Halloween is on a Saturday this year, and in Encinitas that turns one night into three, each in a different part of town. Friday belongs to Olivenhain, where a Scout troop finishes its Haunted Hotel run. Saturday belongs to the downtown stretch of South Coast Highway 101 and the merchants who keep their doors open late. Sunday is quieter: a farmers market in Leucadia and a Día de los Muertos program at the library.
No single organizer runs the weekend. A Scout troop, a MainStreet association, a handful of storefronts and the City's special events calendar each handle their own piece. The weekend comes together because their dates happen to line up in 2026.
The weekend at a glance
| Night | Where | Hours | Cost | Run by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Oct. 30 | Olivenhain Meeting Hall, 423 Rancho Santa Fe Road | 5:30 to 9 p.m. | Grounds free; Haunted Hotel tour $8 at the door | Scout Troop 2000 fundraiser |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas Boulevard to K Street | 5 to 8 p.m. | Free | Encinitas 101 MainStreet Association |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | GOODONYA Organic, 1051 South Coast Highway 101 | 5 to 9 p.m. | Free | GOODONYA Organic |
| Sunday, Nov. 1 | Leucadia Farmers Market, Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Free to browse | Leucadia 101 |
| Sunday, Nov. 1 | Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive | 3 to 5 p.m. | Not listed | City-listed Día de los Muertos program |
Friday: the Haunted Hotel's last night
The Olivenhain Meeting Hall grounds have hosted the Haunted Hotel on and off all month. The San Diego Union-Tribune's events roundup lists five nights: Oct. 16, 17, 23, 24 and 30. When this post goes up on Thursday, only Friday, Oct. 30 is left, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at 423 Rancho Santa Fe Road.
The Scouts are the cast. The Union-Tribune reports that the actors are Scouts ages 11 to 17, and the tour moves through a Haunted Swamp, Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory and a Witches' Lair. New this year are a Candy Mystery Trail and a Monster Hunt. The grounds also host a carnival with prizes, live entertainment, crafts and food.
Here is how the pricing works, per the same listing:
- Getting onto the grounds is free.
- The Haunted Hotel tour costs $8, paid at the door.
- Concessions, the carnival and the Candy Mystery Trail each cost extra.
The money goes to Scout Troop 2000, and the troop posts updates at facebook.com/HauntedHotel2.
The Saturday calendar is what makes Friday matter. In a year when Halloween falls midweek, the Haunted Hotel's last night and downtown trick-or-treating end up days apart. This year they fall on back-to-back evenings. A family can do the Olivenhain tour on Friday and still have Saturday for the 101.
Saturday: three hours on South Coast Highway 101
The main event is the Encinitas Safe Trick-or-Treat, Saturday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 8 p.m. The Union-Tribune gives the route as South Coast Highway 101 from Encinitas Boulevard to K Street and notes that the event is free. The organizer's page says downtown shops and restaurants will stay open late, so trick-or-treaters can stop at local storefronts.
The organizer names three spots along the route. A fourth stop, on the same street, runs its own separate event:
- Pacific View Arts Center. The City-run arts center is hosting free family art activities and is opening its lot for free parking for the evening. That makes it a natural starting point.
- The Lumberyard Courtyard. This is where the live music is. The treat sponsor, Modena Allergy + Asthma, will also be here handing out allergy-friendly candy from YumEarth. For families who avoid common allergens, this is the stop to plan around.
- GOODONYA Organic, 1051 South Coast Highway 101. The restaurant is holding its own free, all-ages Halloween celebration on the same street, with organic trick-or-treat stations and a kids' zone. Its event runs from 5 to 9 p.m., an hour past the official end.
- Self-Realization Fellowship at K Street. SRF will have a large pumpkin display in front of its bookstore at K Street and 101, right at the south end of the route.
The pumpkins sit at K Street, the south end of the route, and the free lot at Pacific View makes an easy place to park before walking the strip.
The window is short. The organizer lists 5 to 8 p.m., and GOODONYA's extra hour is the only published event that runs later on the strip. The organizer's page lists no participating businesses, so families will be working storefront by storefront along the 101. The Pacific View lot is the only parking the organizer mentions.
Sunday: a slower day after Halloween
Nov. 1 is a Sunday, so the regular weekly calendar takes over.
Leucadia 101 lists the Leucadia Farmers Market every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. Because the market runs every week, it falls the morning after Halloween this year.
That afternoon, the City's special events page lists a Día de los Muertos program at the Encinitas Library from 3 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 1. The library is at 540 Cornish Drive. The listing has a date and time but no program details or price, and its link points to a different event. Call the library before you go.
That different event is the 13th annual Encinitas Día de los Muertos festival, presented by Encinitas Friends of the Arts on Sunday, Oct. 25 at MiraCosta College in Cardiff. It will be over by the time this post goes up, so the library listing is what's left of the Día de los Muertos calendar for the weekend.
Cardiff's own calendar takes the weekend off. Cardiff 101 lists its Glen Park event on Oct. 20, and its next listed events aren't until late November.
Driving down from Leucadia
If you're driving into downtown from Leucadia on Coast Highway 101, you'll pass through a construction zone. The City of Encinitas North Highway 101 projects page, last updated Sept. 17, 2026, says Segment C West and the drainage work between Jupiter Street and La Costa Avenue are still under construction. The work started in March 2024, and completion is expected in late fall 2026.
Right now crews are working on water and drainage lines and surface improvements. The City warns of traffic control with intermittent lane shifts and says driveway and business access will stay open. The City has not published a lane-shift schedule for the Halloween weekend or for evenings. The construction zone is well north of the Safe Trick-or-Treat route, so it shouldn't affect the event itself. It may slow the drive down from the north end of town, so allow extra time before the 5 p.m. start.
How the three nights fit together
With Halloween on a Saturday, each part of the weekend runs on a different setup:
- Olivenhain on Friday is a ticketed attraction on a historic property. A Scout troop runs it, and the tour fee and carnival costs fund the troop.
- Downtown on Saturday is free and set by the storefronts. It lasts as long as the businesses on the 101 stay open, plus one restaurant running an hour longer.
- Sunday follows the regular weekly calendar: the Leucadia market in the morning and a library program in the afternoon.
A family that does all three will go from the Olivenhain Meeting Hall on Rancho Santa Fe Road to the downtown 101 to Oak Crest Middle School and Cornish Drive in about 48 hours. That covers much of Encinitas, with a different group running each stop.
Saturday on the downtown 101 is a good look at what this part of Encinitas is like on a busy night: shops open late, music in the Lumberyard Courtyard and families walking all the way to K Street. If you live nearby and have wondered what your home is worth in today's market, Chris Martin offers a free home valuation done quietly and backed by the full marketing resources of Luxury Coast Group | Barry Estates.
