Johnstown CO Halloween 2026: Your Guide to Both Morning Events

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. Johnstown has two hometown events that morning, and they start at the same hour. Downtown's free Trick-or-Treat Street runs from 10 a.m. to noon. The Johnstown Historical Society's Cemetery Crawl starts its first guided tour at 10 a.m. at Johnstown Cemetery. At first glance you'd have to pick one.

You don't. The Historical Society runs a second tour at noon, and both tours cover the same material. So the real question for October 31 is order. Your choice of order also decides where you end up when everyone gets hungry.

The Morning at a Glance

The table hides one catch. Trick-or-Treat Street just shows up. The Cemetery Crawl does not. The Historical Society's event page says tour spots are limited and can fill up fast, and it asks people to register ahead of time. Any plan for the morning starts with a reservation on the Historical Society's Cemetery Crawl page. Donations are welcome on top of the $5 ticket.

Two Ways to Order the Morning

Both events end around the same time of day, so there are really just two workable sequences.

1. Cemetery first, candy second. Take the 10 a.m. tour, which runs about an hour, and you're done around 11. That leaves the last stretch of Trick-or-Treat Street, which runs until noon. You lose the first hour of candy. In exchange, you finish the morning on Parish Avenue right at lunchtime.
2. Candy first, cemetery second. Walk Trick-or-Treat Street from 10 a.m., then head to County Road 13 for the noon tour. The street event ends at the moment the tour begins, so leave downtown a little early. The tour runs to about 1 p.m., and lunch moves later.

Neither order is wrong. They lead to different afternoons, and the rest of this guide follows each one.

What Trick-or-Treat Street Actually Includes

The downtown event page describes more than a candy walk. Local businesses hand out candy, and there are kids' activities, Halloween-themed entertainment, movie and character appearances, and local business specials. The specials matter more than they sound like. They give families a reason to go inside a shop instead of just passing by.

No list of participating businesses or sponsors for 2026 has been published. The sponsor page sets out Presenting, Platinum, Gold, and Bronze levels at $2,000, $1,000, $500, and $250, but it doesn't name anyone who has signed up. The events page says booths are available only through sponsorship. If you own a downtown business and still want in, that's the route.

Lunch on Parish Avenue, If You Did the Cemetery First

Finishing downtown at noon puts a long row of places within a short walk. The Town's online business directory lists these addresses in the historic core.

• Black Sheep Coffee & Crepes, 19 S Parish Ave. Its own site lists sweet and savory crepes, specialty coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and a full alcohol menu that includes craft beer. It gives Saturday hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. With a 2 p.m. close, it fits the cemetery-first plan best.
• Santiago's Mexican Restaurant, 12 South Parish Ave.
• Mary's Mountain Cookies, 16 S Parish Ave., for something sweet that isn't from a candy bag.
• Wing Shack, 21 North Parish Avenue.
• 21 North Brewery and Tavern, also at 21 N Parish Ave. Its business profile describes beer, wine, and a full bar.

The same few blocks also cover some Saturday errands. Ace Hardware of Johnstown is at 9 S Parish Ave., Hometown Sports Heroes at 1 North Parish, and Stitches Quilt Shop at 39 S Parish Ave. The directory's hours aren't dated, and holiday Saturdays can change things, so call ahead before you plan lunch around one stop.

Lunch Off the Parkways, If You Did the Candy First

Coming out of the noon tour around 1 p.m. changes the math. Black Sheep closes at 2, so that window gets tight. Two of the town's newest food stops aren't on Parish Avenue at all.

Smalls Sliders opened at 4781 Thompson Parkway on October 2, 2026, the chain's second Colorado location after Northglenn. The chain calls its buildings "cans." They're prefabricated restaurants made from shipping containers, with walk-up windows and drive-through service and no indoor dining. That suits a car full of kids still in costume. The menu is cooked-to-order cheeseburger sliders, fries, shakes, queso, and a signature sauce. According to ColoradoBiz, franchisee partners Nick and Alix Ralls are leading the Colorado expansion. The opening day included a check presentation to Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County.

On The Hook Fish & Chips is at 4884 Larimer Pkwy if you want to sit down. University of Wyoming students started it as a food truck in Laramie in 2016. It opened its first permanent dine-in restaurant in Johnstown on June 27, 2026. According to Bay to Bay News, the company picked that date to mark serving guests in 27 states and running 27 trucks. It's open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and closed Sundays. Halloween is a Saturday, so it's open. A 1 p.m. finish at the cemetery falls well inside those hours.

So the order you pick in the morning sorts your lunch. Cemetery first ends on Parish Avenue at noon, with the historic core's restaurants and shops right there. Candy first ends at County Road 13 around 1 p.m., and the newer parkway restaurants become the easier stop.

Why Downtown Looks a Little Different This Year

This is the first Trick-or-Treat Street since a busy few months for downtown's management. The Town's Downtown Master Plan, adopted in 2025, won the Plan of the Year Award from Downtown Colorado, Inc. The Johnstown Breeze reported the award on April 30, 2026. In June, Town Council appointed the first board of the new Johnstown Downtown Development Authority. That board held its first official meeting on July 7, when members were sworn in and elected officers.

The older Johnstown Downtown Development Association, or JDDA, still exists as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit. Many of its programs and events are moving over to the new DDA. The transition page specifically says the JDDA keeps Fall Fest, which ran September 12. It doesn't make the same assignment for Trick-or-Treat Street. For families, the event looks the same either way. The listing is on the same downtown website it has always used.

The street itself saw work this summer too. In May, the Breeze reported that contractors on the West Parish Alley Project had finished an initial overnight utility phase and were moving on to street and sidewalk restoration. A July 2 update said that starting July 6, Xcel Energy would put in underground electrical utilities in the West Parish Alleyway. At the same time, the Town's contractor would connect each business's outdoor meter panel. The Town Manager's Report for June 2026 said Xcel had already finished moving its gas service into the alley. It also said the electric undergrounding was expected to start in early July and run until the end of August. That timeline covers only the electrical phase. None of the public updates gives a completion date for the whole alley project. Before you plan where to park on the 31st, check the Town's Parish Alleyway Improvements page for current notices.

A Note for Anyone Planning Ahead

Downtown's calendar is quiet after Halloween. The downtown events list goes straight from Trick-or-Treat Street to Johnstown Jingle on Sunday, December 6, 2026, from 2 to 5 p.m., with the tree lighting at 5:30 p.m. The Town's own October calendar mostly lists meetings, routine services, and a cemetery cleanup, not another public Halloween event. That makes October 31 the town's main shared morning until December.

Bison Real Estate Group is based in Johnstown, and we put guides like this together because Parish Avenue is our home base too. If the morning raises questions about how downtown's new DDA and the alley work could affect your property's value, let's connect. Start with a home valuation, and we'll talk about it over a cup from Black Sheep.