Last October, Brookline's best-known Halloween block went dark. This October it comes back on a Saturday, and that timing changes the shape of the whole week. Brookline's late-October calendar is spread across a golf course, a museum lawn, a bookstore and a movie theater. This year every one of those threads ends in one long day on October 31. It starts with shadow puppets in Brookline Village in the morning and ends with a 35mm horror print at 290 Harvard Street.
The Block That Missed 2025
Halloween on Beals Street is the anchor. The Friends of the JFK Birthplace list it for Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the JFK Birthplace, 83 Beals St. The group describes the night as the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site joining the neighbors on Beals Street to create a safe Halloween party for Brookline children. Its event page also says plainly why last year's calendar had a gap: "We missed 2025 due to the government shutdown."
The return is getting more attention than usual. The Brookline Record reported on October 9 that Reese's named Beals Street one of 150 nominees nationwide for its "Trick-or-Treatiest Street in America" contest. The Brookline block earned a Haul Score of 97.9 and a Haunt Score of 95. That haunt score was the highest of the three Massachusetts streets nominated. In the Record's account, Reese's described the stretch between Harvard and Gibbs streets as a place with decorated homes, creative costumes and candy at nearly every door. The Record also pointed to a Brookline Interactive Group video showing how the street closes each year for the occasion.
The Reese's Halloween Council will announce the winner on October 21. Win or lose, the Friends group still lists the party for the 31st.
One detail is still open. According to the National Park Service, the JFK National Historic Site's 2026 season runs through Friday, October 30, with visitor hours Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Brookline Record noted that it's unclear whether the park site itself takes part on Halloween night or the Friends group runs the evening on its own. If you want to see the birthplace with a ranger, Friday the 30th is the last day of the season.
Sunday the 25th Opens the Week
The week before Halloween starts at the far edges of town and moves in.
On Sunday, October 25, Brookline Recreation's Harvest Fest runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brookline Golf Course, 1281 West Roxbury Parkway. The listing includes live entertainment, local farm stands and artisans, food trucks, inflatables, pumpkin decorating, face painting, a costume contest and a trick-or-treat trail. For younger children, that trail makes the day a dress rehearsal six days before the real thing.
The same morning, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum hosts Extinct + Vintage Car Day on its lawn at 15 Newton St., starting at 9 a.m. It's the last of three lawn events on back-to-back October weekends. European Motorcycle Day is on the 17th and Studebaker Packard Day on the 18th.
Back in Coolidge Corner, Brookline Booksmith has an all-ages story hour with E.B. Goodale at 10:30 a.m. that Sunday at 279 Harvard St. Put together, Sunday spreads the town's Halloween activity across Chestnut Hill, Larz Anderson and Coolidge Corner before the weeknights pull it toward Harvard Street.
Weeknights at the Coolidge
From Friday, October 23 through Friday, October 30, the Coolidge Corner Theatre schedule has a horror title almost every night. The homepage lists dates for these titles but not showtimes, so check the theater's site for times.
- Fri 10/23: Arachnophobia
- Sat 10/24: Crawl
- Sun 10/25: Legend
- Mon 10/26: Alien (Director's Cut)
- Tue 10/27: The Exorcist
- Wed 10/28: The Omen
- Thu 10/29: Poltergeist and The Prophecy
- Fri 10/30: Fright Night
Tuesday the 27th also ends Coolidge Education's Prints of Darkness: A Century of Devil Cinema. It's a five-week series that began September 29, with Tuesday classes from 6:15 to about 9:15 p.m. The remaining October sessions are the 13th, 20th and 27th. The final class falls on the same night The Exorcist is on the calendar.
Across the street, Booksmith adds a late night of its own. Heather Morris speaks at 7 p.m. on Monday, October 26. At 11 p.m. the store opens a midnight-release party for A Court of Splintered Harmony. Author events continue through Thursday, October 29: Kojo Koram with Quinn Slobodian and Shaleen Title on the 27th, Nafissa Thompson-Spires with Annie Hartnett on the 28th, and Petra Hůlová and Carolina Pihelgas on the 29th, all at 7 p.m.
Thursday has one more Coolidge Corner fixture. The Brookline Farmers' Market runs its 2026 season on Thursdays from June 4 through November 19, 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the Centre Street West Parking Lot behind the Coolidge Corner Theatre. That puts October 29 two Thursday markets before the season ends, and the stalls sit right behind the screen showing Poltergeist that evening.
Saturday, October 31, Hour by Hour
Because Halloween falls on a weekend, nothing on the day competes with a workday or a school night. Here is the published schedule, in order:
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 10:30 a.m. | Lisa the Wise: A Baba Yaga Story, shadow puppetry for ages 4 to 10 | Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station St. |
| 1:00 p.m. | Second showing of Lisa the Wise | Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station St. |
| 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. | Halloween on Beals Street | JFK Birthplace, 83 Beals St., and the block between Harvard and Gibbs streets |
| 11:30 p.m. | 25th Halloween Horror Marathon | Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. |
The Puppet Showplace Theater shows are the Brookline Village part of the day. Both are matinees, so the afternoon stays open for the move toward Coolidge Corner.
Beals Street fills the early evening. The Brookline Record listed a 4 p.m. start as the time to plan around. The party ends at 8 p.m., which leaves three and a half hours before the night's last event.
That event is the 25th Halloween Horror Marathon, which starts at 11:30 p.m. The Coolidge lists it as a 12-hour program. The theme for the 25th edition is mummies. The night opens with Boris Karloff in Universal's The Mummy from 1932. Next is Hammer Films' The Mummy's Shroud, shown from a rare archival print from the U.K. that Hammer supplied. The theater says it is the first in decades to show the film in 35mm in North America. Five more features "will be kept under wraps until they hit the screen," along with mummy-themed music, a costume contest, 35mm trailers and shorts.
A 12-hour program that starts at 11:30 p.m. runs well into Sunday morning. On Sunday, November 1, Puppet Showplace repeats Lisa the Wise at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. So a family that missed Saturday's matinee gets a second chance while the marathon audience is still in the theater on Harvard Street.
What Isn't on the Calendar Yet
A few pieces of the week hadn't been published as of October 12. We couldn't find a 2026 schedule for merchant trick-or-treating in Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village, Washington Square or JFK Crossing. We also didn't find town guidance on trick-or-treat hours or Halloween street closures. The Public Library of Brookline's October 31 calendar had no public Halloween program listed. Theater, bookstore and puppet-theater listings sometimes change, so confirm details with each organizer before you head out.
Two dates are worth marking now: October 21, when the Reese's winner is announced, and October 30, the last day of the JFK National Historic Site's 2026 season.
If friends or family are visiting for Halloween weekend and want help planning their days around Beals Street and Harvard Street, or if a move to Brookline is part of the bigger plan, Orit Aviv is happy to share the local knowledge behind a week like this one. Let's Connect.
