Four different organizers are running Halloween programming in Richmond Hill's Historic Village on the weekend of October 24 and 25, 2026. Most of it lands at about the same time on Saturday afternoon. The Village of Richmond Hill BIA, the City's heritage staff, the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts and the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra each set their own calendars. On paper, the result is a Saturday where three events claim 3 p.m. and a Sunday with almost nothing on it before evening.
That matters most to the households closest to it. A long-running York Region feature on the old village core describes the Mill Pond community as stretching from the pond east to Yonge, north to Elgin Mills and south to Major Mackenzie. By that definition, the Yonge Street addresses hosting this weekend sit on the neighborhood's own eastern edge. The plan laid out below shows how to spread a visit across two days.
How Saturday stacks up, hour by hour
Here is Saturday, October 24, as each organizer has published it:
- 1 p.m. The BIA's third annual Spooky Village opens. Families sign in at Flex Space Inc., 10225 Yonge Street, Unit R, in the rear building. At the same hour, the first sitting of the Halloween Spooktacular afternoon tea starts at the Richmond Hill Heritage Centre.
- 3 p.m. The free activities in the courtyard at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts begin: a Halloween dance party, face painting and glitter tattoos. The second tea sitting starts at the Heritage Centre. Inside the performing arts centre, the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra plays The Power of Film on the Main Stage.
- 3:30 p.m. The Spooky Village costume parade steps off in the courtyard.
- 4 p.m. Spooky Village wraps up.
- 7 to 9 p.m. The Richmond Hill David Dunlap Observatory hosts a Halloween Night event for $23.41.
The crunch is at 3 p.m. A family with young children, a grandparent who wants the tea and a teenager who plays in a youth orchestra could each have a valid reason to be somewhere different at that hour. So the first decision is which tea sitting to book.
Book the 1 p.m. tea and the rest of the afternoon opens up
The Heritage Centre is at 19 Church St. North. The City bills the Halloween Spooktacular as fun for all ages, with treats and warm drinks, and costumes are encouraged. A regular service there includes dainty sandwiches, scones with the Centre's heritage cream and preserves, and sweet treats. Guests choose from the house tea blends, coffee, lemonade or hot chocolate. The reservation form prices each seat at $26.50 plus HST.
The City says a tea sitting normally lasts one hour, or up to an hour and a half when a program or workshop is added. The Halloween listing doesn't mention a workshop. A 1 p.m. seat should therefore finish around 2 p.m., which leaves time to sign in at Flex Space, walk the trick-or-treat route and reach the courtyard for the 3:30 parade. A 3 p.m. seat overlaps the entire courtyard finale.
Book early. Reservations are required, and sending the request form doesn't confirm a seat. The form says staff will reply within 24 to 48 hours. For a sold-out date, the Centre keeps a waitlist you can join by email or at 905-780-3802. The same page lists Victorian Christmas teas on November 21 and November 28, also at 1 and 3 p.m. Anyone who misses the Halloween tea still has two more chances before December.
Join Spooky Village in its second hour
Joining Spooky Village around 2 p.m. means missing only the first hour. Each child gets an official treat bag and trail card at the Flex Space check-in. Participating Historic Village businesses along the route hand out nut-free treats, and restrooms and first aid are available at both the start and the finish. The BIA hasn't published a list of participating businesses. The trail card is the map.
The event is free. The BIA strongly encourages registration so participating shops stock enough candy, but walk-ins are welcome. The BIA's listing links to Eventbrite for registration and gives a registration end date of October 23. Registering costs nothing and helps the shops on the route, so it's worth doing even if you plan to arrive late.
One detail is still unsettled. The BIA's event page says face painting and glitter tattoos start at 3 p.m., while the Eventbrite listing describes face painting and a DJ from 2 to 4 p.m. If the earlier time holds, a 2 p.m. arrival at the courtyard gets you a shorter face-painting line before the parade crowd shows up.
If guests are driving in: The BIA's downtown parking page counts more than 3,000 spaces and lists five free public lots: Central Library, Lorne Avenue, Elgin Barrow Arena, Ransom Park and the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. It also notes that parking at the M.L. McConaghy Centre is reserved for patrons of the McConaghy Seniors Centre. That page dates from 2024, so check it again before the weekend.
Families who choose the RHPO's 3 p.m. Power of Film concert over the parade should know the posted prices: $38.42 full price, $32.77 for under-26 and senior tickets, and $10.17 for children 12 and under, before theatre fees and HST.
Sunday has the ghost walk, and it's free
Most of the empty space on the weekend calendar is on Sunday, and the best thing scheduled there needs no ticket. The City's Walk and Learn tour, The Haunted Village and Yonge Street, leaves at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, from the McConaghy Centre at 10100 Yonge Street. Look for the Walk and Learn sandwich board. Walk and Learn tours are free, need no registration and run 1.5 to 2 hours, rain or shine. The City asks walkers to wear suitable outdoor clothing. The listing doesn't describe the route surface or mobility access, so anyone with accessibility needs should contact the heritage team ahead of time.
The City describes the route as a stretch of Yonge Street, the historic village backstreets and the Presbyterian cemetery, with Heritage Hilda telling stories from Richmond Hill's ghostly past. The York Region feature on the village core fills in some of the cemetery's history. It calls it the Richmond Hill Presbyterian cemetery and says it holds the tombstone of Abner Miles, a settler whose family built a tavern on the southeast corner of Major Mackenzie and Yonge. According to the article, that tavern drew Yonge Street travelers and eventually a village of houses and shops grew up around it. Saturday's trick-or-treat route runs along the same strip of Yonge.
Sunday evening has one more option. The performing arts centre lists the Highwaymen Show, a Great Outlaws tribute, at 7:30 p.m.
Where to eat between events, listed by address
All the events are on one stretch of Yonge, so meals can fill the gaps in the schedule. Here are the places that fit, from south to north. None has posted special hours for Halloween weekend, so check before you go, especially on Sunday.
- BB Cafe & Bake Boutique, 10067 Yonge St. Pastries, coffee, tea and juices, to stay or take out. It's the closest stop to the McConaghy Centre before Sunday's 1 p.m. walk.
- Haida Sandwich, 10087 Yonge St. Sandwiches and personalized pizzas.
- Jay's Burger and Pizza Shab, both at 10133 Yonge St. Smash burgers, fries and milkshakes at one, pizza with online ordering and late-night hours at the other. Either works for an easy dinner after the parade.
- Grill Gate, 10185 Yonge St. Menus and online ordering are on its website.
- DIBS Scratch Bakery, 10220 Yonge St. Almost directly across from the Flex Space check-in. Its website lists Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tochal Restaurant, 10255 Yonge St. A family-friendly Persian and Turkish dining room with sit-down service.
- Covernotes Tea & Coffee House, 10268 Yonge St. Coffee, loose-leaf tea, baked goods and sandwiches.
- Oyaji Sushi, 10341 Yonge St. The BIA lists it as a family-friendly Japanese restaurant.
A Village corner that won't look the same next Halloween
The southwest corner of Yonge Street and Major Mackenzie Drive West is part of this same walk, and it's in the middle of a change. The City held a ceremonial groundbreaking for Dave Barrow Civic Square on July 15, 2026. The release said construction itself was expected to begin this fall. The City's parks projects page still shows the square as "Construction Starting Soon," with work expected to run from late summer 2026 to early 2028, weather permitting. Neither page confirms whether work had started on site by the end of September.
The approved design includes a natural amphitheater with a permanent stage, an events lawn that becomes a refrigerated skating rink in winter, and a lower plaza with concession and washroom buildings made from shipping containers. It also adds a pathway linking Major Mackenzie Drive West to Yonge Street and Hopkins Street. If the early-2028 finish holds, Halloween 2028 will be the first one where the Village has a permanent outdoor stage at Yonge and Major Mackenzie, at the southern edge of the Mill Pond community.
Living near Yonge Street and the Village calendar shapes how a Mill Pond home is valued, and that value rarely shows up in a neighborhood average. If you'd like to know what that closeness is worth for your property, Kevin Lin can prepare a complimentary home valuation of your Mill Pond address.
