The Howl-O-Ween Pet Parade was held on Healdsburg Plaza in October 2024 and again in 2025. This year it starts at 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, at the Foley Family Community Pavilion at 3 North Street. The 10th annual Día de Muertos follows the next day on the Plaza, where it has been held since 2016. So the town's two big community gatherings of the weekend are a short walk apart but on different blocks, run by different organizations, at different hours.
This change reflects a larger shift. Over 2026, the Pavilion has become Healdsburg's second civic stage, and the city's own event calendar shows how much has moved there. If you plan your late-October weekends around the Plaza by habit, this year you'll be heading to North Street at least twice.
Saturday's parade has a new address and a later hour
The Humane Society of Sonoma County's parade ran from noon to 2 p.m. on the Plaza on October 18, 2025. The 2024 parade, on October 19, was also on the Plaza. For 2026, the Humane Society lists Saturday, October 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Pavilion. Entry is free, and the costume contest has categories for small, medium and large dogs, other pets, and groups. The city lists the event as a partnership with the Humane Society and asks attendees to bring food donations for the Humane Society's Pet Food Pantry. Megan Hennessy is the contact for questions.
Neither the Humane Society nor the city has said why the event moved, so it's best not to guess. What the calendar does show is that the parade now has the same address as the Saturday farmers market, which runs at the Pavilion and on North Street every Saturday from April 11 through December 19. That means the parade falls on a day when North Street already has its own Saturday rhythm, a few hours after the morning shoppers have gone home.
North Street has also added a tasting room this season. Marchelle Wines opened at 34 North Street on August 1, in the former Jeff Cohn Cellars space near the Plaza. Founders Greg La Follette and Kevin Lee moved the brand's public face to Healdsburg after the lease on their Sebastopol production winery wasn't renewed. It's a few doors from the Pavilion, so it's an easy stop for adults once the costume contest wraps up.
How North Street filled the calendar
The city's 2026 Master Calendar of Events, last updated August 12, puts each special event at a specific venue. Read from start to finish, it shows how much of the town's shared calendar now runs through the Pavilion. Besides the twice-weekly farmers markets, 2026 brought these events to the Pavilion:
- Vamos al Tianguis, third Saturdays from March through July, hosted by Vamos North Bay
- Healdsburg Jazz Annual Gala on May 1
- SMART Healdsburg Extension Ribbon Cutting Celebration on May 8
- Healdsburg Pride on June 13, organized by Professionals with Pride
- Guelaguetza on July 19, with Oaxaca Tierra Del Sol, spilling onto North Street
- Pachanga & Art on September 5, hosted by Corazón Healdsburg
- Howl-O-Ween on October 24
Several of these are labeled "Pavilion Pilot Event" on the calendar, which signals that the city is still working out what the building is for. The Plaza kept the events the city marks as 2026 Signature Events: Tuesdays and Sundays in the Plaza, the Juneteenth Celebration, the Fourth of July Duck Dash, Merry Healdsburg in December, and Día de Muertos.
Corazón Healdsburg's own year shows the split clearly. Its September party went to the Pavilion. Its October celebration stays on the Plaza, because that event is built around the gazebo.
The Plaza keeps the altar
Corazón's description of Día de Muertos is tied to that one spot. On the last Sunday of October, the gazebo becomes a community altar filled with marigolds, candles, and photos of loved ones who have passed away, and everyone is invited to add a photo. This year it runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, centered at Matheson Street and Healdsburg Avenue. Admission is free, and there will be free children's activities, live music, a car show, and food for sale. The city marks this edition as the 10th Anniversary Celebration.
The first one in October 2016 almost didn't happen. In Corazón's account of its founding, the event was how the new organization introduced itself to the town. That morning, the forecast of light rain turned into a downpour. Co-founder Ari remembered it this way:
"Raining so hard that the pop up tents were collapsing and it felt like the event was going to be canceled... And, I kid you not, from the first drum beat, as the feet pounded the pavement, the rain completely lifted."
Leticia Romero, Corazón's first executive director, danced with her Danza Azteca group while copal and marigold scented the wet air. Corazón's history also recalls Banda Pacifica playing from a flatbed and local contributors serving free pozole.
For the tenth year, Corazón's announcement promises an "exciting lineup" but doesn't yet name performers. The city hasn't named a car club either. If you want to bring a photo for the altar, the one thing settled now is where to bring it: the gazebo, any time after noon.
The week, in order
Spreading the events across two venues has also stretched them across the week. Here is the sequence, as currently published:
- Friday, October 23. Sweeney Todd opens at Raven Performing Arts Theater at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $44 for adults and $10 for students. Just south of town, Bricoleur Vineyards in Windsor hosts a family Halloween night from 5 to 8 p.m. with dinner and an all-ages costume contest. Dogs are welcome. Tickets are $65 for adults, $35 for ages 11 to 20, and $5 for kids under 10.
- Saturday, October 24. The farmers market in the morning, Howl-O-Ween at the Pavilion from 4 to 6 p.m., and Sweeney Todd again at 7:30.
- Sunday, October 25. Día de Muertos on the Plaza from noon to 6 p.m. The Raven's 2 p.m. matinee overlaps with it, so plan around that if you want both.
- Thursday, October 29. The Raven's pay-what-you-can performance at 7:30 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31. Evening shows of Sweeney Todd at 7:30 p.m. The run continues into November with performances on November 1, 6, 7 and 8.
- Saturday, October 31. The Healdsburg Farmers Market's annual Pumpkin Festival.
Over that one weekend, the Plaza, North Street and the Raven each host something different, and none of them overlap except the Sunday matinee.
Halloween morning, and the question mark after it
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so it lines up with a market day. The Healdsburg Farmers Market has confirmed its Pumpkin Festival for October 31, 2026. A current county events roundup lists it from 9 a.m. to noon, with pumpkin vehicle races, pumpkin carving, and costume contests. It's the second costume contest at the Pavilion in a week, this time for the kids and their pumpkins.
The afternoon is less certain. In 2023, the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce organized free trick-or-treating at downtown businesses from 4 to 6 p.m., and participating shops put purple posters in their windows. As of October 4, neither the Chamber nor the city has posted a 2026 version, and the city's October calendar currently lists the market as the only Halloween-day item. If you're planning around downtown trick-or-treating, check the Chamber's listings closer to the date. Calendars this close to an event do get updated, and that applies to every time and place above.
If you have questions about how this fall's calendar fits around life downtown, Sue is glad to talk them through. If your household is thinking about a move within Healdsburg and you'd like a calm conversation about where things stand, Sue Winton is happy to talk. Let's Connect.
