Halloween Week Moves to Boyd Hill: How to Plan St. Pete's Last Two October Saturdays at the Preserve

Where does a family Halloween Saturday happen in St. Petersburg this year? Every family-friendly event left on the city's October lineup is at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, a 400-acre preserve beside Lake Maggiore, on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31.

If you live anywhere in town, that means your last two October weekends run through the south side, through a preserve whose evenings get shorter the day after Halloween. Here's how to plan both Saturdays and what comes next.

What's left on the city's October calendar

The City of St. Petersburg published its fall events guide on Oct. 1, 2026. The fire station open houses, the Fossil Park block party, the pumpkin carving at the settlement and the Oct. 17 Haunted Fire House are all behind us now. Here's what remains.

All three family-friendly rows are at Boyd Hill. The others are for seniors, teens or adults. So if you want a family plan for the end of the month, the preserve is the plan.

Oct. 24: Autumn Harvest at the Pioneer Settlement

Autumn Harvest runs Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pinellas Pioneer Settlement, 3010 31st St. S. It's put on by the city's Parks & Recreation Department. Admission is $5 per person, and children 3 and under get in free. Food is sold separately.

The Friends of Boyd Hill event listing fills in what the city's summary leaves out: art vendors, hayrides, crafts, a pumpkin patch, a bouquet station, bounce houses, food trucks and live sawmill demos. The sawmill demos are the part that only works here, because the settlement has its own Saw Mill. It sits alongside the 1888 Brantley Building, the 1898 Endicott House, a Blacksmith Shop, a Sugar Cane Shed, a Print Shop and a Pole Barn. On a normal weekday the city asks visitors to call ahead for settlement hours. A festival Saturday is one of the easier days to see those buildings with people working in them.

Proceeds go to the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, the nonprofit that supports the preserve's conservation work. That money stays close to home. The Friends share the cost of caring for the resident raptors at the Dr. Gabe Vargo Birds of Prey Aviary with the city, and they cover the birds' diet, enrichment and educational appearances. The city's Parks & Recreation event calendar also lists Birds of Prey Aviary Tours from 10 to 11 a.m. on Oct. 24, so a morning at the harvest can easily include the birds.

Oct. 31: one preserve, two addresses

The 24th is a single event at a single gate. Halloween Saturday has two events at two different entrances, and the addresses matter.

1. 10 to 11 a.m., Science Lab: Spooky Science at the main preserve entrance, 1101 Country Club Way S. Expect bubbling potions, glowing reactions and creepy critters. Admission is $5, and you have to register ahead.
2. Noon to 2 p.m., Trail-or-Treat at the Terry Tomalin Campground, 3010 31st St. S. Kids knock on the cabin doors for treats, then take a spooky trail hike to Osprey Roost. It's free and open to all ages, and registration is required here too.

That leaves about an hour between the two, enough to move the car from Country Club Way to the 31st Street side. The official trail map marks the 31st Street entrance and Settlement parking separately from the main entrance. Both events take registrations through the city's Parks & Recreation events page.

Trail-or-Treat is worth registering for because of where it happens. The campground has 18 campsites and six cabins, plus Hammock Hall, where firewood is sold. On ordinary days, only registered campers can use the campground's pedestrian trails. For one afternoon, kids who aren't camping get to walk those paths and knock on those cabin doors.

Nov. 1: the preserve's evenings get an hour shorter

The day after Trail-or-Treat, Boyd Hill switches to its winter schedule. Here's the change, taken from the preserve's official page.

Saturday is still the only day the gates open at 7 a.m. Once November starts, that early window is the best chance at a long walk before the day warms up. The preserve also closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Daily admission is $3 for adults and $1.50 for ages 3 to 16, and children under 3 get in free. One thing has changed inside, too. The city says the nature center's exhibits are closed for renovations, but the preserve and trails are open. Plan your visit around the trails, not the exhibit hall.

A weekday walk once the costumes are put away

If the Halloween Saturdays get you back in the habit, the preserve is set up for short walks you can repeat. The official trail map breaks the system into named segments, most under a mile.

• Center Loop, 1.20 miles, the longest single segment
• Main, 0.82 miles
• Lakeside, 0.75 miles, toward the Lake Maggiore side of the preserve
• Uplands, 0.60 miles
• Sand Scrub, 0.32 miles
• Wildflower Loop, 0.27 miles
• Live Oak Path, 0.15 miles

The map also marks Willow Marsh, Osprey Roost and two short boardwalk segments of 0.14 and 0.13 miles. Kids who did the Osprey Roost hike on Halloween can find the same spot again on an ordinary Tuesday, when it's quieter. The city lists gopher tortoises, alligators and marsh rabbits among the wildlife living along these trails.

The tortoises have a fall program of their own. Through Nov. 1, the Friends' calendar lists a call from Heinrich Ecological Services for adult volunteers to help with a gopher tortoise burrow survey. The population and distribution data go into the city's habitat-management planning. If you'd like a reason to walk the Sand Scrub and Uplands segments slowly, that's a good one.

What the Friends have on the calendar after Halloween

Autumn Harvest is the Friends' big fall fundraiser, but their calendar keeps going into December.

• Thursday, Nov. 12: a talk at Hammock Hall on the native plants, soils and climate of Pinellas County
• Thursday, Dec. 10: a talk on the geological history of Lake Maggiore
• Saturday, Dec. 12: the Raptor Run 5K at Boyd Hill

If you expect to come back more than a few times, the membership math is worth a look. An individual annual trail pass costs $30 on its own. A Friends individual membership bundled with a trail pass also costs $30, because members get the pass at half price. For a household, the family pass alone is $50, and the family membership-plus-pass combo is $45. In both cases the combo costs the same or less than the pass alone, and the membership fee stays at Boyd Hill, where it helps fund camps, the aviary and special projects. The Friends list the membership benefits as members-only events, discounted camp fees for children and gift shop discounts at select times of year.

At Kim Guillory, we love a Saturday plan that ends with kids holding a treat bag and adults who've had a real walk outside. If you're new to St. Pete, or a friend is about to be, and you'd like a hand finding the south-side spots that make a place feel like home, give us a call. Let's Get You Home.