Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday. For October 31, Historic Huguenot Street lists a Revolutionary War cemetery tour at 11 a.m. and free trick-or-treating at 3:30 p.m. It also has Marks Hot Dogs serving until 7:30 p.m., when the Halloween Parade After Party ends. The village parade starts at 6 p.m. and falls inside that window.
So the parade comes near the end of the day. Most of October 31 happens on one street of stone houses at the north end of the village. The museum that cares for them has also been building toward that night since the middle of the month, with programs on October 17, 18, 24 and 25. Seen as a whole, New Paltz Halloween in 2026 is closer to a three-weekend season that runs mostly through Huguenot Street.
The Saturday, From Morning to Dark
Here is how October 31 stacks up, using the times Historic Huguenot Street and Chronogram have posted:
- 11 a.m. to noon: "Or Give Me Death" cemetery tour. This is a Revolutionary War-themed walk. Admission is $25 general, $20 discounted, and $15 for ages 7 to 12, with free entry for children 6 and under. Registration runs through the Historic Huguenot Street listing.
- 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Trick-or-Treat on Huguenot Street, starting from 81 Huguenot Street. The museum's trick-or-treat listing says children collect treats "from the residents of the historic homes, both past and present." The event is free, and the museum asks families to RSVP "so that we don't run out of treats."
- 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.: From the Ground Up Food Truck is on site for the trick-or-treat window.
- 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Marks Hot Dogs is back for its fourth year in a row and stays past dark.
- 6 p.m.: The New Paltz Halloween Parade starts in the village.
- Until 7:30 p.m.: The Halloween Parade After Party. On the museum's trick-or-treat page, this is when the Marks Hot Dogs window closes.
The gap between 5:30 and 6 matters. Trick-or-treat ends half an hour before the parade begins, and one food truck stays on the street past the parade's end. That leaves families on Huguenot Street from midafternoon until after dark with something scheduled the whole time.
Where the Parade Goes Depends on Which Listing You Read
The 6 p.m. start time is consistent everywhere. The route isn't.
Chronogram's 2026 Halloween guide, published October 6, says the parade begins "at the corner of Main Street and Manheim Boulevard in the heart of the village, and ends at the firehouse." The Town of New Paltz annual happenings page gives the same Main-and-Manheim-to-firehouse route. It's a page describing recurring events, though, with no visible update date.
The Hudson Valley Sojourner listing describes another route. It starts in the Middle School parking lot, follows Main Street and North Front Street, and crosses Route 32 toward Historic Huguenot Street. That matches the 2024 account on Historic Huguenot Street's own event page, which sent the parade from the Middle School down Main and North Front and across Route 32 to Huguenot Street.
None of the 2026 sources settles the question, and none of them includes a parade road-closure plan. The Sojourner listing describes a costumed community procession with no registration required. If you're meeting other families or picking a spot to watch, check with the village or the organizers that week before choosing a corner.
The after-party is clearer on history than on this year's details. In 2024, Historic Huguenot Street listed post-parade activities on the grounds of Huguenot Street from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. It named New Paltz Rotary, the New Paltz Police Department and the Village of New Paltz as partners. For 2026, the only published detail is the 7:30 p.m. end time on the trick-or-treat page. The 2024 hours and partner list show past practice, not a confirmed plan.
The Two Weekends Before
The museum's run-up to October 31 starts two weeks early. The earlier events are aimed at different audiences.
October 17: a ghost show for grown-ups
On Saturday, October 17, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., magic-lantern performers Dawn Elliott and Joel Schlemowitz present "Phantasmagoria". They perform it outdoors, on the lawn behind the Jacob "Jean" Hasbrouck House at 69 Huguenot Street. The show recreates a late 18th-century Paris spectacle by Étienne-Gaspard Robertson. Rear-projected ghosts and goblins appear to grow from tiny to huge, as if moving toward the audience. The pair built a working fantascope on tracks and painted scores of slides by hand to stage it. The program includes a haunted graveyard, the Bleeding Nun from the gothic novel The Monk, the head of Medusa, and a closing midnight Witches' Sabbath. It has won the Dick Balzer Performance Award from the Magic Lantern Society UK.
This is the one part of the season the museum labels as not for young children. Because of its graphic historical imagery, it isn't recommended for anyone under 13, and anyone under 18 needs adult supervision. Some practical points from the listing:
- Admission: $16 general. The $12 discounted rate covers members, seniors, students, military families, veterans and youth 13 to 17.
- Seating: Picnic tables and bistro sets are limited, so the museum asks guests to bring camping chairs and blankets.
- Refreshments: The DuBois Fort Visitor Center and Museum Shop is open from 5 to 9 p.m. and sells bottled water, coffee and hot apple cider. Outside food is welcome. Alcohol and smoking aren't allowed.
- Rain date: Sunday, October 25.
The rain date falls on the second day of the children's craft workshop, so a wet October 17 would put an adult ghost show and a kids' event on the same street on the same Sunday.
October 18: pickles at the fairgrounds, history on the street
Sunday, October 18 has two events at opposite ends of town. The Rosendale International Pickle Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ulster County Fairgrounds, 249 Libertyville Road, New Paltz, according to Hudson Valley One's October event guide. It carries Rosendale's name but takes place inside New Paltz.
That afternoon, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Historic Huguenot Street runs "The Pursuit of Happiness", a guided tour starting at 81 Huguenot Street. The tour starts while the festival is still running, so doing both means leaving the fairgrounds by early afternoon.
October 24 and 25: the kids' weekend
The Halloween Craft Workshop and Scavenger Hunt runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. It costs $10 per child, and guardians attend free. Unlike the free trick-or-treat a week later, it requires advance registration for a time slot on either day. None of the museum's listings showed a sold-out notice, but they also didn't show live availability.
Put the three weekends together and the pattern is clear. The adult evening comes first, then a mixed Sunday, then the children's weekend, and finally a Saturday that offers something for every age, with the parade near the end.
Dinner at the Far End of the Same Street
Huguenot Street keeps going past the historic district. At 215 Huguenot Street, above the pro shop at the New Paltz Golf Course, chef Tommy Ingoglia opened Tommy I's with a soft launch on April 27, 2026. Hudson Valley One reported that he spent 19 years in the kitchen at P&G's before taking over the former Maggie Mae's space. He was recruited by Maggie Mae's owner, Garvan McCloskey.
Ingoglia told the paper he wants to "fuse Maggie Mae's, P&G's and my style" into price-friendly comfort food. The room seats 72 inside and 16 on the porch. Two details from that May story bear on late October. The liquor license was still pending then. And earlier businesses in the space had closed for the colder months, while Ingoglia said he planned to try winter hours. Both may have changed since spring, so call ahead before planning dinner there around a Huguenot Street event.
At Fresh Air Realty, we track the New Paltz calendar the way our neighbors do, by date and by street. If Halloween on Huguenot Street is part of why you're thinking about a place nearby, or about selling one, we can talk it through over coffee in Brooklyn or here in Ulster County. Buy With Us or Sell With Us.
