Menlo Park's Halloween Hoopla Weekend Starts Friday Night on Santa Cruz Avenue

"Friday nights in Menlo Park are typically a 'ghost town,'" LeVant Dessert owner Maya Fezzani told The Almanac on the night Fourth Fridays debuted in July. She added that the city "used to have so many events before COVID."

On October 23, the series she was describing reaches its fourth edition. The next morning, the city's Halloween Hoopla costume parade lines up a few blocks away and heads down the same street. Fourth Fridays wraps up at 9 p.m. Friday, and parade participants are asked to arrive by 10:45 a.m. Saturday. That leaves 13 hours and 45 minutes between the two. For one weekend, the Friday and Saturday crowds on Santa Cruz Avenue will be visiting many of the same storefronts.

What Fourth Fridays has become since July

The Downtown Menlo Fund runs Fourth Fridays. It's a nonprofit founded in 2025 to support downtown, and it holds the event on one Friday a month. The pitch on its own page is simple: "all of downtown becomes the venue," with free live music up and down Santa Cruz Avenue.

The Almanac reported that hundreds of people came downtown for the July 24 opener. Mademoiselle Colette, Feldman's Books, Gallery House and Gitane stayed open late, and musicians played at several spots from 6 to 9 p.m. Gallery House gave the clearest before-and-after. Photographer Steve Shpall said the gallery may see only a couple of people on a typical day, but more than 30 came in during the first hour of music.

The August 28 and September 25 editions are now under "See past lineups" on the organizer's page. Before the August date, InMenlo ran a lineup that included The Song Gardeners, the Dale Nesbitt Jazz Band and Melodious Thunk. The September preview featured Clint Baker and the All Stars at Borrone Plaza and an artist talk by Edna Acri at The Main Gallery. We found no published account of how big those crowds were. October is the series' fourth month in a row, and the organizer hasn't announced when the season ends.

The October 23 map, stage by stage

The organizer's page lists the October stages as follows, all running 6 to 9 p.m. unless noted.

• Plaza Stage, center of the 600 block plaza: Pinki Martini, the spelling the organizer's page uses
• Borrone Plaza, the Cafe Borrone and British Bankers Club plaza near 1010 El Camino Real: Clint Baker & The All Stars
• Gallery House, 826 Santa Cruz Ave.: Rick Sanders, inside the gallery
• Kids Stage, 6 to 8 p.m., the corridor near Chase Bank, Aveda, Susie Cakes and Cheeky Monkey: balloon artist Steven Koehler
• Evelyn Stage, near Camper in front of Design Matters at 888 Santa Cruz Ave.: TBA
• Crane Stage, outside Mademoiselle Colette near Roma at 816 Santa Cruz Ave.: TBA
• Chestnut Stage, the Wells Fargo entrance at Santa Cruz Avenue and Chestnut Street: TBA
• Gitane, 855 Santa Cruz Ave.: TBA
• Feldman's Books, 1075 Curtis St.: TBA

The stage map stretches downtown from the Cafe Borrone plaza on El Camino Real to the 600 block. In July, PAX Duo played saxophone and guitar outside Café Vivant, and Norman Kahan performed near the former Pharmaca space. Five of the nine October slots still say TBA. Check the page again closer to the date, because the lineup will probably fill in.

Each set is labeled family-friendly. That's part of how Friday night connects to Saturday morning.

The Saturday that runs over the same pavement

Menlo Park's Halloween Hoopla is on Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Here's how the morning runs, according to the city's event page:

1. Parade participants arrive by 10:45 a.m. at Parking Lot #1, the Maloney Street lot behind Cheeky Monkey.
2. The parade starts at 11 a.m. and goes down Santa Cruz Avenue. Kids can bring decorated bikes, wagons and scooters.
3. Trick-or-treaters get a free bag to use at participating downtown stores.
4. The parade ends at Fremont Park, where the carnival has games, jumpers, prizes, Menlo Park school bands and craft tables from Cheeky Monkey.
5. The family entertainers Lori and RJ host the Fremont Park stage all day, with music, bubbles, puppets and magic.

The parade also has a new section this year. The "Howl-o-ween Walkers" group invites costumed dogs and their owners to join the lineup on leash. There's also a touch-a-truck ambulance from American Medical Response and a Public Works vehicle decorated for Halloween.

Cheeky Monkey is part of both days. On Friday, Steven Koehler makes balloon swords and animals in the corridor by its door, as he did in July. On Saturday, the parade starts from the lot behind the store, and Cheeky Monkey supplies the carnival's craft tables. One toy shop sits at the center of both events. The same corridor that holds Friday's kids stage is a few steps from where Saturday's parade begins.

Why this street is trying so hard right now

Before the pandemic, the city closed part of Santa Cruz Avenue every summer for a block party. The Almanac described Fourth Fridays as an effort to bring that energy back. The busy event calendar is one of two efforts to fill downtown this year. The other is a zoning change.

On June 23, the City Council voted unanimously to allow more kinds of businesses on Santa Cruz Avenue. The Almanac reported that the change was a response to a growing vacancy problem. Councilmember Drew Combs explained the reason directly at the meeting:

"The specific plan has been almost a complete failure as it relates to actually revitalizing Santa Cruz Avenue. The projects there have been few and far between."

Under the new rules, spas, salons and similar personal-service businesses can open in ground-floor storefronts without a conditional use permit. Before, they were mostly limited to upper floors. Gyms and arcades, which were banned before, can now apply for use permits. Banks can also apply, but all financial institutions on the street are capped at 30,000 square feet combined, and existing ones already take up about 28,000. That leaves about 2,000 square feet for any new bank on Santa Cruz Avenue.

This October is the first fall under those rules. We haven't found a reported salon, spa or gym opening on the avenue since the vote, so for now the change makes room for new businesses but hasn't filled any storefronts yet. The street did get one new tenant. ANTHEM held a grand-opening event for its Menlo Park location at 871 Santa Cruz Ave. on Thursday, September 17.

The physical setting is changing too. Friday's main stage is at the 600 block plaza between Curtis and Doyle. The council has kept the eastbound lane there closed since 2023 for shared outdoor space and restaurant seating. The city is now designing a permanent public plaza in part of that space. Its page says about 2,500 square feet would be available for programming, and one of the design goals is to "activate the space with events." The temporary picnic tables and planters that are there now will hold this month's Plaza Stage. In other words, Fourth Fridays is using the space the way the city's design plan describes.

Building the weekend around both days

The rest of the month's city calendar also leans family-friendly, and most of it happens away from downtown. Bailar! fills Kelly Park at 100 Terminal Ave. on Saturday, October 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with music, dance performances and a kids zone. The free Storytelling Festival brings Roopa Mohan as Kasturba Gandhi to Menlo Park Library on October 3 and Hana Baba with Sudanese folktales to Belle Haven Library on October 18. A new storytelling meetup at Menlo Park Library follows on October 27. On Sunday, October 25, the day after the parade, Pumpkin Splash runs at Belle Haven and Burgess pools. Tickets are $12, reservations are required, and admission includes swim time and a pumpkin to decorate. Free Trunk-or-Treat is October 28 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Belle Haven Community Campus.

If you want to stay downtown after the music on Friday, Bistro Vida and Roma were both full during the July opener. Our Menlo Park dining map covers more places nearby. Friday's last sets end at 9 p.m., and the parade lineup on Maloney Street begins at 10:45 the next morning.

At David Kim Group, we keep track of how downtown Menlo Park changes from one season to the next, including which storefronts fill under the new zoning and how the 600 block plaza design develops. If you'd like to talk through what a busier Santa Cruz Avenue means for your home's value or your next move, schedule a consultation with our team.