Georgetown's Halloween Lands on a Saturday. The Calendar Leaves the Afternoon Open.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. Georgetown's published schedule for October 31 covers 13 hours, starting with costumed kids in the gardens at Tudor Place at 10 a.m. and ending with a light-and-fog show at the Exorcist steps that runs until 11 p.m. In between, the scheduled events stop around 2 p.m. and don't start again until 7, apart from a restaurant deal that runs all day. Those open hours fall right when the side streets north of M Street have historically filled with trick-or-treaters.

So the organized events sit at either end of the day and leave the middle to the neighborhood's own tradition. Once you see the day that way, it gets much easier to plan.

The morning is for the smallest costumes

The day starts at Tudor Place, which is running its own trick-or-treat costume event from 10 a.m. to noon. Kids collect treats in the gardens and get their faces painted, and there's also cider, games and crafts. Adults can walk the grounds with a coffee.

Down the hill, Pinstripes overlaps that window with a Halloween event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It has crafts, candy and face painting, free coffee for adults and free soda for kids 12 and under. A brunch menu is available, and kids under 4 eat free. JINYA is giving one free small kid's ramen with each adult entrée from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Both restaurants encourage costumes.

For families, that's a full morning with no dinner timing to plan around. On a weekday Halloween, most of this would have to fit between school pickup and dark.

Midday moves to Wisconsin Avenue, one ticket per dog

At 11 a.m., Georgetown Main Street holds its first Wisconsin Avenue Woof Walk. Dogs and their owners trick-or-treat along Wisconsin Avenue and stop at participating businesses for treats and water until 2 p.m. Check-in is at Milo & Mav Coffee Shop and Dog Boutique, 3206 N Street NW.

Tickets cost $25 plus an Eventbrite fee, and every dog needs its own. The organizers explain why:

"This is to ensure we don't overwhelm the participating shops and narrow sidewalks of Georgetown."

That detail sets the scale of the event. It's meant to stay small enough for the sidewalks it uses. The costume contest at 1 p.m. has room for 25 dogs, with five judges that include Friendship Hospital for Animals and Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. Prize boxes go to Best Overall, Best Duo for a matching human-and-dog costume, and Most Creative, and no dog can win more than one category. Proceeds support Georgetown Main Street's events.

The Woof Walk also extends a fall season on that corridor that starts two weeks earlier. On October 17 and 18, the same organization runs the Georgetown Fall Market along Wisconsin Avenue from N Street to Reservoir Road, including Book Hill. It grew out of the Georgetown French Market and follows a similar format, with small-business promotions, fall menus and seasonal activities. Hours run from 11 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday, and RSVPs are free. If you know the shops from the Fall Market, you'll probably recognize a few of the treat stops on Halloween.

From 2 to 7, the side streets take over

After the Woof Walk ends at 2 p.m., the published calendar has no scheduled events until the evening. The only thing still running is JINYA's all-day kid's ramen offer. This is when the residential blocks have traditionally done the most. That part of Halloween has no ticket and no organizer, and it depends on whichever houses decide to decorate.

Local coverage has pointed to the same places for years. The Georgetowner reported that trick-or-treating in 2023 was busy around 31st and Q, especially at the Allbritton house, and along N, O and P Streets. In 2021 the paper's photos covered Q and O Streets, the corner of 28th and O, and the Albritton house. Washingtonian's 2024 list of the area's best trick-or-treating streets named 31st Street NW for its elaborate decorations and costumes and pointed readers to the Bowie-Sevier House at 3122 Q Street NW, which it linked to the Allbrittons' displays.

All of that coverage is from past years. Treat these blocks as a long-running tradition, not a promise about what any particular house will do in 2026. Still, the pattern held through 2021, 2023 and 2024, and this year nothing is scheduled against it.

After dark, the Exorcist steps get a show

The evening events are at the far west end of the neighborhood. From 7 to 11 p.m., the Exorcist steps at 36th and Prospect Streets NW host a free haunted light show presented by EventLightsUSA and Andrew Huff, a longtime fan of The Exorcist. Costumes are encouraged. The published listings describe it as a light-and-fog show and don't list a program or set times within those four hours.

Huff has been tied to the steps for more than a decade. The 2015 plaque dedication there was his idea. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled the plaque, and director William Friedkin and author William Peter Blatty both appeared. Aaron DeNu of Dupont Festival was the event's official organizer. At the time Huff was a D.C. resident working as American University's director of community relations. In August 2023, he and Aaron Denu held an 8 p.m. tribute to Friedkin at the bottom of the steps. This year's show is new to the calendar, and it comes from someone who has been behind events at this spot before.

The steps also have official status beyond the film. On January 24, 2019, the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted 6–0 to designate the Capital Traction Company Union Station site at 3600 and 3601 M Street, along with part of the 36th Street right-of-way, as a historic landmark. WAMU reported that the designated site includes the steps, the retaining wall and the old station building.

Expect crowds. DC by Foot expects Georgetown to be packed this Halloween with costumed college students and a steady stream of people trying for a photo on the steps before midnight. The company's Georgetown ghost tour on October 31 starts at 8 p.m. and ends at the steps, during the light show. All through October, its 90-minute Ghosts of Georgetown tour leaves nightly at 7 and 8 p.m. from outside The Old Stone House.

You can reach the show from the top at Prospect Street or from the bottom on M Street. The listings use both addresses, 36th and Prospect and 3600 M Street, for the same staircase. The organizers warn that the roughly 75 steps are steep and narrow, and the listings say nothing about accessibility for the show. If anyone in your group shouldn't climb, watching from the M Street end is the easier choice.

The full day at a glance

Dates to know before the 31st

The Saturday schedule comes with a few deadlines earlier in the month:

1. October 17 and 18. Georgetown Fall Market on Wisconsin Avenue, with free RSVP.
2. October 24, 5 to 6 p.m. Sip & Fold Halloween Origami at Washington Printmakers Gallery. Instructor Naoko Kamioka teaches spooky and comical figures, and you leave with a finished collage. No experience is needed.
3. October 26 by 11 a.m. Last chance for a full Woof Walk refund. Eventbrite fees aren't refunded.
4. October 30 by noon. If rain is forecast, Woof Walk ticket holders will hear by email whether the event moves to Sunday, November 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. If rain is forecast for both days, the event is canceled with full refunds, with notice by 1 p.m. on October 31.

Georgetown Cupcake's Haunted Dozen and Sweet & Spooky boxes are available all month for pickup or local delivery, if you want to have something on hand for the porch.

Part of knowing a neighborhood is knowing which blocks fill up on a Saturday night in late October and which corner of the Exorcist steps is easier to stand at. Hugh McDermott follows those details all year in Georgetown, and if you're thinking about what's next for your home here, let's connect.