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Last verified: September 25, 2026<\/p>\n
There is a stretch of Highway 92 in mid-October where the fog burns off right around Skyline, the hills go gold, and the smell coming through the vents turns into eucalyptus and cut grass and, eventually, funnel cake. The coast side does fall properly. And for one weekend, half a million pounds of squash and 250 artists take over Main Street in Half Moon Bay.<\/p>\n
The Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival runs Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Main Street, and admission is free. Main Street closes to traffic all weekend, and southbound Main is cut off from Highway 92 at roughly 7 a.m. Saturday. Where you park is really a question of which direction you arrive from.<\/strong><\/p>\n What you get for that: roughly 250 of America’s top artists and craftmakers, four stages of entertainment, pumpkin carving demonstrations, pie-eating contests, a parade, and a truly aggressive amount of pumpkin-flavored food.<\/p>\n Most festival guides tell you where to park. That is the second question. The first one is which side of the closure you can physically reach, because the festival organizers publish three facts that almost nobody puts together:<\/p>\n Now think about how a Bay Area driver actually gets there. You take 280 or 101 to Highway 92, you head west over the hill, you reach Half Moon Bay, and your instinct is to turn left, south, onto Main Street toward the festival. That exact movement is the one that stops working at about 7 a.m. Saturday. The route everyone takes is the route that closes first.<\/p>\n So the useful order of operations is backwards from how people plan it: pick the lot you can reach from your approach, then drive to that lot, rather than driving toward Main Street and improvising. Arriving before 7 a.m. Saturday is the other honest answer, and the coast is beautiful at 6:45 in the morning.<\/p>\n The festival lists four main parking areas. Many of the lots are run by local non-profit groups that charge a nominal fee, which means you should bring a little cash and you should not expect a card reader. There is also limited free parking on side streets.<\/p>\nThe dates, in one place<\/h2>\n
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The closure that decides your whole drive<\/h2>\n
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Where to park<\/h2>\n