Traverse City Design Week Closing Celebration

October 10, 2026 | The Alluvion

All ages | General Admission $30 | GET TICKETS

The second annual Traverse City Design Week culminates Saturday, October 10, with a closing night celebration presented by The Alluvion.

6-7 PM | Cocktail hour + Culinary bites + Exhibition & Activities

Kick things off at our design-inspired cocktail hour and viewing of the TCDW 2026 Regional Designer Showcase!

7:30-9 PM | Design Outside the Box live with Special Guests

The Celebration continues inside the Alluvion with host SkyeLea, keynote duo Geoffrey Holstad & Micah Middaugh and acclaimed singer-songwriters Ruby Amanfu & Sam Ashworth.

Immersive visuals, unexpected creative moments, and a room filled with designers, artists, makers, and creative leaders make the evening a fitting convergence of the community TCDW brings together all week.

Gather friends and family to celebrate the season with a festive, hands-on fall experience at the Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park

🍁 Celebrate the magic of fall with your family, friends or creative crew as you build a botanical-themed scarecrow at The Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park.

Whether you are building on your own or bringing a team to assist, we look forward to seeing your design skills on display. Think outside the box as you apply creativity, ingenuity, and a personal touch to craft a one-of-a-kind scarecrow. Tickets available here!

Featuring Patagonia with Geoffrey Holstad

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore graphic design with Patagonia Senior Art Director Geoffrey Holstad.

Free + Open to All

Design your own 250 sq. foot landscape and take home a Meadow in a Box!

Big or small, meadows can transform any landscape into a haven for pollinators, birds, and beauty. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll work alongside Executive Director and horticulturist Matthew Ross to design your very own 250-square-foot native meadow—perfect for a home garden!

This interactive course covers site selection, plant combinations, meadow layout, and long-term care. Tickets available here!

Featuring Britten, Inc. with Emily Markham and Alice Fredericy

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore event & branding design with Britten, Inc.

Free + Open to All

Featuring Balecraft with Sophie + Ellis

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore environmentally concious design with Balecraft.

Free + Open to All

Join Bay View Flooring & Design Center for Design in Action, an interactive happy hour bringing together designers, architects, builders, craftspeople, and material experts for design hot-takes, creative conversation, and a hands-on look at how ideas take shape.

With complimentary drinks from Supreme Bar Service and bites from Modern Bird, you’ll explore the showroom and discover how professional designers build a complete concept; experiment with surfaces under the guidance of Anderson Tuftex; and contribute your own design opinions for a chance to win an exciting giveaway. 

Free & Open to all

Featuring The Botanic Gardens with Matthew Ross

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore landscape and floral design with The Botanic Gardens.

Free + Open to All

Don’t leave your homemade costume to the last minute! Bring your costume components to Green Door Folk School’s open studio to rig up your costume in community. We will have many varieties of glue, string, tape, and scissors; sewing materials, including scrap fabric and a sewing machine; and basic hand tools and fasteners.

Spread out on wide open floors, tables, and benches, or even take your work outside among the gardens and goat farm, weather permitting.

The Tree Gets a Vote is an interactive design experience exploring what changes when the natural character of a material becomes part of the creative process.

Hosted at Nocturnal Bloom, the event combines conversation, forest science, material exploration, and hands-on making. Participants will leave with a finished object and a different way of thinking about trees—not simply as raw material, but as collaborators whose forms and histories can guide the design process.

Step inside a work-in-progress and see what’s possible when a home is designed around healthier materials, local craftsmanship, and environmentally conscious building.

Balecraft founders Sophie and Ellis invite you into their personal straw SIP home for an open house showcasing the people, materials, and ideas coming together to build it. Explore straw SIP construction, clay-plastered walls, and wood-fiber cement foundation blocks, sustainable windows and doors, custom cabinetry, locally sourced tile, and more.

Free & Open to all; RSVP Required.

Featuring Placehood with Jesus Cardona Villa

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore civic and community design with Placehood.

Free + Open to All

Build the coworking space of the future, WITH WAFFLES. Join us for a playful, hands-on team challenge for Traverse City Design Week.

Part gingerbread-house-style competition, part rapid design sprint, part waffle-fueled nonsense thought experiment.

Join Grove Community Incubator for The Great Waffle Design Challenge, a playful, hands-on Traverse City Design Week event exploring how shared workplaces could better support the people who use them.

Free & Open to all

Featuring Nykamping with Elijah Nykamp

Explore fashion design with Nykamping with a hands-on VoxBox acrivation where community art meets upcycling!

Well-loved dropcloths from local house painters become the backdrop for unique chore jackets. Help add creative flair in various levels of constructed jacket form. Doodles, scribbles & artwork will layer over years of paint splatter. No skill required, children's participation welcomed.

Free + Open to All

Co-Design a Co-Working Space invites the community inside Grove Community Incubator to help transform an underutilized coworking area into the Office of Possibilities Lounge - a comfortable, collaborative gathering space inspired by the camaraderie of Grove's weekly Office of Possibilities meetings. Tour the space, share your perspective, and participate in a facilitated co-design workshop exploring what a truly community-centered coworking space could look, function, and feel like.

No design experience required; all are welcome!

Back for its second year, Designed to Resonate brings together local creative professionals working at the intersection of international audio, music, and design.

Presented by Interlochen Music Production and Engineering, this annual panel explores how sound and design shape the way we experience film, gaming, music and more.

Featuring Allium Hill with Tim Kemp + Everyday Cookery with Abra Berens

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore culinary design with Allium Hill and Everyday Cookery.

Peek inside the mind of a chef and a breakdown of the elements that go into things like recipe development, menu design and intentional hospitality.  Taste samples for an interactive exploration of what makes a good dish and learn more about the place setting design collaboration between Allium Hill & Sunrise Stoneware. 

Free + Open to All

We’re kicking off Design Week at Short’s Pull Barn with Tap Into Design, a casual opening happy hour celebrating the creativity and craft behind one of Northern Michigan’s favorite breweries!

Come explore the Pull Barn, get a peek at Short’s upcoming Logan’s Landing plans, and enjoy brewery tours, creative activities, and a giveaway, too!

PLUS Short’s is generously offering your first Beer for a Buck! Come raise a glass to a week of designing outside the box.

Featuring Folkloric Interiors + Aboden Interior Studio with Rachel Sturgeon + Melina Copp

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore interior design with Folkloric Interiors and Aboden Interior Studio.

Join two Traverse City-based designers for a hands-on exploration of how light, material, and space shape the way we experience a room.

Free + Open to All

Featuring Valor Skincare with Susie Grace

Have a product idea but aren't sure how to get it off the ground?

Join Susie Grace, founder and formulator of Valor Skincare, for an open, interactive brainstorming session on what it actually takes to turn an idea into a real product.

You'll learn how to move from “I love to make this thing” to “I now sell this thing to people on the internet.”Free + Open to All

Featuring Northport Workshop with Ted & Virgnia Foley

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore furniture design with Northport Workshop.

Free + Open to All

Featuring Britten, Inc. with Emily Markham and Alice Fredericy

Bring your questions and ideas to The VoxBox! Explore event & branding design with Britten, Inc.

Free + Open to All