October 2026 in Gilroy comes down to two Saturdays. On October 17 and again on October 24, downtown and the Hecker Pass side of town both put their largest fall events on the calendar. Read only by date, that looks like a conflict. The posted hours tell a different story. Downtown runs the afternoon, and the west side picks up in the evening.
That sequence is the useful thing to know this month. Most of what happens before and after those two Saturdays fits around them. That includes the Gilroy Gardens weekends, the garlic giveaways, the vineyard music sessions and the pumpkin patch.
The two Saturdays, by the hour
Here is how the posted hours line up.
| Time | Saturday, Oct. 17 | Saturday, Oct. 24 |
|---|---|---|
| Noon | Downtown Gilroy Halloween Beer Crawl opens, check-in on Fifth Street | Fall Passport Weekend tastings open on the Santa Clara Valley Wine Trail |
| 1 p.m. | Great Big BOO opens at Gilroy Gardens; Music in the Vineyard at Solis Winery | La Ofrenda Festival opens downtown; Great Big BOO opens; Music in the Vineyard at Solis |
| 4 p.m. | Solis music session ends | Passport tastings and Solis music end |
| 5 p.m. | Beer Crawl ends; Harvest Dinner begins at Besson Family Vineyards | Great Big BOO-fet dinner begins at Gilroy Gardens; trick-or-treating starts |
| 6 p.m. | BOO-fet ends | |
| 7 p.m. | La Ofrenda ends | |
| 9 p.m. | Besson dinner and Gilroy Gardens close | Gilroy Gardens closes |
Both Saturdays follow the same pattern. On the 17th, the downtown event ends at 5 p.m., the same hour the Hecker Pass dinner starts. On the 24th the hours overlap more, but the evening still goes to the west side.
October 17: Fifth Street at noon, Hecker Pass Road at five
The weekend really begins Friday night. The Third Friday Art Walk runs October 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. It is organized by 6th Street Studios & Art Center, with stops inside downtown businesses that change from month to month. The 2026 Art Walk schedule ends with October and shows no November date. That makes this the last listed Art Walk of the year.
Saturday's downtown anchor is the 11th annual Downtown Gilroy Beer Crawl, hosted by the Gilroy Downtown Business Association. It runs from noon to 5 p.m., with check-in at the association's booth on Fifth Street and beer stations spread through Historic Downtown Gilroy. This year's ticket page frames it as a Halloween crawl. It adds a costume contest, a pet costume contest, a stein-holding contest and something called Gilroy's Haunted Gourmet Alley. Visit Gilroy describes the Haunted Gourmet Alley as a set of photo ops. The name borrows from the Garlic Festival's food court, but the event listings don't name the festival association as a participant. If you've seen the GDBA's own calendar page, it still shows older "10th Annual" and October 18 wording. The ticket listing gives October 17.
At 5 p.m., as the crawl wraps up, Besson Family Vineyards starts its annual Harvest Dinner at 3575 Hecker Pass Road. It runs until 9 p.m. The same night, Cottage Creek Vineyard on Watsonville Road in Morgan Hill holds its second annual Harvest Dinner. Its event page lists the date but no hours. Earlier in the afternoon, Solis Winery's no-admission Music in the Vineyard runs 1 to 4 p.m. on both the 17th and the 18th.
If you want to start downtown before the crawl opens, there's a newer option. Sun Palace California Bistro at 7560 Monterey Road serves coffee, breakfast and lunch. Visit Gilroy lists its opening as August 28, 2026.
October 24: the same order with more overlap
A week later the order holds, but the events overlap more. Downtown hosts the fourth annual La Ofrenda Festival & Wellness Fair, Gilroy's Día de Muertos festival, from 1 to 7 p.m. The program lists:
- A Camino de Ofrendas
- Lucha Libre
- Live music and performances
- A Calavera Bike Cruise
- An arts, culture and wellness mercado
- La Gran Ofrenda
That afternoon overlaps with the Fall Passport Weekend from Wineries of Santa Clara Valley. A $55 passport covers special tastings at 10 wineries on the Santa Clara Valley Wine Trail, from noon to 4 p.m. on both October 24 and 25. The passport is good for the whole weekend, which takes some pressure off. A household can spend Saturday afternoon downtown at La Ofrenda and save the wine trail for Sunday. The list of participating wineries is posted at santaclarawines.com/fall-passport.
The evening goes back to Hecker Pass. Gilroy Gardens is holding its first Great Big BOO-fet Dinner on October 24 and 25, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the South County Picnic Grove. The menu lists wings, ribs, mac-n-cheese and dessert. Seating is limited, and park admission is a separate ticket. The BOO-fet runs during the park's evening hours, since trick-or-treating and showtimes start at 5 p.m.
The Gardens weekends, and the garlic
Outside those two Saturdays, Gilroy Gardens at 3050 Hecker Pass Highway carries most of October. The Great Big BOO runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through November 1. Ticket hours are 5 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and 1 to 9 p.m. on weekends, with Halloween day running 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The park is closed Saturday, October 10, for a private event. Costumes are welcome, but weapons and masks that cover the whole face are not allowed.
The garlic shows up here too. The Gilroy Garlic Festival ran July 24 to 26 at the Hecker Pass Outdoor Events Center next to Gilroy Gardens. It sold out all three days at 4,000 tickets per day and drew more than 12,000 people. In October, volunteers from the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association return to the same corner of Hecker Pass for four BOO dates. Ken Christopher of Christopher Ranch joins them with his book Elephant Garlic Halloween.
- Friday, Oct. 9: Book reading at Lakeside Amphitheater from 5:15 to 6 p.m., followed by free garlic and free books. Free garlic bread at Downtown BOO Alley from 5 to 9 p.m. while supplies last.
- Sunday, Oct. 11: Book reading from 3 to 4 p.m., followed by free garlic and books. Free garlic bread from 1 to 6 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 30: Free garlic, books and tote bags at Downtown BOO Alley from 5:15 to 6 p.m. Free garlic ice cream from 5 to 9 p.m. while supplies last.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Free garlic, books and tote bags from 1 to 2 p.m. Free garlic ice cream from noon to 4 p.m. while supplies last.
The book isn't new. The Gilroy Dispatch was already calling it a new title in 2021, when Christopher read it at Gilroy Gardens that October. Christopher Ranch also offers a digital download of the book. This is also the second partnership between the park, the ranch and the festival association this year. They teamed up on April 19 for a National Garlic Day event at the park with free garlic bread and ice cream. The festival itself raises money for the community. The Dispatch reported that proceeds go to local schools, nonprofits and community groups, that the 2025 distribution was $74,000, and that organizers expected the 2026 total to be higher.
Premium Members get into the Great Big BOO free. The park is promoting 2027 Premium Memberships bought before November 15, which cover the rest of 2026 plus all of 2027.
The days nobody else has claimed
October 10 is the one Saturday when Gilroy Gardens is closed to the public. That same day, Cinnabar Winery at 3200A Dryden Avenue holds its Harvest Festival & Grape Stomp from noon to 5 p.m. Grape stomping and live music are free, food is for sale, and there are kids' activities and a bottle sale. Solis also starts its Music in the Vineyard weekends that day.
During the week, the LJB Farms Pumpkin Patch at 585 Fitzgerald Avenue in San Martin is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through October 31. Admission is free, and the farm lists a corn maze, a kids' zone, photo spots and food vendors on weekends. On Sundays, the Gilroy Downtown Farmers Market sets up at Eigleberry and Seventh streets from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On October 25, the market wraps up before the Passport tastings start at noon and before the 5 p.m. BOO-fet.
After November 1
Once the Great Big BOO ends, the calendar thins out to monthly and holiday dates:
- Friday, Nov. 6: First Friday Barrel Tasting at Cinnabar Winery, noon to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 7: Corks & Crust at Little Uvas Vineyard, 255 Fitzgerald Avenue in San Martin, noon to 7 p.m., with a wine, salad and wood-fired pizza bundle.
- November weekends: Solis Winery's Music in the Vineyard continues from 1 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 1, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 and 27 through 29.
- Nov. 21 and 22: The annual Fall Market at Fortino Winery, 4525 Hecker Pass Highway, with free entry. Hours haven't been posted yet.
- Starting Nov. 21: North Pole Nights returns to Gilroy Gardens on select evenings through December 31, with lights, live shows and ice skating. The specific November nights haven't been published yet.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday downtown, which the GDBA calendar promotes as a day to support downtown businesses.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: The free Holiday Festival & Parade downtown, starting at 3 p.m., with Santa, live entertainment, the Trail of Treats and a tree lighting.
Some of these Hecker Pass dates are still missing hours. Check the organizer's page close to the date.
Downtown in the afternoon and Hecker Pass in the evening is a useful way to plan October. It also says something about Gilroy as a place to own a home, since nearly all of this is close to home for anyone who already lives here. If this season has you wondering what your own Gilroy home would be worth in today's market, Jose Lopez offers a free home valuation with a straightforward look at the numbers.
