Between October 11 and October 31, the Palos Verdes Peninsula has at least ten free or free-to-attend Halloween and harvest events, spread across a memorial park, the city's civic center, a neighborhood plaza, three library locations, a preschool, a city park, and a shopping center. Two venues get more than one date. The Garden of Remembrance is not one of them. Eastview Park is. The only place charging admission this season is South Coast Botanic Garden on Crenshaw Boulevard, which runs a ticketed pumpkin walk on most October nights and a ticketed dog festival on weekends. Planning the month on the Peninsula means following the free events from one venue to the next, and knowing that the paid ones all share one address and its parking rules.
Here is the sequence, in order.
It Opens at Green Hills, and the Lines Close Early
The first event on the calendar is the Green Hills Harvest Festival on Sunday, October 11, at Green Hills in Rancho Palos Verdes. It's free and family-friendly. The draws are a giant pumpkin patch with a limit of one pumpkin per person, a maze, hayrides, arts and crafts, and food trucks.
The program is more detailed than most harvest festivals publish. Professional pumpkin carver Doug Goodyear is doing carving demonstrations. Kayln & the New Frontier are playing live, with DJ Ozzie in between and line dancing demonstrations by Tina Michelle and the Rhinestone Cowgirls. Face painters and caricature artists are on hand, but Green Hills says their availability is limited and suggests arriving early.
The detail that matters most for timing is the cutoff. Every activity and feature line closes at 2:45 p.m., although anyone already in line can stay. Green Hills hasn't posted the full hours for October 11 on that page, so the event line is the place to confirm when the gates open.
One caution: the Green Hills event page still has a "Harvest Festival 2026 was a hit!" banner above the "Mark your calendars" notice for October 11. That looks like leftover wording from a template, but the event line at 310-521-4460 can confirm.
The Third Weekend Splits Between Ken Dyda Civic Center and Lunada Bay Plaza
The busiest weekend of the month moves twice in about 27 hours.
On Saturday, October 17, Rancho Palos Verdes holds its free Trunk or Treat from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Ken Dyda Civic Center. According to the city's flyer, there will be decorated trunks, a puppet show, music, inflatables, face painting, games, giveaways, a costume parade, and food vendors. The city is also offering extra free parking at Point Vicente Interpretive Center, 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West, with a shuttle to the event. The flyer doesn't say how often the shuttle runs or when it starts, so plan a little extra time if you park there.
On Sunday, October 18, things move to the bluffs on the west side. The Lunada Bay Harvest Festival runs from 2 to 6 p.m. at Lunada Bay Plaza, sponsored by the Lunada Bay Homeowners Association. The 2026 listing includes a pumpkin patch, a pumpkin race, face painting, games, a balloon artist, live music, inflatables, crafts, performers, and food and drink vendors. The listing doesn't mention admission or tickets, so check the Lunada Bay HOA calendar before you go.
The two events are separate. Saturday is a midday city event at the civic center off Palos Verdes Drive West. Sunday is an afternoon neighborhood festival at a small plaza in Palos Verdes Estates. Their hours don't overlap, so a family can do both.
The Libraries Cover the Weeknights
The city and neighborhood events are on weekends. The Palos Verdes Library District fills the weekdays in between, each time at a different branch.
- Haunt Your Look: Halloween Makeup, Thursday, October 15, 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Miraleste Library. This is a teen event for trying special-effects makeup and face-painting techniques. No registration is required, but space is limited.
- Friday Fun Family Movie Night: Hotel Transylvania, Friday, October 23, 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Malaga Cove Library Gallery & Garden. It's free with no registration and includes popcorn. It's aimed at kids from TK through fifth grade, but all ages are welcome.
- Spooktober Movie, Thursday, October 29, 4 to 6 p.m. at the Annex, 701 Silver Spur Road in Rolling Hills Estates. Teens vote through a 16-film bracket, then watch the winner.
That's three branches in three communities over two weeks: Miraleste on the east side, Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes Estates, and the Annex in Rolling Hills Estates. Each is a short after-school event, and all are listed on the district's event calendar.
The Last Three Days Center on Eastview Park
From October 29 on, the calendar gets more concentrated, and Eastview Park in Rancho Palos Verdes hosts the two city events.
- Thursday, October 29, 9 to 11 a.m. CHALK Preschool, 5702 Crest Road in Rancho Palos Verdes, holds an Infant and Toddler Halloween Playdate. There are separate sessions at 9 a.m. for infants 6 to 15 months and at 10 a.m. for toddlers 15 to 30 months. Activities and materials are provided, sign-up is through Calendly, and the listing doesn't give a price.
- Thursday, October 29, 4 p.m. The city's Pumpkin Decorating Party at Eastview Park, which the city posted on September 30 and labeled "NEW!" Each child gets a pumpkin plus stickers, paint, and glitter. Pumpkins are free while they last, first come, first served, and the city notes that it is not a carving event.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to noon. The Howl-O-Ween Dog Paw-Rade returns to Eastview Park. The city's flyer promises a photo booth and a goodie bag for every dog in costume. Neither lists a cost.
- Saturday, October 31, 3 to 6 p.m. Promenade PV holds Halloween Trick or Treat and a Costume Contest at The Promenade on the Peninsula, 550 Deep Valley Drive in Rolling Hills Estates. The listing mentions a haunted house, a costume contest, face painting, games, cotton candy, and food, and the event is tagged as free.
The two Eastview events are connected. The city asks whether pumpkins decorated on Thursday can be displayed at Saturday's parade, with the family's permission. A painted pumpkin from Thursday afternoon can sit at the same park two days later while costumed dogs walk past.
The parade ends at noon and the Promenade event starts at 3 p.m., so Halloween day has a midday break and then moves from Eastview to Deep Valley Drive in the afternoon.
The Paid Events Are Both at South Coast Botanic Garden
Everything above is free or lists no price. The ticketed events are all at one place, South Coast Botanic Garden.
Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns is the big one. It's produced by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group with the garden as partner. The family-oriented walk follows a mile-long trail lit by more than 10,000 hand-carved pumpkins. A synchronized pumpkin light show plays every 30 minutes, and new scenes this year include a circus, a Día de los Muertos tribute, and an under-the-sea section. It runs on select nights from September 18 through November 1. For the rest of October, the nights are October 8 to 11, 14 to 18, and 20 to 31. Entry is timed and hours change by date.
Prices change by night. Haunted Attraction Network reports a starting price of $29.99 for adults and $24.99 for kids, fees included. The ticketing checkout showed October prices from $25.99 to $35.99 with fees included, depending on the date. The current price for a given night is on the event's own site.
Unlike the free events, this one needs a parking plan:
| Option | Cost | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| On-site at South Coast Botanic Garden | $25 | Must be bought in advance at checkout; spaces are limited |
| Off-site lot | $10.29 | 25851 Hawthorne Blvd, Rolling Hills Estates, with an ADA-accessible shuttle to the entrance |
| Rideshare | Varies | Operator recommends entering 26300 Crenshaw Blvd rather than the venue name |
The rideshare advice is easy to overlook. Haunted Attraction Network reports that the operator says some apps haven't updated the location, so typing in the street address instead of the name avoids a drop-off at the wrong place.
The garden's daytime ticketed event is Dogtoberfest, every Saturday and Sunday from October 10 through November 1. It has Bavarian food and beer, live German music, costume and yodel contests, a Pup Crawl, and dog races. Music sets are scheduled at 10 and 11 a.m. and 1, 2, and 3 p.m., and the races are at noon and 3:30 p.m. General admission is $18 for adults, $14 for seniors and students, and $8 for children 3 to 12. Children under 3 and garden members get in free. Dogs are $6 for members and $7 for everyone else.
So the garden has both of the season's paid events, one in daylight on weekends and one at night through most of the month, on the same Crenshaw Boulevard grounds. Everything else on the calendar moves around the Peninsula, from Green Hills to Ken Dyda Civic Center, Lunada Bay Plaza, three library branches, and finally Eastview Park and The Promenade on Halloween afternoon.
October calendars are one way to stay connected to a place, and the same attention to dates and details goes into any move on the Peninsula, whether that means downsizing from a longtime family home or settling an estate on a reasonable timeline. If you or a family member are starting to think about a move like that, Patrice Meepos is happy to talk it through calmly and on your schedule. Work With Patrice.
