From Oct. 24 to Nov. 2, Moraga has two Halloween calendars. One is the town's, made up of the library, the farmers' market and the Hacienda de las Flores lawn. Its events are mostly free and mostly in daylight, and they're built for children. The other belongs to Saint Mary's College. Its biggest draws are the evening shows at 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m., most tickets are $20 or less before fees, and it's built for adults. Most of the time the two calendars don't overlap. On Friday, Oct. 30, both run at once, a mile or two apart on St. Mary's Road and Donald Drive.
The Week at a Glance
Date | Town side | Campus side |
|---|---|---|
Sat., Oct. 24 | Friends Fall Book Sale, Moraga Library, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | |
Sun., Oct. 25 | Family Harvest Festival, Moraga Farmers' Market, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | |
Tue., Oct. 27 | Goblin's Grocery List Hidden Image Search, Moraga Library, all day | |
Wed., Oct. 28 | "The Moors" opens, LeFevre Theatre, 8 p.m. | |
Thu., Oct. 29 | Great Pumpkin Challenge, Moraga Library, 4–5 p.m. | Jazz in the Pub, 7:30 p.m.; "The Moors," 8 p.m. |
Fri., Oct. 30 | Town Halloween evening, Hacienda de las Flores, 5–8:30 p.m. | "The Moors," 4 p.m.; Baile Folklórico Día de los Muertos, Soda Center |
Sat., Oct. 31 | Dinanderie Lantern Piercing, Moraga Library, 10–11 a.m. | "The Moors," 2 p.m. |
Sun., Nov. 1 | "The Moors" closes, 2 p.m. | |
Mon., Nov. 2 | Gaels men's basketball vs. Illinois State, 7 p.m. |
The town events cluster at the start of the week and in the mornings. The college events build toward the weekend, starting in the evenings early in the week and moving to afternoons by the end. Monday, Oct. 26, has nothing on either calendar. Friday is the only day when the two sides compete for the same hours.
The Opening Weekend Belongs to the Town
The week starts at the Moraga branch of the Contra Costa County Library, 1500 St. Mary's Road. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Friends of Moraga Library hold their Fall Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Books, CDs and DVDs are priced from 25 cents to $3.00. Starting at noon, $5 buys a bag you can fill. If you're after a particular title, come early. If you want volume, the bag deal makes the last hour the better buy.
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the Moraga Farmers' Market turns its usual morning into a Family Harvest Festival, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Moraga Shopping Center at Moraga Way and Moraga Road. The market's event page also includes a costume flyer, so children may want to wear theirs on Sunday and again on Friday.
During the week, the library keeps the children's thread going. "Goblin's Grocery List Hidden Image Search" runs all day Tuesday, Oct. 27, and "The Moraga Library Great Pumpkin Challenge!" runs Thursday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 5 p.m. Both happen in the after-school window. By the time the pumpkin challenge ends Thursday, the college side of the calendar is getting started.
Midweek, the Campus Takes the Evenings
Saint Mary's Theatre Program has chosen a Halloween-week production that suits the season. "The Moors" is Jen Silverman's play, and the college's box office page promotes it with a line it credits to The Guardian, "Deliciously dark Brontë pastiche." It runs at LeFevre Theatre, 1928 St. Marys Road, from Oct. 28 through Nov. 1, with tickets from $10 to $20. The program set it up weeks ago. On Oct. 9 it screened the 2026 film version of "Wuthering Heights," starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, as an enrichment event and raffled off two tickets to the play.
The performance times are spread out more than a typical run:
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 8 p.m.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 1, 2 p.m.
Only the first two shows are at night. The other three are afternoon performances, and that schedule shapes the rest of the week.
Thursday is the best night on campus. Jazz in the Pub starts at 7:30 p.m. at The 1928 Pub, and it's free. "The Moors" goes up at 8 p.m. the same night. The two events start half an hour apart, so plan on one or the other.
Friday, Oct. 30: Both Calendars at Once
This is the day the two calendars overlap. Here is the order of events:
- 4 p.m. "The Moors" afternoon performance starts at LeFevre Theatre.
- 5 p.m. The town's free Halloween evening opens at Hacienda de las Flores and Casita, 2100 Donald Drive, and runs until 8:30.
- 5:30 p.m. Dinner starts at the Soda Center for the Baile Folklórico Día de los Muertos event.
- 6:30 p.m. Disney's "Freaky Friday" starts on the Hacienda lawn.
- 7 p.m. The Baile Folklórico show starts at the Soda Center.
The Hacienda evening is the town's main Halloween event. A 510 Families calendar listing includes a costume contest, pumpkin painting and trunk-or-treat in addition to the movie, and asks guests to bring blankets and lawn chairs. The 2026 listing calls it "(Not so) Creepy Commons." The Town of Moraga's own Parks and Recreation page uses the name "(not so) Haunted Hacienda". Either way, it's the free Friday evening on Donald Drive.
The Soda Center event works differently. It's a fundraiser for the Baile Folklórico group, and Saint Mary's notes that it's excluded from the college's Free Arts for Students program. Show tickets are $10. Dinner pricing hadn't been announced when the box office page was last checked. It's also the only Día de los Muertos event on either Moraga calendar this week.
A household with young children and a household without them will have very different Fridays, and they'll share the same few streets doing it. For a household with both, the timing works out. The movie starts half an hour before the folklórico show, so one adult can take the children to the Hacienda lawn while another heads up to the Soda Center.
Halloween Itself Is a Daytime Holiday Here
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and in Moraga the scheduled events end in the afternoon. The library's "World Studio Craft Series: Dinanderie Lantern Piercing" runs from 10 to 11 a.m. Dinanderie is decorative metalwork, and a pierced lantern is about as close to a jack-o'-lantern as a craft class gets. Then "The Moors" holds its 2 p.m. Halloween matinee at LeFevre Theatre.
Neither calendar has anything scheduled on Halloween night, so trick-or-treating has the streets to itself. The play closes with a final 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 1.
The Campus Calendar Keeps Going
The town's Halloween events end Saturday morning. The college's continue into November. On Monday, Nov. 2, Saint Mary's men's basketball hosts Illinois State at 7 p.m. at University Credit Union Pavilion. Later in the month, the box office calendar lists "Refracted Elements," a dance concert choreographed by Dance Program seniors, at LeFevre Theatre on Nov. 12, 13 and 14 for $10 to $20. It also lists a free faculty recital by pianist Lino Rivera and flutist Amy Likar in the Chapel on Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m., Lambda Award winner KB Brookins appears at LeFevre Theatre as part of the Visiting Writers Series.
The highest listed ticket price this week is $20 for "The Moors," plus a processing fee. The only price still unknown is dinner at the Soda Center. The book sale, harvest festival, library programs, Hacienda evening and Jazz in the Pub are free or close to it. Most of the town's events happen before dark. Most of the college's happen after it.
Fall is also when many Moraga homeowners start thinking about next year. If you'd like to know where your home stands before then, The Beaubelle Group can give you a quiet, local read on your home's value. Request a Complimentary Home Valuation.
