Halloween Falls on a Saturday This Year, and West Palm Beach's Waterfront Has the Whole Day Covered

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. In downtown West Palm Beach, the city held its own Halloween party two nights early and filled Saturday morning with the lagoon. The City's free costume-and-candy evening, Clematis by FRIGHT, is tonight, Thursday, October 29. On Saturday the waterfront hosts a lagoon science festival and the GreenMarket next to each other, and both wrap up by early afternoon. The Norton Museum of Art opens two new exhibitions the same day.

That schedule gives the weekend a clear order. Thursday is for trick-or-treating downtown. Saturday morning belongs to Flagler Drive, and the afternoon to the galleries. The neighborhood candy hours come last.

Thursday Night Is the City's Halloween

Clematis by FRIGHT runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at Centennial Square and the Great Lawn, 100 N. Clematis Street. It's free. The City lists hayrides, inflatable games, trick-or-treating, live music, a raffle, and free candy bags while they last. The mayor's October newsletter adds face painting and trick-or-treating with the city's first responders and public works staff. That's a good chance for children to meet the people who keep the downtown running.

The band is Uncle Morty's Rhythm Cream, a ten-piece cover band from Gainesville that plays R&B, soul, rock and pop with four-part harmonies and a horn section. The event page has no notes on road closures or parking. The City's general waterfront directions name the Banyan Street Garage as the closest. They suggest coming in by South Flagler, by Narcissus, or along Clematis from the west.

Saturday Morning Belongs to the Lake Worth Lagoon

LagoonFest 2026, the 13th annual, runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on October 31 along Flagler Drive. The listed address is 201 Fern Street. It's free, and it celebrates the Lake Worth Lagoon, the 20-mile estuary that most of downtown looks out on every day.

The best part of the day is getting out on the water. Two boats run scientist-guided lagoon tours, and they depart from different docks on different schedules:

The last Aqua Adventure trip leaves at 12:30. Families who plan to ride for free should be at the North Dock in the morning instead of the early afternoon. The catamaran's final 1:15 departure gets back close to the festival's 2 p.m. close.

On land, the Marine Industries Association sponsors a free Kids Zone. It has face painting, a gopher tortoise burrow exhibit, a casting area with rod-and-reel giveaways, a shell hunt, mascot photos, lawn games and crafts. Visitors also get a free Lake Worth Lagoon calendar of photographs by local professional photographers.

The feature booths read like a list of the region's working marine institutions:

• Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management, whose booth explains the restoration islands in the lagoon
• Loggerhead Marinelife Center
• Busch Wildlife Sanctuary
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
• Marine Megafauna Foundation
• Inwater Research Group
• ANGARI Foundation
• Coast Guard Auxiliary
• Palm Beach Sailing Club

For anyone who has watched those islands from a Flagler Drive balcony, the ERM booth is where to find out what they are for.

The Market Next Door Closes First

LagoonFest's own page says the GreenMarket is "happening right next door." On October 31 the two events share the waterfront, but they end at different times. The West Palm Beach GreenMarket runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Waterfront Commons, 100 N. Clematis Street, half an hour before LagoonFest wraps up. If you plan to ride a boat and also leave with produce, shop first. A 12:30 boat gets back with little time before the stalls start packing up.

This is the market's 32nd season, which opened October 3. The City's theme this year is "The World Right Here," built around the food traditions and cultures of the community. It promises live music, Chef Showcases and hands-on Pop-Up Workshops. The City's September season announcement names Ba Café, Arya Tea Bar, Macaroner, Sayblee Products and Truffle Smiles among this year's new vendors. The Master Chef Showcase series starts on Saturday, November 14, two weeks after Halloween.

Parking during market hours costs less than many people expect. The City lists free parking at the City Center, Clematis Street and Sapodilla garages. Banyan and Evernia, the two closest to the water, charge a $5 all-day weekend rate. The City's hours and parking page still shows last season's dates, so the September announcement is the more current reference. A free space at City Center works for the market, the festival and the walk between them.

The Afternoon Goes to the Norton

By 2 p.m. the waterfront is done for the day, and the Norton Museum of Art is four hours into opening day for two exhibitions that run through March 14, 2027. Both exhibitions suit a Halloween afternoon, though neither is a Halloween show.

Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb

Blazing Light brings together Plumb's three main photographic series. Her black-and-white pictures of the American West and of city life take on climate change, capitalism, military conflict and cultural anxiety.

Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery

The Whole World Is a Mystery is a retrospective of a painter the museum calls historically marginalized. Abercrombie's self-portraits, landscapes, interiors and still lifes are autobiographical, built from personal symbols, dreams and odd pairings. Of everything on the weekend calendar, it's the closest in spirit to October 31.

The Norton is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and the last tickets are sold 30 minutes before closing. General admission is $20, seniors 60 and over pay $17, students with ID pay $5, and children 12 and under get in free. The museum's hours and admission page also has a standing entry for West Palm Beach residents marked "Every Saturday." Opening day falls on a Saturday, so check that entry before you buy a ticket. The summer offer for all Palm Beach County residents ended September 7.

Two more gallery dates fall around the weekend. The night before, Friday, October 30, the Norton holds Art After Dark: Halloween from 5 to 10 p.m. Art After Dark admission is $10 for adults and seniors and $5 for students. Later in the season, Prix Pictet Storm opens on December 5 and runs through April 18, 2027.

When the Weekend Stretches Past Saturday

Halloween weekend also runs into the start of the season's theater calendar. The Kravis Center has Dirty Dancing: The Musical from October 28 through November 1, so the run continues through Sunday.

A new place to eat has also opened on the north side of downtown. CBS12 reported that The Nora Hotel opened on Monday, October 19, at 1135 North Railroad Avenue, with Pastis and Jack's Bar on site. That makes Halloween weekend the hotel's second weekend open. A Saturday that begins at the North Dock could end with dinner on Railroad Avenue.

From lagoon views at the water's edge to the galleries a few minutes inland, the Hasozbek-Garcia Team follows downtown West Palm Beach through every season. If you'd like a quiet conversation about waterfront residences near Flagler Drive, Jennifer Hasozbek-Garcia and Ronnie can arrange a private look. Get Access to Our Private Listings.