furniture
- Fine Arts and the International Bazaar
- Plants & Produce
- The Christmas Shop, with Mrs. Claus
- The Tongva Gathering Place
- Chalk Drawing, the Festival Boat and the Festival Train
That was last year's layout. The 2026 descriptions cover the same categories, though, so it's a fair guide to what you'll find. Book Place, Furniture, Fine Arts and the Clothing Emporium correspond to the Saturday-sale tables. The Christmas Shop, Bakes & Sweets and the Festival Train are the parts that only appear in November.
Coverage of the 2025 festival fills in the details. The Daily Bulletin described a petting zoo, rides, weaving, a boat ride, books, a performance by the Mini Mariachis, work by painter Paul Kittlaus, and a "wishes for the earth tree." The University of La Verne's Campus Times reported on resident Lee Rawley's handcrafted jewelry, a sculpture named "Gnatalie II," a booth of homemade jam, fudge, bread and cookies, Tongva artifacts, folk and country music, and a parade by the El Roble Middle School band.
Taken together, the two 2025 reports show a festival with three parts: the resale tables Claremont already knows from the Saturdays, a craft fair, and a family day.
Planning Around a Twelve-Hour Sale
Pilgrim Place says the festival "draws thousands each November." That crowd is the main difference from the Saturday mornings, when parking on campus is part of the routine. For the festival, the current events page says there's a free shuttle from nearby Padua Park to cut down on campus traffic.
A few practical points for Friday and Saturday:
- Pick your day by what you're after. It's one event over two days, and both run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Furniture and one-of-a-kind crafts are the kinds of items that sell once and are gone. Pies and children's rides are there all day.
- Use the shuttle. Pilgrim Place's events page names Padua Park as the free festival shuttle stop. Reception at (909) 399-5500 can confirm the details before you leave.
- Bring a card or cash. Last year's map said cash, debit and credit cards were accepted and checks were not.
- Know where Napier Center is. In 2025 it had first aid, and the map also marked water stations, restrooms and baby-changing areas around the grounds.
- Plan around furniture. The Saturday sales and the 2025 festival map both included a furniture area. If a dresser is on your list, work out in advance how you'll get it home from a shuttle-served event.
The campus is in central Claremont. Pilgrim Place describes it as minutes from the Claremont Colleges and the Village. Last year's parking map placed it between Foothill Boulevard to the north and Bonita Avenue to the south, with Indian Hill Boulevard and Mountain Avenue as nearby landmarks. The Health Services Center is close by at 731 Harrison Avenue. For households north of Foothill or near the Village, getting to the festival is a short trip across town.
The Other Side of the Tables
Every gently used lamp, quilt and box of books at the festival was donated, sorted, priced and set out by someone. The 2026 volunteer form asks for help in three areas: children's booths, arts and crafts, and the resale of donated goods. Those are the three parts the 2025 reports described.
The reselling crew keeps the Saturday sales going too, which shows how the year fits together. Pilgrim Place's events page lists the festival, the First Saturday Sales, a Senior Resource Fair, lectures and community gatherings as mostly free and open to the public. The Saturday sales spread the resale side across six mornings from April to September. The festival puts it back together with the crafts, the food, the stage and the train, all on the same grounds, for twelve hours.
This is the 78th time. In October the Courier called the festival "a longtime, beloved tradition." It started in 1948, decades before the city's other signature weekends existed. Admission and parking are free, and the shuttle runs from Padua Park. The gates open Friday at 10 a.m.
A quiet takeaway from the festival tables is how much well-kept furniture, art and books can find a new home when someone handles the sorting with care. If you're starting to think about what stays and what goes from a house you've lived in for years, the team at Concierge Realty Group can help you sequence clean-out, preparation and timing at a calm pace. Schedule a Consultation whenever you're ready to talk it through.
