Roselle's three biggest Halloween events for families all fall on Saturday, October 24, and all three are on the same street. The community Trunk or Treat runs from noon to 3 p.m. at Lake Park High School West Campus, 500 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. The Roselle Park District's Zombie Fun Run/Walk and Wicked Wagon Rides follow that evening at Clauss Recreation Center, 555 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. Only fifty-five address numbers separate the two venues.
So the day hangs together on its own. The planning happens over the next two weeks, because the two evening events have registration deadlines that come well before the 24th. One of them is eight days from today.
The Saturday, hour by hour
Seen in order, the day has one open stretch of about two hours in the middle:
- Noon to 3 p.m., Trunk or Treat at 500 W. Bryn Mawr. The Bloomingdale/Roselle Rotary hosts it each year, and the Roselle Lions join in. Local organizations, businesses and volunteers decorate car trunks and hand out food and non-food treats.
- 3 to 5 p.m., the gap. Nothing is on the schedule.
- 5 p.m. runners, 5:15 p.m. walkers: Zombie Fun Run/Walk on the CRC Walking Path. The course is one mile, with obstacles across the Clauss Recreation Center fields and path. Each participant wears a flag football belt, and zombies along the route try to pull the flags. The goal is to finish with all your flags. The fee covers a Zombie Run T-shirt and a finisher medal.
- 6 p.m., Wicked Wagon Rides at the CRC Ballfields & Barn. The Park District bills these as starting right after the Zombie Run. Children 12 and under must come with an adult.
Here is the Park District's own description of the ride:
"Climb aboard for a frightfully fun adventure at our Wicked Wagon Rides! Following the Zombie Run, guests can embark on a haunted hayride on darkened paths and through our eerie, abandoned barn."
The runner start comes 15 minutes before the walker start, and the wagons roll 45 minutes after that. One household can do all of it in a single evening without moving the car. A family with one runner and one walker can stagger their starts and still make the 6 p.m. ride.
The real deadlines are in mid-October
The two Park District evening events need advance registration, and both have caps.
| Event | Fee, resident / nonresident | Capacity | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Fun Run/Walk | $20 / $25 | 20 to 100 participants | Refunds end Oct. 9; registration closes Oct. 12 |
| Wicked Wagon Rides | $8 / $13 | 24 to 120 riders | Registration closes Oct. 20 |
| Pumpkin Patch Pajama Party, Oct. 23 | $20 / $25 | Ages 3 to 5 | Registration closes Oct. 19 |
As of October 4, the Zombie Run refund window closes in five days and registration closes in eight. The wagon rides stay open until October 20, eight days later, so you can sign up for the ride after the run has already closed. If you're doing both, sign up for both at the same time. The run's 100-person cap also means it could fill before the deadline.
Each event also lists a minimum: 20 for the run and 24 for the wagons. The listings don't say what happens if sign-ups come in below those numbers. The Park District's registration portal is the place to check where an event stands.
Families with preschoolers have a fourth date to track. The Pumpkin Patch Pajama Party runs Friday, October 23, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the CRC Elm Room for ages 3 to 5, and registration closes October 19. That makes Friday evening and all of Saturday a weekend held almost entirely at Clauss Recreation Center.
Filling the gap from 3 to 5 p.m.
Trunk or Treat ends two hours before the Zombie Run starts, which is the obvious window for an early dinner or a reset at home. Downtown Roselle is the nearest cluster of restaurants with confirmed current operations. Each of these has a live website or Chamber listing showing hours or ordering:
- 1913 Restaurant & Wine Bar, 123 E. Main St. It's open Tuesday through Saturday and takes reservations through Tock. Its Saturday hours start at 5 p.m., so it's a sit-down option after the wagons more than during the gap.
- 8000 Miles, 107 Main St., which takes online orders.
- Italian Pizza Kitchen, 55 E. Irving Park Road, with dine-in, pickup and delivery. Delivery helps if you'd rather spend the gap at home with tired trick-or-treaters.
- Doctor Dogs, 253 E. Irving Park Road, also set up for online ordering.
- Rookies All-American Pub & Grill, 1360 Lake Street, which the Roselle Chamber is using for its October 20 member lunch.
Online ordering does most of the work in a two-hour window. Order from the Trunk or Treat parking lot at 3 p.m., pick up on the way home, and you're back on Bryn Mawr before the 5 p.m. start.
Older kids who aren't running may like The Digital Green Indoor Golf Club, the newest addition to downtown. It's at 17 E. Irving Park Road, and the Roselle Chamber held its ribbon cutting on September 11. The Chamber listing doesn't give hours, so call ahead before counting on it for Saturday afternoon.
What isn't on the calendar yet
As of today, the Village of Roselle's October 2026 calendar has nothing in the October 31 box. The Village set trick-or-treat hours of 4 to 8 p.m. in 2024, but that notice was for 2024. Until the Village posts 2026 hours, don't count on the same window this year. That's one more reason October 24 has the most firmly scheduled Halloween events of the month.
The library has a smaller option earlier. Roselle Public Library District lists a Friday Movie Matinee of Beetlejuice on October 9, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., in Community Room A & B. Registration is required. The same page also calls it an online event, so check the format with the library before you go.
The Bryn Mawr corridor keeps going into November
The Park District's own calendar puts the end of pumpkin season on the same campus. The free Pumpkin Smash runs Saturday, November 7, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Clauss Recreation Center Maintenance Barn, 430 Mensching Road. Staff are on hand that morning, and the dumpster stays out all weekend for drop-offs. The pumpkins are composted instead of going to a landfill, part of a statewide waste-reduction effort that SCARCE started. Your October 24 jack-o'-lantern can go back to the same complex two weeks later.
Before that, the Park District hosts a Friendship Feast for preschoolers on November 6, 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the CRC Elm Room. On November 21, the Roselle Lions hold Lunch with Santa and a holiday food drive from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 405 Rush Street.
Across town, there's a longer-term project to follow on the way to these events. The Roselle Public Library District is building a new library at 233 E. Maple Avenue. Its August update reported water and sewer connections done and masonry underway, with completion expected in fall 2027.
For the next three weeks, your calendar needs these dates: October 9 for the Zombie Run refund cutoff, October 12 to register for the run, October 19 for the Pajama Party, October 20 for the wagons, then noon on the 24th at 500 West Bryn Mawr.
Selling a home works on a similar schedule, with the deadlines landing weeks before the date everyone thinks of. If you're thinking about a spring sale in Roselle, prep work like painting, repairs and pricing comps goes better when it starts this fall. Jake Kubota can help you lay out that timeline step by step. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready to talk it through.
