Halloween falls on a Saturday in 2026. Even so, the Saturday before, October 24, has the busiest Halloween schedule in Kirkland this year. Three free events run one after another from noon to 8 p.m., starting at Totem Lake and ending in downtown Kirkland. None of the hours overlap, so a family can go to all three without skipping anything.
Halloween itself goes to the Kirkland Catrina Walk at Marina Park. It's a Día de Muertos celebration, its organizer is presenting it in Kirkland for the first time, and it runs from late morning into the evening. Kirkland's season this year comes in two parts: a costume-and-candy Saturday on the 24th, and a cultural celebration on the 31st.
October 24, in the order the clock runs
The three events follow each other closely, and that's why the day works:
- Noon to 2 p.m., Village Halloween Celebration, The Village at Totem Lake, 12600 120th Ave NE. Explore Kirkland's listing promises costumed characters, a stage performance and a craft station, and says the event happens rain or shine. Admission is free.
- 2 to 4 p.m., Día de los Muertos, Peter Kirk Community Center, 352 Kirkland Ave. The City of Kirkland's event page calls it a free event for all ages, a time to remember loved ones with traditional activities, food and music. Cafecito Mexican Bakery is sponsoring it.
- 5 to 8 p.m., Treat Street, Kirkland Urban Plaza, 425 Urban Plaza. Kirkland Urban's announcement from September 16 says Treat Street "is back" with costumed entertainment, balloon artists, Halloween music, and trick-or-treating at participating Kirkland Urban businesses. It's free and open to the public.
The gaps are short. The Village event ends exactly when the Día de los Muertos celebration starts, and an hour separates Peter Kirk from Treat Street. If you're coming from the north end of town, the order works in your favor: start at Totem Lake and finish downtown after dark.
Only one of the three hands out candy
Only one of the three listings promises trick-or-treating.
The Village at Totem Lake's own event description says costumes are encouraged but the celebration is not a trick-or-treat event. The midday stop is a show with crafts. Treat Street is the only one of the three whose listing promises trick-or-treating, with participating businesses handing out treats. The City describes its Día de los Muertos as a remembrance of loved ones with traditional activities, food and music, and its page says nothing about trick-or-treating.
| Event | Date and hours | Trick-or-treating | Who it's built for | Parking note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Village Halloween Celebration | Sat., Oct. 24, noon–2 p.m. | No | Whole family | Free in the Green Garage, two entrances on 120th Ave NE |
| Día de los Muertos | Sat., Oct. 24, 2–4 p.m. | Not stated | All ages | Limited on-site; the City suggests the garage under the Kirkland Library |
| Treat Street | Sat., Oct. 24, 5–8 p.m. | Yes, at participating Kirkland Urban businesses | Whole family | Up to four hours free with validation from any Kirkland Urban business |
| Pee Wee Monster Bash | Fri., Oct. 30, 10 a.m.–noon | Cookie stroll | Ages 1 through 5 | Not specified |
| Kirkland Catrina Walk | Sat., Oct. 31, starting 11 a.m. | Not stated | Family-friendly | Not specified |
If your kids are counting on a full bag, the 5 p.m. slot at Kirkland Urban is the one to plan around. The noon and 2 p.m. stops are what fill the rest of the afternoon.
Parking the afternoon, not just the event
Parking is where planning for October 24 tends to come apart.
At Totem Lake, the Village points visitors to free parking in the Green Garage, which has one entrance on the north side and one on the south side along 120th Ave NE.
Downtown is tighter. The City notes that on-site parking at Peter Kirk Community Center is limited and asks people to use the Kirkland Municipal Parking Garage under the Kirkland Library. According to the City's downtown parking page, that garage, also called the Peter Kirk Municipal Garage, offers four hours of free parking. The public pay lots downtown cost $1 an hour, with a four-hour limit, Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Run the numbers on the downtown half of the day. If you pull into the library garage just before 2 p.m. for Día de los Muertos, your four free hours end around 6 p.m. Treat Street runs until 8. The same four-hour cap applies to the pay lots, and since they're enforced until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, a single parking spot won't cover 2 p.m. through 8 p.m. Kirkland Urban has its own option for the evening. Its Treat Street announcement offers up to four hours of free parking with validation from any Kirkland Urban business, which covers the full 5-to-8 window. Moving the car during the hour between events lets each stop use the parking built for it.
The weekday in between belongs to the smallest kids
The next event comes on a weekday morning. The City of Kirkland's announcement calls the Pee Wee Monster Bash a preschool Halloween party for children ages 1 through 5. It runs Friday, October 30, from 10 a.m. to noon at the North Kirkland Community Center, 12421 103rd Ave NE. The City promises "magical, spooky fun but no scares," with crafts, a Monster Munch Cookie Stroll and costumes encouraged.
In the same City release, Councilmember Amy Falcone describes the Bash as a tradition she has loved sharing over the years. It's the only event this week designed for one narrow age group, and a weekday morning time slot suits families with toddlers.
Older kids and adults have a different option that night. Studio East, at 10718 NE 68th St., is staging Young Frankenstein, a comedic parody of horror films, at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31. Explore Kirkland's listing puts tickets at $15 to $35.
Halloween itself goes to a first-year celebration at Marina Park
On Saturday, October 31, the biggest event on the calendar isn't trick-or-treating. It's the Kirkland Catrina Walk at Marina Park, 25 Lakeshore Plaza Drive, presented by Mundo Catrina. Explore Kirkland's listing describes a free, family-friendly Día de Muertos celebration featuring Catrinas, live music, cultural performances, art, local vendors, family activities, and a Catrina Walk through downtown Kirkland.
This is the event's first year in Kirkland. The organizer's announcement, posted on AllEvents, says Mundo Catrina is presenting the Kirkland Catrina Walk at Marina Park "for the first time." It lists a Catrina cultural procession, an artisan marketplace, food vendors, art and cultural exhibits, and live entertainment. When that announcement was posted, applications were still open for Catrinas and Catrines, vendors, performers, nonprofits and volunteers, and organizers said more details would come later.
The two listings disagree on the end time. Explore Kirkland lists 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., while the AllEvents announcement says 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. As of now, neither source has posted a procession route through downtown or a timed schedule. If you want to catch the procession itself, check the organizer's final details the week of the event.
That gives Kirkland two Día de Muertos celebrations this year, a week apart, in different formats. The City's is two hours indoors at Peter Kirk Community Center on the 24th. Mundo Catrina's runs all day on the waterfront on the 31st. Families who come to the first one have a full week before the bigger one at Marina Park.
The downtown schedule has two other details for October 31. Kirkland Performance Center, at 350 Kirkland Ave., is hosting Anuradha Sriram Live at 6 p.m. that night. It's not a Halloween show, but it adds to the evening crowd near Peter Kirk Park. And as of mid-October, the Kirkland Downtown Association's October calendar lists no merchant trick-or-treat event. Individual shops may still announce their own plans, but nothing organized appears for downtown storefronts on Halloween.
For families who want candy and costumes, that makes October 24 Kirkland's main trick-or-treat date. Treat Street is the only scheduled trick-or-treat event the City, Kirkland Urban, the Village and the downtown association have listed for the whole week.
Bookends on the same beach
The fall season starts and ends at the same park. Kirkland's Harvest Festival ran October 3 at the north side of Juanita Beach Park, 9703 NE Juanita Drive. The Kirkland Turkey Trot starts at that same beach on Sunday, November 15, and the post-race celebration moves to Moss Bay Hall downtown. If you still want one more costume outing before November, the Village at noon, Peter Kirk at 2 and Kirkland Urban at 5 on October 24 is the stretch of Kirkland's 2026 calendar to save.
Weekends like October 24 are a big part of what people value about Kirkland, and they play into how a home here gets priced and presented when it's time to sell. If you'd like to know what yours is worth in this market, Sam Burke Real Estate is happy to help. Request a free home valuation or contact Sam today. I answer quickly, and I'm glad to talk anytime, including after Treat Street wraps up.
