Graham Recreation & Parks is trying something new this October. The city is adding six nights of Halloween events in the days before the Downtown Graham Pumpkin Bash and calling the whole week "7 Nights of Fright." It runs October 25 through 31, 2026, and the city's event page marks it "NEW FOR 2026." Only one of the seven nights happens in Court Square. The rest are spread across a regional park lawn, a lake, a walking track, an arts center lawn and a gym.
That split makes it a good year to know your way around. The Court Square you come back to on October 30 has been changing too, and the city's last two plans for downtown green space have both been set aside since spring.
Six nights, six different addresses
The full schedule is on the City of Graham's Pumpkin Bash and 7 Nights of Fright page. Here it is in one place:
| Night | Date | Event | Location | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun., Oct. 25 | Halloween Movie Night: Hocus Pocus | Graham Regional Park lawn, 1575 North Jim Minor Road, Haw River | Free |
| 2 | Mon., Oct. 26 | Ghost Stories at the Lake | Graham-Mebane Lake, 3218 Bason Road, Mebane | Free; pontoon rides $10 |
| 3 | Tue., Oct. 27 | Pumpkin Carving Contest | Alamance Arts front lawn, 213 South Main Street | Free, registration required |
| 4 | Wed., Oct. 28 | Haunted Trail, No Scare Night | Bill Cooke Park walking track, 1010 Townbranch Road | $5 per person |
| 5 | Thu., Oct. 29 | Haunted Trail, Scare Night | Bill Cooke Park walking track | Free |
| 6 | Fri., Oct. 30 | Downtown Graham Pumpkin Bash | Court Square | Free |
| 7 | Sat., Oct. 31 | Trick-or-Treat | Graham Recreation Center, 311 College Street | Free |
Most of these are walk-up events, but a few need planning ahead. The ghost story pontoon rides on Graham-Mebane Lake leave at 6:30, 7:15 and 8:00 p.m. They need registration, space is limited, and they're meant for middle schoolers and older. Everyone else can stay by the campfire, where Steve's Garden Market & Butchery is providing the s'mores. The carving contest on October 27 also needs registration. Ages 13 and up carve, and kids 12 and under decorate pie pumpkins supplied by Steve's.
The two nights at Bill Cooke Park are built for different ages. Wednesday is the No Scare Night for kids 12 and under. It's a five-minute trackless train ride through the Haunted Trail, plus a flashlight scavenger hunt. Thursday is for ages 13 and up. It's a half-mile walk with jump scares and no train. Food trucks change from night to night. Copperhead Burgers is listed for both the movie night and the No Scare Night. CluckiN Batter and Quench 305 are on Thursday's lineup, and 3 Boys Smoke Pit & Catering is at the Recreation Center on Halloween.
Movie night starts around 6:30 p.m., depending on sunset. Bring blankets and lawn chairs, plus a costume if you like.
Friday is the night the storefronts take part
The Pumpkin Bash has been running since 2015. Graham Recreation & Parks, the Graham Police Department and the Graham Fire Department put it on together. It runs 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, October 30, and there's no rain date. If the weather looks bad, the city will decide at noon that day. Smoking, vaping, pets and drones aren't allowed. Before you head out, the city suggests taking a photo of your child and stopping at the police booth for a safety wristband with your cell number on it.
The performances are spread across the evening:
- 6:30 p.m. Southern Alamance Middle School Dance Team
- 7:00 p.m. Alamance Arts Dancing Witches flash mob
- 7:30 p.m. Karizma Performing Arts Company, plus the Graham Fire Department's Pumpkin Smash Zone
- 8:00 p.m. Dancing Witches, second round
The other six nights are parks programming. Friday is different because downtown businesses help run it. The city lists three attractions that come from the businesses themselves. Ghost tours sign up out front of Whit's Frozen Custard of Graham. O.V. Yonder, which is in Court Square, hosts "Jeepers Creepers," with Jeeps handing out treats. And downtown businesses have their own pumpkin decorating contest. You vote on the business pumpkins at Alamance Arts, the same place and the same window as the carving contest: October 28 at 9:00 a.m. through October 31 at 9:00 p.m. Winners for both are announced Monday, November 2. That makes Alamance Arts at 213 South Main a stop you'll probably make more than once this week.
The city has posted a 2026 Pumpkin Bash event map that shows where the inflatables go, along with a page on where to park downtown.
The corner you'll walk past
If you come in from the north side of the square, you'll pass the northwest corner of Court Square, where Sesquicentennial Park used to be. It was finished in 2001 with private donations, including the sale of commemorative bricks during Alamance County's 150th anniversary celebration in 1999. After Memorial Day this year, city crews took it apart. The pergola, the commemorative bricks and the four-sided clock went into storage at the public works department on East Parker Street. The council's direction included repairing the clock and moving it to City Hall. Straw went down on the empty lot afterward.
The city's engineering firm put the cost of restoring the park as originally built at between $573,250 and $653,250. That work included clearing buried debris and new drainage. The problem first showed up as settling in the park's brick paver floor, which the city saw as a potential safety hazard. On July 14, the council voted 3-2 to declare the lot surplus and sell it by electronic public auction, which has to be advertised at least 30 days ahead. County tax records list the lot's assessed value at $35,588.
The auction hasn't happened yet. The September 8 council minutes say two appraisers will work on the appraisal together after staff couldn't get three commercial appraisals. The agenda for the October 13 meeting has no item on the lot. In the meantime, the Sesquicentennial Park Citizens Committee has been raising money to bid on the lot and bring the park back. Donations won't be cashed unless the committee wins, and a matching pledge has been offered. The September 8 minutes counted 60 pledges.
A second downtown park was also in the works this year. The city planned one for its lot at 129 West Elm Street, with a target date of June 30, 2026. The lowest bid the city could consider came in at $1,219,229, about two and a half times the $483,000 left over from a 2023 state grant. The council rejected the bids on April 27 and dropped the plan unanimously in July. In September, it moved about $338,000 in leftover downtown grant money to waterline replacement and approved up to $40,000 for new downtown planters.
So the Court Square you'll see on Friday has no park on its northwest corner and no new park on West Elm. On Pumpkin Bash night, the square itself does the hosting, with its storefronts and the Graham Amphitheater on East Elm.
The rest of the fall around the square
Halloween week falls in the middle of a busy stretch downtown, and several events land within a few blocks of the square.
- October 17, 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Kinfolk Concert and Car Cruise-in at Graham Amphitheater, 126 East Elm Street. Dalton Davis takes the stage at 7:00 p.m.
- October 21, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The city's United Way fundraiser at the Graham Fire Station Bay, 201 South Main Street.
- October 24, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. A $20 smartphone photography workshop on the Haw River Trail, starting at Longmeadow Trailhead, 1120 Valley Drive.
- Now showing at Alamance Arts. "Photographs by Hugh Morton: An Uncommon Retrospective" opened October 6. It's an 80-photograph show from UNC-Chapel Hill's collection, so you can catch it on the same trip you make to vote on pumpkins.
- December 5, 10:00 a.m. to noon. The 65th annual Graham Christmas Parade, starting at Parker and Main streets.
Graham Cinema at 119 North Main has posted showtimes through October 15, with Disclosure Day and Angel and the Badman on the schedule this week. Its site hasn't listed anything for Halloween week yet.
If you're out early for the 8:30 trail workshop, Graham's newest coffee stop is away from the square. Scooter's Coffee opened at 1103 Rogers Road and held its grand opening September 25. Elon News Network reports that the drive-thru opens at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays and 6:00 a.m. on weekends.
The next new open space on Main Street is already under construction. At 220 South Main, the former BB&T building is being turned into an 11,000-square-foot State Employees' Credit Union branch with a new courtyard and plaza. SECU's construction target is May 2027.
At DiProfio Homes, we follow changes like the Court Square lot because they shape what living near downtown Graham feels like from year to year. If you're curious how this year's changes around the square might affect your own street, we're always happy to sit down and talk it through.
