Carlsbad Village Halloween and Street Faire Weekend: Your 2026 Guide

This weekend, Carlsbad Village hosts its two biggest fall days back to back. Halloween in the Village takes over the downtown blocks on Saturday, October 31, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Twelve hours later, at about 4 a.m. Sunday, crews start closing Grand Avenue and the surrounding streets for the Carlsbad Village Street Faire.

Saturday works best on foot from shop to shop. On Sunday you'll want to leave the car somewhere else. If you plan both days as one weekend, you'll spend less time circling for parking and more time in the Village.

The calendar moved by a week

For the past two years, the Carlsbad Village Association held Halloween in the Village on the Saturday before Halloween. In 2024 that was October 26, with trick-or-treating starting at 2 p.m. In 2025 it was October 25. This year's announcement says the event is "taking over Carlsbad Village on Halloween itself."

The fall Street Faire always lands on the first Sunday of November. This year that's the day after Halloween.

In earlier years, the Village had a week to reset between the two events. This year it has one night.

Saturday is a walking day, and it starts on State Street

The Halloween route is spread across the whole Village, with no single venue. Participating businesses act as official Candy Stops, and each one shows a Candy Corn icon in its window. Phoenix Sports and Le Papagayo Carlsbad sponsor the trick-or-treating. Here's a timeline that gets you to every fixed stop:

1. 11 a.m., 2691 State Street. The first 250 kids get a free pumpkin candy bucket at CalRes Homes. After 250, they're gone, so this is the stop to hit early.
2. 11:30 a.m., Village Faire Shopping Center, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive. Costume contest sign-ups open here. The contest runs from noon to 1 p.m. There are four categories: Most Creative or Spookiest for ages 1 to 4, ages 5 to 8 and ages 9 to 12, plus a family or group category. Each winner takes home a basket of goodies and gift cards.
3. Afternoon, Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, 3115 Roosevelt Street. Indoor and outdoor carnival games, a bounce house, candy corn and popcorn. Entry is free, and you can come and go throughout the day.
4. Anytime, 2965 Roosevelt Street. Lily Field Realty hosts sensory-friendly activities and allergy-friendly treats for kids who'd like a quieter Halloween.

Those four addresses sit on State Street, Roosevelt Street and Carlsbad Village Drive. Many of the same streets close for the faire the next morning, so Saturday is a good chance to walk the route while the streets are still open to cars.

The overnight handoff

The Halloween event ends at 4 p.m. Saturday, and the faire setup starts before dawn Sunday. The City of Carlsbad's event calendar lists these closures from about 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 1:

• Grand Avenue, from Carlsbad Boulevard to Jefferson Street
• Washington Street, from Carlsbad Village Drive to Christiansen Way
• State Street, from Carlsbad Village Drive to Beech Street
• Roosevelt Street, from Carlsbad Village Drive to Beech Street
• Madison Street, from Carlsbad Village Drive to south of Arbuckle Place
• Christiansen Way, between State Street and the east side of the COASTER station entrance
• All the alleys in between
• The Oak Avenue public parking lot

The last item matters most if you're driving in Saturday night. A car left in the Oak Avenue lot after Halloween dinner will be inside the faire zone at 4 a.m. NCTD has also posted detours for BREEZE routes 315 and 101 on November 1, from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. NCTD says Route 101 still serves all its regular stops. If you ride either route, check NCTD's service alerts before you leave.

Sunday: leave the car at the Shoppes or at Poinsettia

Kennedy Faires runs the faire and lists it for Sunday, November 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The organizer says parking is limited and runs free shuttles every 15 minutes from two pickup points:

• The Shoppes at Carlsbad: the northwest corner of Marron Road and Monroe Street, near Highway 78 and Jefferson.
• Poinsettia COASTER Station: take the Poinsettia exit off I-5.

Kennedy Faires says only a limited number of accessible parking spaces will be available throughout the event. The organizer has also posted a 2026 faire site map.

You can also take the train straight in. NCTD's COASTER timetable, effective July 26, 2026, includes regular weekend stops at Carlsbad Village Station. Southbound trains from Oceanside arrive at the Village from 7:03 a.m. to 9:23 p.m. Northbound trains from Santa Fe Depot arrive from 9:17 a.m. to 11:37 p.m. That's the normal Sunday schedule. If you're coming from the south, the first northbound arrival is 9:17 a.m., about an hour after the booths open. Full timetables are on NCTD's schedules page.

Cyclists should know about one change. The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce says the free bike valet at 2965 Roosevelt Street, which the city provided in past years, is unavailable in 2026. The Chamber's own heading reads "No Bike Valet in 2026!" Without a staffed, monitored drop-off this year, bring a lock and plan where you'll leave your bike.

What fills Grand Avenue on Sunday

The faire began as a sidewalk sale in 1974. Keith Kennedy, a longtime Carlsbad resident and U.S. Marine veteran, started it to promote downtown businesses. The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce took over management in 1982.

Kennedy Faires' current page lists more than 750 vendors selling arts and crafts, antiques, clothing and goods from around the world. The organizer also lists children's rides, an international food center and an old-fashioned pancake breakfast, and says each faire draws tens of thousands of people. The Chamber's event page gives a higher count of 900 arts and crafts booths. It also lists an entertainment stage and a beer garden. The two pages may be counting different things, vendors versus booths, so treat 750 as the floor.

For Village shops, faire day has long been one of the biggest days of the year. In the Chamber's 2023 history of the faire, the Carlsbad Village Association's executive director recalled that when she owned a shoe store on State Street, "The May Carlsbad Village Faire was always our biggest day of sales for the year." This year, many of the same storefronts host trick-or-treaters on Saturday and then work one of their biggest sales days on Sunday.

The new parking spaces, and why they won't help Sunday

The city has been adding street parking in the Village and Barrio. A city update posted October 9, 2026 says Carlsbad added 44 spaces last year. It recently added 11 more on State Street, on Oak Avenue between Tyler Street and the railroad tracks, and around the beach areas. Starting in spring 2027, the city plans 16 more spaces by switching parallel parking to diagonal or perpendicular parking in two areas: Grand Avenue between the Tyler Street alley and Jefferson Street, and Chestnut Avenue near Pine Park.

The new spaces will help on Halloween Saturday. On Sunday, State Street and Grand Avenue are on the city's closure list, and the Grand Avenue project runs to Jefferson Street, which is where the faire's Grand Avenue closure ends. Even with more spaces on the street, the faire's own advice for Sunday is still the free shuttle.

After this weekend

The next big Village gathering is the 41st Annual Rotary Holiday Tree Lighting on Sunday, December 6, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at Village Faire Shopping Center, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive. It's the same spot as Saturday's costume contest, and Santa and family activities lead up to the lighting.

If you live within walking distance of State Street or Grand Avenue, you can walk to all three of these events. If you've ever wondered what your Village-area home is worth, Adrienne Mineiro is happy to walk you through it. Let's connect for a free home valuation.