The Pumpkin Festival's Best Days for Locals Now Come Before Main Street Closes

"I don't think the name Half Moon Bay Brewing would really fit anywhere except for Half Moon Bay," Craig Caroll, the brewery's CEO and president, told The Almanac this summer. He was explaining why the new room at 730 Main Street will probably be the company's second location and also its last.

The brewery opened there in June, in the space Sacrilege Brewery + Kitchen used to fill. It's now one of the newest storefronts on the street that the 54th Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival takes over on October 17 and 18. The bigger change this year is on the calendar. The festival weekend still opens on October 17, but the organizers have added a week of lead-up events that begins October 10, and those new days come while Main Street is still open to cars, parking, and a table for dinner.

A weekend that grew into a week

For years the festival meant one weekend. Last year it was October 18 and 19. In 2026 the organizers have built what their press release calls "a week of pumpkin mania" around the main weekend. It starts with a new event and runs through the dates the Coastside already knows.

The first two events on that list happen before any road closes. Moonlight Movie Night is new this year, and the organizers describe it as the start of an annual tradition. They suggest bringing a picnic dinner and a blanket to John L. Carter Memorial Park. The weigh-off two days later is the event that crowns this year's heaviest pumpkin. Spectators are welcome at 7 a.m. on a Monday, a slot that suits a school drop-off detour better than a weekend day trip.

The weigh-off also connects the week to the weekend. Five days after it's lifted onto the scale, the winning pumpkin goes on display at the festival and rides in the Great Pumpkin Parade. The press release calls it one of the most photographed sights of the weekend. If you watch it get weighed on Monday at the IDES Grounds, you'll recognize it when it passes the curb on Saturday.

The block around the scale has new tenants

The IDES Grounds sit at 735 Main Street. Half Moon Bay Brewing on Main is at 730, so weigh-off morning lands on the same stretch where the street's newest businesses are concentrated.

Those businesses arrived after a hard year. The Almanac reported that in 2025 the Coastside lost Blue Ocean Brewing, Sacrilege Brewery + Kitchen and Tripp Distillery. That means last October's festival walked past at least one dark storefront that has since come back to life.

Half Moon Bay Brewing on Main is the second location for a brewery that has been a Pillar Point Harbor staple since 2000. The Main Street room sits next to By the Teashore. Caroll described a "full facelift" of the old Sacrilege space: new electrical and plumbing, a bar built from sapele, and solid copper lighting from Morocco. It seats about 80, with outdoor seating. The beer list matches the harbor's, including the Mavericks American Amber. The kitchen takes a different direction. Caroll said the harbor menu follows the local fishermen, while the Main Street menu "will focus more on the local ranches and farms."

In July, the dish he singled out was braised English short ribs, slow-cooked for eight hours and served with garlic mashed potatoes, for $34. The drippings go into the ragu for the spaghetti bolognese. There's also a double-patty cheeseburger made with local beef and served with brined, double-fried steak fries for $19. Hours at the time were 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Caroll said he hopes it becomes "a family-friendly place for people to come on the weekends and at night after school and work."

Lab & Hound Wine Bar and Tasting Room opened in September at 315 Main Street, Suite B, toward the other end of the festival route. Owners Kara and Marc Baker both grew up in Half Moon Bay. Kara started in hospitality as a high school hostess at Sam's Chowder House. The bar is named for the couple's two chocolate labs and one bloodhound. She calls the wine list "visitable," meaning small producers from Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles and the Santa Cruz Mountains, close enough to visit the winery afterward. The plan announced in July was about 13 whites and 15 reds, by the glass or bottle, with local meat and cheese boards. The 1,500-square-foot space has a communal front room and a private tasting area in back for parties and small events. The Almanac printed hours in July, but those came before the opening slipped from early August to September, so check Lab & Hound's Instagram for current hours.

A third business, Tap Yard on Main, was aiming for a late-2026 opening as of July, so check its Instagram before planning on it for festival weekend.

Why the week before matters more than the weekend

The festival draws 275 artists and makers, four entertainment stages, and food from more than 20 community organizations. On festival weekend, though, Main Street works as a pedestrian zone. A quiet booth at Lab & Hound or a table on the brewery patio is easiest to get during the six days between movie night and Saturday morning, when you can still drive and park on the street.

Here is what changes once the weekend starts, according to the festival organizer:

1. Main Street closes from Mill Street south to Monte Vista Lane for the whole weekend.
2. Southbound access onto Main from Highway 92 is cut off at about 7 a.m. Saturday. Main reopens at about 10 p.m. Sunday.
3. You can't get onto eastbound Highway 92 from Main. Drivers need to use Highway 1 to reach it.
4. Highway 92 is congested by 8 a.m. both days. The organizer suggests Highway 1 through Pacifica for people coming from the north, or Highway 84 to Highway 1 from the south.

Parking is spread across four areas: south Main at Metzgar, Half Moon Bay High just north of 92, Our Lady of the Pillar, and the Community Center and Shoreline Station complex on Kelly east of Highway 1. Nonprofit lots charge what the organizer calls a "nominal" fee but don't list an amount, and free side-street spaces are scarce. Accessible parking is on Purissima between Correas and Kelly. Ride-share and paratransit drop-off is at Shoreline Station, at Highway 1 and Kelly. The Ritz-Carlton's 2026 shuttle schedule shows a downtown stop at Main and Poplar, with trips into downtown between 9 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. and trips back to the resort between 9:10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on both days.

Highway 1 has a variable of its own this fall. In an August update, Caltrans said bridge work on its SR-1 project was expected to wrap up by September 2026. Signal work at intersections could continue through the end of the year, with some daytime lane closures on short notice. That update predates the festival, so it's a forecast. It doesn't say what traffic will look like on October 17.

Parade day and the Sunday after

If you only go on the main weekend, the parade route is the one stretch where timing matters. The Great Pumpkin Parade steps off at noon Saturday and heads north on Main from Miramontes to Mill, with three-time World Series champion Sergio Romo as honorary grand marshal. The organizers advise arriving early because the sidewalks fill up.

Sunday starts with the 48th Annual Pumpkin Run. The Kids Fun Run, 5K, 10K and half marathon all start and finish at Hatch Elementary. Later that day, Made on the Coast brings the festival back to local artists. Main reopens at about 10 p.m. Sunday. By Monday the brewery's 80 seats and Lab & Hound's front room are back to serving the town that keeps them open the other fifty-odd weeks of the year.

Festival week is a good time to see how much a stretch of Main Street can change in a year. If you're curious how Half Moon Bay's newer storefronts fit into your own plans, Michelle Kennedy is happy to talk it through over coffee. Let's talk about your home: schedule a personal consultation.