The Town of Huntersville's Halloween celebration falls on Sunday, October 25, 2026, six days before the holiday. That puts it on the same weekend as Taste of Birkdale and the Carolina Renaissance Festival's Celtic Music Weekend. Then the actual holiday brings a second round of trick-or-treating, at Birkdale Village and at the festival. Halloween this year covers two weekends, and the week before October 31 is the busier one.
Below is the calendar from Saturday, October 17 through the Ren Fest's last weekend in November, along with the festival's own advice on getting there.
The Calendar, Weekend by Weekend
| Date | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Oct 17 | Lake Norman Diwali, 1:30–6:30 p.m. | Veterans Park, 201 Huntersville-Concord Rd. | Free |
| Sat–Sun, Oct 17–18 | Wizards & Revels Weekend | Carolina Renaissance Festival | Ticketed |
| Oct 17–23 | Birkdale Village Restaurant Week | Birkdale Village | Pay as you go |
| Sat, Oct 24, 1 p.m. | Taste of Birkdale Village | Birkdale Village | $75, 21+ |
| Sat–Sun, Oct 24–25 | Celtic Music Weekend | Carolina Renaissance Festival | Ticketed |
| Sun, Oct 25, 4–7 p.m. | Halloween in Huntersville | Huntersville Athletic Park, 11836 Verhoeff Dr. | Free |
| Tue, Oct 27, 6:30–8:30 p.m. | Bat Week night hike | Latta Nature Preserve, Gar Creek Parking Lot | Registration via county |
| Sat, Oct 31, 10 a.m.–noon | Trick or Treat at Birkdale Village | Birkdale Village | Free |
| Sat, Oct 31, 10–11:30 a.m. | Halloween Maps and Things | Quest Nature Center, 6345 Sample Rd. | Registration via county |
| Sat–Sun, Oct 31–Nov 1 | Halloween Weekend | Carolina Renaissance Festival | Ages 12 and under free with ticket |
The Town calendar lists Diwali and Halloween in Huntersville. The festival's theme weekends are listed on its special event weekends page. The Latta and Quest programs are on the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation activity calendar.
October 17 Starts the Overlap
The first busy Saturday combines three very different events. Lake Norman Diwali takes over Veterans Park from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Town lists admission, activities and parking as free. Out at the Renaissance Festival grounds on Poplar Tent Road, the same weekend is Wizards & Revels.
Birkdale Village Restaurant Week also starts that Saturday and runs through Friday, October 23. Cornelius Today describes it as a week of limited-time dishes, pairings and drinks from participating restaurants. We couldn't find a published list of the restaurants taking part in Restaurant Week itself. The Village calendar is the place to check before you pick a night.
Restaurant Week makes the weekdays between the two busy weekends a good time to eat out at Birkdale. You get the limited menus without the Saturday ticket line.
October 24–25 Is the Peak
Between Saturday morning and Sunday evening, three ticketed or crowd-drawing events happen within a few miles of each other.
Taste of Birkdale Village starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. The official Freshtix page lists tickets at $75 per person. The event is 21 and up, and ticket proceeds benefit Community Culinary School of Charlotte. Cornelius Today lists ten participating restaurants: Bad Daddy's Burger Bar, bartaco, Bonefish Grill, Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop, eeZ, Fin & Fino, Kilwins, North Italia, Red Rocks and Suffolk Punch. Garage self-parking is available off Birkdale Commons Parkway and Lindholm Drive. Valet costs extra, and the organizers encourage rideshare.
Celtic Music Weekend runs both days at the Renaissance Festival.
Halloween in Huntersville fills Huntersville Athletic Park from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The program includes trick-or-treat booths, live music, a costume contest with prizes, and food and drinks for sale. The night ends with what the Town calls "a special 300-drone Halloween show," and it encourages guests to stay through the end.
"Admission, parking, and activities are free. Parking is available at Lake Norman Charter High School and Central Piedmont Community College. A trolley shuttle will be available from Lake Norman Charter High School for those who need it." Town of Huntersville event page
One detail is worth confirming. The Town's page lists October 25, 2026 as a Sunday in its date field, but a subheading on the same page says Saturday. October 25 falls on a Sunday this year, which matches the main listing. It's still worth checking the Town page the week of the event.
The Quiet Night in the Middle
On Tuesday, October 27, Latta Nature Preserve holds a Bat Week night hike from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., meeting at the Gar Creek Parking Lot. It's the one Halloween-season event on this list that falls on a weeknight, and it's on the county's registration calendar, not a drop-in schedule.
October 31: The Second Round
The holiday itself falls on a Saturday. Quest Nature Center at 6345 Sample Road runs "Halloween Maps and Things" from 10 to 11:30 that morning. Birkdale Village lists Trick or Treat at Birkdale Village the same day. Charlotte On The Cheap lists it as free, from 10 a.m. to noon.
The Renaissance Festival's Halloween Weekend covers October 31 and November 1. Children 12 and under get in free, though they still need a ticket. The weekend includes village trick-or-treating, a costume contest and zombie jousting.
So a family can do the Town's trick-or-treating and drone show on the 25th, then Birkdale or the festival on the 31st, without the two weekends competing.
Getting to Poplar Tent Road on a Festival Weekend
Every weekend in this calendar is also a Renaissance Festival weekend, and the festival's season runs Saturdays and Sundays from October 3 through November 22, 2026. Its official address is 16445 Poplar Tent Road. Its driving directions are blunt about GPS: "Do NOT rely upon GPS navigation services like Google Maps and Apple Maps." The festival also asks drivers not to park in or drive through neighboring subdivisions.
The festival recommends these routes:
- From I-77: take Exit 25 (NC 73) and head east 5 miles toward Poplar Tent Road. The North Gate comes before Poplar Tent Road.
- From I-85 northbound: take Exit 52 (Poplar Tent Road) and head west 5 miles. The East Gate comes before NC 73.
- From I-85 southbound: take Exit 55 (NC 73) and head west 5 miles toward Poplar Tent Road.
- Rideshare: drop-offs coming from I-85 go to 16445 Poplar Tent Road. Drop-offs coming from I-77 follow NC 73/Sam Furr Road to 15619 Davidson-Concord Road.
The festival's timing advice is "arriving before opening and leaving before closing." The pre-opening gate show starts at 9:05 a.m. and gates open at 9:30. The festival's own pages disagree on closing time. Fast Facts says 5:30 p.m., while the directions page gives a later October close. Check the day you go. Parking is free, courtesy of Harris Teeter.
In October 2024, Lake Norman Publications reported that the festival had moved to a relocated paved driveway, revised its traffic management, lowered ticket sales, switched to online-only date-specific tickets and moved to the 9:30 a.m. start. A festival representative told the paper event traffic had improved to roughly match a normal off-season weekend, with some daytime congestion still expected. That's the most recent reporting we found on festival traffic. NCDOT's corridor plan includes widening NC 73 from east of Davidson-Concord Road to east of Poplar Tent Road, but construction timing for that section is listed as TBD.
What Changed on the Dining Map This Month
Birkdale has one less table for Restaurant Week than it might have. Foxcroft Food & Wine Bar served its last meals at 16915 Birkdale Commons Parkway on Saturday, October 10. CharlotteFive reported that the restaurant hadn't publicly given a reason. A Birkdale Village spokesperson described the closure as part of the company's "larger corporate strategy."
On the other side of town, CharlotteFive reported on September 21 that Nana Morrison's plans its fifth restaurant at 9810 Gilead Road. The soul food spot is known for fried chicken, yams and collard greens, and it's targeting an opening by December.
November Thins Out, Slowly
After Halloween, the festival keeps its weekend rhythm: Pirates' Christmas on November 7–8, Time Travelers' on November 14–15, and the Final Huzzah on November 21–22. Two of Latta's fall programs fall on festival weekends: a Family Beechwood Trail Exploration on November 8 and a Fall Foliage Canoe Tour on November 14. A Family Campfire at Quest Nature Center follows on November 28, the Saturday after the festival closes for the season. The Birkdale calendar lists The Lighting of Birkdale Village on November 21, the same Saturday the festival begins its final weekend.
If you're timing a move, a listing or a weekend open house around Huntersville's fall calendar, I'm happy to help you map it against the festival weekends and the Town's event dates. Reach out to Anthony Swain to talk through your timing. Let's Connect.
