San Carlos holds its two free Halloween events on two evenings in a row, in two very different places. Tonight, Thursday, the Hiller Aviation Museum on Skyway Road opens its parking lot and hangar for a free Trunk or Treat. Tomorrow afternoon, the City's Goblin Walk takes over downtown Laurel Street, where Harrington Park is in the middle of a rebuild. The event that needs a ticket comes last, on Saturday morning, when a helicopter drops a pumpkin at noon. A family that plans around that order can do most of the week for the cost of a bag of candy.
- Thursday, October 29, 5 to 7 p.m. Trunk or Treat at Hiller Aviation Museum, 601 Skyway Road. Free.
- Friday, October 30, 4 to 5:30 p.m. Goblin Walk on Laurel Street, from San Carlos Avenue to Arroyo Avenue. Free, for children 7 and under with an adult.
- Friday, October 30. Spooky Streets decorating contest winners announced by San Carlos Parks & Recreation.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to noon. Halloween Kid's Festival and Helicopter Pumpkin Drop at Hiller. Included with museum admission.
Thursday Night Belongs to Skyway Road
The Hiller Aviation Museum's Trunk or Treat runs from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight as part of the museum's annual Halloween Haunted Hangar. It is free and open to the community. Families walk past decorated cars and collect treats along the way.
This year the lineup changes. Along with cars, decorated airplanes will be part of the row. Hiller also opened the trunk side to anyone who wants to take part, and its event page invites participants with a line that fits the Peninsula:
"Decorate your car's trunk (or frunk, EV owners!), fill a bucket with candy, and welcome trick-or-treaters from 5 to 7 pm."
That invitation comes from Hiller's Trunk or Treat page, which says participation is free and families who only want to trick-or-treat don't need to register. Show up in costume with a bag.
The Haunted Hangar is open that evening, and entering it requires a separate admission ticket. The trunks are free. The hangar display costs the same as a regular museum visit.
Friday Afternoon Moves Downtown, Past the Fence
Less than 24 hours later, Halloween moves to the other end of town. The City's Goblin Walk runs from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Children 7 and under, each with an adult, trick-or-treat down Laurel Street from San Carlos Avenue to Arroyo Avenue at businesses showing a Goblin Walk sign. The first 600 trick-or-treaters can pick up a Goblin Walk bag at the Parks & Recreation tent or from any volunteer. The City's page includes a map of participating businesses, and it's worth checking before you head out.
The age limit makes this a different event from Thursday's. Hiller's Trunk or Treat lists no age cutoff. The Goblin Walk is built for the smallest costumes, and its 90-minute window starts before most workdays end. Families with older and younger children may find that Thursday works for everyone and Friday works for the little ones.
The setting is also different from past years. The Harrington Park Refresh at 753 Laurel St. has been under construction since April 2026, with completion anticipated in early 2027. The project adds a multi-purpose plaza, a building with restrooms and storage, public seating and a raingarden.
A few details from the City's project page shape what Friday will look like:
- Posted construction hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, so the Goblin Walk's first hour falls inside the work window.
- No construction vehicles are allowed on Laurel Street. Crews reach the site through the alley behind Laurel and enter and exit via Cherry and Olive streets to El Camino Real.
- Four short-term parking spaces in the alley behind Harrington Park are being replaced with a designated drop-off and loading zone, so plan to park elsewhere.
The City has also added things that make the street easier to walk this fall. During the week of September 28, it installed two Downtown Revitalization information boards on the 700 block of Laurel, one in the raised planter near Diddams and one near U.S. Bank. In August, it added more Adirondack chairs along the street. On October 8, City staff updated about 50 downtown business and property owners on the Harrington Park work at a meeting at West Park Bistro. Updates are posted on the City's Downtown Revitalization Blog.
If Laurel Street's regular weekend rhythm is what you know best, our earlier piece on the one Sunday the Laurel Street market goes quiet covers the farmers market side of the street.
Friday Is Also When the Porches Get Judged
Friday does double duty. The same day the Goblin Walk fills Laurel, San Carlos Parks & Recreation announces the winners of the 2026 Spooky Streets decorating contest on its Facebook and Instagram accounts and the City website. The contest is open to homes and offices, with a category for the best-decorated door.
The City's events listing set the application deadline at October 23, so the entry period ended last Friday. Last year's winners included homes on Devonshire Boulevard, Highland Avenue and Geneva Avenue, with honorable mentions on Palm Avenue and Brook Street.
Saturday Morning Is the Ticketed Finale
Halloween itself lands on a Saturday, and Hiller has the morning. The Halloween Kid's Festival runs from 10 a.m. to noon with carnival games, the Haunted Hangar and its Great Pumpkin hunt. It ends at the noon bell, when the museum's witch drops a pumpkin from a helicopter.
Saturday is when the free sequence ends. The festival is included with museum admission rather than open at no cost, and museum members get in free. At the door, Hiller's general information page lists admission at $23 for adults and $15 for seniors and youth, and children 3 and under get in free with a paid adult. The same page lists online prices of $24 and $16. Families buying ahead should check the price at checkout.
For a household of two adults and two school-age children, the walk-up total comes to $76 for Saturday morning, compared with nothing for Thursday's trunks or Friday's Goblin Walk. That figure is based on the posted walk-up prices of $23 per adult and $15 per youth. The ticket also covers the full museum, not only the festival. Hiller lists regular hours as 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and notes that special events can change them, so calling ahead before a longer visit is a good idea.
Families who want the Haunted Hangar without the Saturday crowd have weekday options too. The display runs through October 31 and is included with regular admission on any open day this week.
After Halloween, Laurel Street Keeps the Calendar
The Goblin Walk is the first of three downtown events this fall that will take place around the Harrington Park construction. San Carlos's seasonal calendar continues on Laurel Street.
- Friday, November 6, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Adult Community Center holds its own Diwali event. Registration is required.
- Saturday, November 14, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Diwali Downtown brings music, crafts, food from local chefs, and performances by Kathakaars School of Dance and San Carlos Sitaras to Laurel Street.
- Wednesday, November 25, 11 a.m. to noon. Hiller hosts its Turkey Toss, the Thanksgiving-week counterpart to the pumpkin drop.
- Friday, December 4, 5 to 8:30 p.m. Night of Holiday Lights fills Laurel Street between San Carlos Avenue and Cherry Street, with the main stage on Cherry. The free event includes family activities, music, holiday performances and snow. It is presented by San Carlos Parks & Recreation in partnership with the Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos.
Harrington Park is expected to reopen as a finished plaza in early 2027. Centennial Plaza is the next downtown project. Its approved design includes new paving, rain gardens, trees, seating, a pavilion, lighting, bicycle parking and drinking fountains, but the City says its construction schedule has not been set.
For more on how the town is laid out beyond downtown, our San Carlos neighborhood guide covers the streets these events serve.
Downtown San Carlos will look different once Harrington Park reopens, and homeowners nearby may wonder what a finished plaza a few blocks away could mean for their property. The Mary Murphy Team follows these downtown projects closely and can walk you through it calmly, with real numbers. Request a complimentary home valuation & consultation whenever you're ready.
