On a Wednesday night last fall, two days before Halloween, a group of Floral Park neighbors performed "Time Warp" in the street. It marked the 50th anniversary of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The date was October 29, 2025, the night of the Floral Park Neighborhood Association's Walk of Frights. People walked from house to house, stopped at drink and snack stations run by neighbors, and saw the winners of the decorating contest.
Halloween itself wasn't the big night. The 2026 calendar is set up the same way. Between Floral Park and West Floral Park, the posted events start three weeks before October 31 and peak on Thursday, October 29. They're all planned by neighborhood associations and hosted by neighbors. The first real deadline this year isn't a party. It's a bag of candy left on a porch on Heliotrope Drive.
The Season Starts With a Chili Cookout on October 10
West Floral Park starts things off first. Its annual Oktoberfest is Saturday, October 10, from 5 to 9 p.m. The association describes it as brats, beer and "our always-popular chili cookout." You get the location when you RSVP, so the West Floral Park events page is the place to start.
Oktoberfest isn't a Halloween event. It still belongs on this calendar because it's the first of three West Floral Park dates this fall, and the neighbors who plan it also run Spookyfest two weeks later. If you RSVP on October 10, you'll know who to ask about October 24.
October 20 Is the Date That Actually Matters
The Floral Park Neighborhood Association's 2026 Halloween Spooktacular is its 11th annual. The listing promises games and trick-or-treating on Heliotrope Drive, just south of Santa Clara. There's no ticket. The RSVP is the candy itself:
"RSVP by dropping off candy to 2214 N. Heliotrope by October 20th"
October 20 is a Tuesday, four days before the event. That's the deadline on the calendar people tend to forget. The candy that kids collect on Heliotrope on October 24 comes from the households that dropped it off ahead of time. The event page lists a contact, Amy Bruce, for questions. FPNA's own pages say you don't need to pay dues to take part. Its donation page says a Floral Park resident is "automatically a member" and that donations are voluntary.
Two Events on One Saturday
Saturday, October 24, is the busiest day of the season. Both associations hold their family events on the same afternoon.
- Floral Park Halloween Spooktacular: Heliotrope Drive, just south of Santa Clara, with games and trick-or-treating.
- West Floral Park Annual Spookyfest: Freeman Street between Buffalo and 21st, 2 to 4 p.m. The association calls it its "annual family Halloween event" and says "this year, we are adding trick-or-treating."
Trick-or-treating is new at Spookyfest this year. It means both associations now offer a daytime, one-street version of Halloween a full week early. Families with young kids can trick-or-treat on a single block in daylight before the 31st. The Spooktacular listing doesn't give a start time, so check floralpark.com as the date gets closer.
The October 24 date is also a change. FPNA's fall 2024 program put the Spooktacular on October 26, which was also the opening weekend for judging the decorating contest that year. The 2026 Spooktacular lands the Saturday before the Walk of Frights, just like in 2024.
West Floral Park's event has some civic history too. In her November 2024 newsletter, Mayor Valerie Amezcua thanked West Floral Park for inviting her to its Spooktacular.
October 29 Is When the Decorations Get Judged
The Walk of Frights is the night most people mean when they talk about Halloween in Floral Park. The association hasn't moved it. It was October 29 in 2024, October 29 in 2025, and it's October 29 again in 2026, from 7 to 9 p.m. This year it falls on a Thursday.
FPNA invites neighbors to "stroll the neighborhood to witness the most frightening and spookified homes in Historic Floral Park." It plans eight drink and snack stations around the neighborhood. As of early October, the event page still says "Map Pending" for both the station locations and the contest winners, with "More details at a later date." The printable map is where the night's route will come from, so check back for it.
In 2024, judging ran over the weekend before the walk, Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27. The walk on the 29th was when everyone else came to see the winners. Contest rules and judging dates for 2026 haven't been posted yet.
Here's what last year's results looked like, as a reference only. FPNA gave out six awards in 2025:
| 2025 category | Street |
|---|---|
| Best in Show | Ross Street |
| Most Original | Flower Street |
| Scariest Display | Riverside Drive |
| Best Use of Special Effects | Greenleaf Street |
| Most Theatrical | Greenleaf Street |
| Best Use of Skeletons | North Park Boulevard |
Two more homes got honorable mentions, one on Riverside Drive and one on North Park Boulevard. The 2026 categories may change. The table shows how far the winners were spread out. Ross, Flower, Greenleaf, Riverside and North Park cover much of the neighborhood, so a walk that hits every winner covers much of Floral Park in about two hours.
The snack stations are run by neighbors too. Last year's recap thanked the "Floral Park neighbors who decorated their homes and those who have graciously volunteered to host a drink/snack station." There's no 2026 sign-up form posted yet. The FPNA contact page lists its Social Chairs at [email protected], which is the most direct way to offer a porch for one of this year's eight stations.
October 31 Has No Posted Plan
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. Neither association's 2026 event listings include anything for that night, and we didn't find any 2026 City of Santa Ana notice about Floral Park street closures, parking limits or shuttles. The City's closest recent notice came out in late October 2025. It covered Third, Fourth and Fifth streets in Downtown Santa Ana for Halloween and Día de los Muertos events from October 31 through November 2. That notice didn't apply to Floral Park.
So none of the dates the associations organize fall on the 31st. Everything they put on the calendar happens before then: the Oktoberfest RSVP, the candy drop-off, the two Saturday street events and the judged walk. Halloween night is left to each household.
The Rest of the Fall Calendar
FPNA's calendar keeps going after the decorations come down:
- October 13: FPNA board meeting.
- November 10: FPNA board meeting at 2300 N. Flower Street.
- November 12: FPNA general membership meeting at Chapter One.
- November 29: Tree Lighting Ceremony at Sarah Mae Downie Herb Garden, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The tree lighting works the same way the Spooktacular does, with neighbors bringing something to share. FPNA lists hot cocoa and caroling and asks attendees to bring "a sweet treat to share," with "More details to follow." The general membership meeting on November 12 is a good place to say whether the October 29 date, the eight stations and the candy deadline worked this year, since every resident is already a member.
FPNA's newsletter archive currently ends with the Spring 2026 issue, published June 25. If the pattern holds, the next issue will carry the official record of this fall, including the 2026 decorating contest winners.
If you're planning a Halloween display on Ross or Greenleaf this year, or wondering how a porch that hosts a snack station shows up in a listing photo next spring, Kelly Laule and the Better Living SoCal team know Floral Park's streets. Talk with a Local Agent.
