Updated Oct 12, 2026. Hours and dates change, so check the link before you go.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the county gets two big weekends: Saturday, Oct 24 has most of the kids' events, and Saturday, Oct 31 is the night itself. Below: the things you can do any day this month, organized by what you're in the mood for, then the events worth planning around, then the full calendar.
In this guide:
Pumpkin patches and corn mazes: A night maze, a patch that lights up at 5, a farm-style one, and one that welcomes dogs.
Apples and cider donuts: U-pick apples, and a farm stand with Saturday donuts.
Día de los Muertos: A museum exhibit and a community altar you can add to.
Spooky places: The haunted house locals name, and a cemetery walk.
Costumes: Thrift picks and a swap.
Where to trick-or-treat: Neighborhoods locals swear by, and a downtown trail.
Worth planning around: Six standout events.
Nights out: Three Rocky Horrors, Hitchcock in Bodega Bay, and the Halloween-night parties.
The full calendar: Every date we have.
PUMPKIN PATCHES AND CORN MAZES
After dark
Petaluma Pumpkin Patch & Amazing Corn Maze, Petaluma
Night corn maze, $13 ($9 by day, 5 and under free). Free entry and parking. Open until 10pm Friday and Saturday, 7pm other days, through Oct 31.
Website · Map
Punky's Pumpkins, Santa Rosa
The lights go on at 5, and it's open until 9pm daily. Pick your own pumpkins, hay rides, a train, bounce houses and a 30-foot slide. No dogs.
Website · Map
Farm, not carnival
Muelrath Ranches, Santa Rosa
The one locals name when someone asks for a farm-style patch. Open through Oct 31.
Website · Map
Bring the dog
Pronzini Farms Pumpkin Patch, Petaluma
Leashed dogs welcome. A haunted trail, a train to a Western village, a petting zoo and live music on weekends. Pumpkins $2–50.
Website · Map
Big family patches
Santa Rosa Pumpkin Patch, Santa Rosa
A corn maze (it closes 45 minutes before the patch).
Website · Map
Free, in any park
Pumpkins in the Parks Scavenger Hunt, Santa Rosa
A pumpkin hunt in any Santa Rosa park, Oct 1–30.
Website
APPLES AND CIDER DONUTS
Credit: Hale's Apple Farm, Sebastopol. Photo: Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pick your own apples
Apple-A-Day Ratzlaff Ranch, Sebastopol
Pick your own apples. U-pick opens in early October, no reservations, $2.50 a pound, with fresh cider during picking season.
Website · Map
Cider donuts
No farm run this week? Trader Joe's apple cider donuts are the easy fallback (heat them up), and Sprouts has gluten-free minis in the bakery case. Know another local spot for cider donuts? Reply and tell me.
DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS
Photo Credit Brian Wegman
Museum of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa
The Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) exhibit runs through Nov 29, Wednesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm. Free block party Saturday, Oct 10, 12–4pm.
Website · Map
Jack London State Historic Park, Glen Ellen
An altar you can add to, Oct 4 to Nov 6. The Community Ofrenda in the House of Happy Walls Museum takes a small photo, a name, a memory or a drawing for someone who has died, pets included. Materials are at the display all month; collect your contribution Nov 6. Park entry fee applies.
Website · Map
Rohnert Park Halloween Carnival & Día de los Muertos, Rohnert Park
Saturday, Oct 24, noon–5pm, at the Community Center. Free entry; carnival games cost a small fee.
Website · Map
Supplies: the markets and dulcerías on Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa are where locals shop for ofrenda supplies.
SPOOKY PLACES
Cropped Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery” by RedwoodEmpire, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Blind Scream Haunted House, Santa Rosa
In the old Sears at Santa Rosa Plaza, and the only haunted house locals name year after year. It's meant to scare: the actors don't go easier on kids, and there are no refunds. Opening night is listed as Friday, Oct 9, at 7pm, $25–50.
Website · Map
Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery, Santa Rosa
A free self-guided walk among 1850s–1930s graves, any day. No guided tours this October; the costumed Lamplight Tour runs each September and sells out, with tickets on sale in February. Please, be respectful of the cemetery.
Tour brochure · Map
The Haunting at Waterhawk Lake Club, Rohnert Park
Every evening through Oct 30. No entry fee, but you need a reservation.
Website · Map
COSTUMES
Thrift: The Ark on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa and Hot Couture in Railroad Square are locals' picks for secondhand costumes. Disguise the Limit, the Santa Rosa costume shop, has closed.
Look for swaps instead of buying: This swap has passed, but there are more out there. Their was the Halloween Costume + Decor Swap, Saturday, Oct 3, 1–5pm, at the Reuse Hub in the Petaluma Village outlets. Drop off donations through Oct 3.
WHERE TO TRICK-OR-TREAT
These are locals' picks, not an official list. Most neighborhoods run about 5:30–8:30pm, and Nextdoor's treat map is where neighbors post decorated houses.
Santa Rosa
McDonald Avenue and the McDonald District: the classic, with crowds to match.
Coffey Park, Kawana Springs, Skyhawk: busy every year; locals count Coffey Park's trick-or-treaters in the hundreds.
Fox Hollow (off W Jenes Lane and Fulton Road): a neighborhood parade at 5:30pm last year, then trick-or-treating.
Calmer for little kids: Luther Burbank Gardens, Copperfield, the Bennett Valley side streets.
Petaluma
D Street is the classic. B Street is "less crowded, just as much loot."
Petaluma's Trick or Treat Trail, Saturday, Oct 31, 3–5:30pm: more than 75 downtown merchants. The map posts Oct 24.
Sebastopol and Rohnert Park
Florence Avenue, Sebastopol, turns into a street party. It went ahead in 2023 and 2024; 2026 plans aren't posted yet.
Waverly Place and the "D section," Rohnert Park.
WORTH PLANNING AROUND
Trick-or-Treatment, Laguna Treatment Plant, Santa Rosa, Saturday, Oct 17, 10am–2pm. A free Halloween open house from Santa Rosa Water: spooky science, big equipment, candy. Guided tours for ages 10 and up need registration. No pets.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown 60th anniversary, Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa, Saturday, Oct 17, 1–5pm. Stories from the film's producers, a piano trio, and costume and mustache contests at 3pm. Included with admission.
Witches & Wizards on the Water, Petaluma River, Saturday, Oct 24, 11am–2pm. Trick-or-treating by boat, with a floating costume contest at noon. Free with your own boat; rentals from the Floathouse.
Halloween at Howarth, Howarth Park, Santa Rosa, Saturday, Oct 24, check-in slots 11:30am–2:30pm. Kids 12 and under. $7, or $25 with train, carousel and pony rides. The city expects it to sell out.
Spooky Skies, Ferguson Observatory, Kenwood, Friday, Oct 30, 6:30–8:30pm. The night sky's creepier stories, through telescopes. Costumes welcome. $25 youth to $40 adults, parking included.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live cast, the Phoenix Theater, Petaluma, Friday and Saturday, Oct 16–17, 10pm, $15.49. All ages, which makes it one of the few Halloween nights out for 18–20s. Only a few tickets were left as of Oct 12.
NIGHTS OUT
The Rocky Horror Show, live on stage, California Theatre, Santa Rosa, Thursday–Saturday, Oct 22–24. Doors and bar at 7pm, show at 8pm. $60.
Rocky Horror with a shadow cast, Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma, Saturday, Oct 24. Doors 6:30pm, costume contest 7pm, film 7:40pm. $25 plus fees.
Hitchcock Film Festival, Bodega Bay Grange Hall. The Birds, in Bodega Bay: Friday, Oct 16, 7pm, $45 with popcorn, a drink and costume contest entry. Saturday, Oct 17: Rear Window 11:30am, Rebecca 2:30pm, The Birds 7pm, $20 a show.
Haunted Wine Country, Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma, Friday, Oct 16, 7pm, $17.
The Villains Ball, California Theatre, Santa Rosa, Friday, Oct 30, 9pm–2am, $30 plus fees.
Flamingo Fright Night, Vintage Space, Santa Rosa, Friday, Oct 30, 8pm–1:30am, $20 ahead or $25 day of, plus fees.
Night of the Chicken Dead, Hall of the Above, Petaluma, Saturday, Oct 31, 7–11pm. $40 through Oct 15, then $50, plus fees.
Halloween Rave, Vintage Space, Santa Rosa, Saturday, Oct 31, 9pm–2am, $20 ahead or $25 at the door, plus fees.
Halloween Masquerade Ball, Laguna Lab, Sebastopol, Saturday, Oct 31, 8pm–4am, 21+, $60 plus fees.
The full calendar
Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
Fri, Oct 16, 7pm | Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma | $17 | |
Fri, Oct 16, 7pm | Bodega Bay Grange Hall | $45 | |
Fri–Sat, Oct 16–17, 10pm | Rocky Horror, live cast (all ages) | Phoenix Theater, Petaluma | $15.49 |
Sat, Oct 17, 10am–2pm | Laguna Treatment Plant, Santa Rosa | Free | |
Sat, Oct 17, 10am–4pm | Cotati Fall Festival (pumpkin patch) | Veronda-Falletti Ranch, Cotati | $6–8 |
Sat, Oct 17, 11:30am–7pm | Bodega Bay Grange Hall | $20 a show | |
Sat, Oct 17, 12–5pm | Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa | Free | |
Sat, Oct 17, 1–5pm | Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa | Admission | |
Sat–Sun, Oct 17–18 and 24–25, 1pm | Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma | $11–17 | |
Thu–Fri, Oct 22–23, 4:30–8pm | Children's Museum, Santa Rosa | Tickets | |
Thu–Sat, Oct 22–24, 8pm | The Rocky Horror Show (on stage) | California Theatre, Santa Rosa | $60 |
Sat, Oct 24, 11am–2pm | Petaluma River | Free | |
Sat, Oct 24, 11am–3pm | SRJC Petaluma | Free | |
Sat, Oct 24, 11:30am–2:30pm | Halloween at Howarth (12 and under) | Howarth Park, Santa Rosa | $7–25 |
Sat, Oct 24, 12–4pm | Windsor Trick or Treat Trail (under 12) | Keiser Park, Windsor | Free |
Sat, Oct 24, 12–5pm | Community Center, Rohnert Park | Free | |
Sat, Oct 24, 4–6pm | Healdsburg | Free | |
Sat, Oct 24, 5–7:30pm | Keller Estate, Petaluma | ||
Sat, Oct 24, 6:30pm | Sebastiani Theatre, Sonoma | $25 | |
Sun, Oct 25, 11am–1pm | Kids' Halloween Carnival (13 and under) | Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Geyserville | $15 per child |
Sun, Oct 25, 3pm | Weill Hall, Rohnert Park | $10–20 | |
Fri, Oct 30, 6:30–8:30pm | Ferguson Observatory, Kenwood | $25–40 | |
Fri, Oct 30, 8pm | Vintage Space, Santa Rosa | $20–25 | |
Fri, Oct 30, 9pm | California Theatre, Santa Rosa | $30 | |
Sat, Oct 31, 12–3pm | Oaks Park, Forestville | Free | |
Sat, Oct 31, 2–4pm | Spring Lake, Santa Rosa | Register | |
Sat, Oct 31, 3–5:30pm | Downtown Petaluma | Free | |
Sat, Oct 31, 7–11pm | Hall of the Above, Petaluma | $40–50 | |
Sat, Oct 31, 8pm | Laguna Lab, Sebastopol | $60 | |
Sat, Oct 31, 9pm | Vintage Space, Santa Rosa | $20–25 |
Not happening this year
Tolay Fall Festival: on hold indefinitely while the county works out its future with the park's co-managers, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.