The biggest pumpkin at the 2026 Art & Pumpkin Festival will already be chosen before anyone puts up a festival barricade. The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off runs Monday, October 12, at the IDES Grounds, 735 Main Street. On Saturday, October 17, the same grounds turn into the festival's main food court and music stage area, and first aid and lost and found operate out of the Small Hall there. For anyone who lives on the Coastside, October in downtown Half Moon Bay lasts a week. One stretch of Main Street hosts a Monday for growers and then a weekend for the crowds, and how you plan the week decides how much of either you get to enjoy.
Monday Belongs to the Growers
The weigh-off has its own scale and its own stakes. Organizers expect the weighing to run from about 7 to 11 a.m., with awards and lunch afterward. The official pages list different end times, so a mid-morning arrival is the safe choice if you want to see pumpkins on the scale. The weigh-off welcomes spectators, but its official pages don't say whether there is an admission charge.
The numbers make the case for being there in person. The current world record of 2,749 pounds was set on this scale on October 9, 2023, by Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota. Last year's Half Moon Bay champion, Brandon Dawson of Santa Rosa, came in at 2,346 pounds. That's about 400 pounds below the record, and the 2026 rules give growers plenty of reason to close the gap. First place pays $9 a pound, so a pumpkin the size of Dawson's would earn more than $21,000. A grower who breaks the world record and still holds it when the event ends can take home $30,000 in total.
Monday sets up the weekend. The grand champion stays on display for the whole festival, and the second- through fourth-place pumpkins go on display at 775 Main Street. If you'd like a souvenir, the festival sells prints with the champion at $20 for a 4x6, with discounts for extra copies or poses. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors see the pumpkin after the fact. On Monday morning, you can watch it get its ranking.
How the Week Unfolds on One Stretch of Main
| When | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Mon., Oct. 12, from 7 a.m. | Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off | IDES Grounds, 735 Main St. |
| Sat., Oct. 17, about 7 a.m. | Southbound Main Street closed to traffic coming from Highway 92 | Main St. at Highway 92 |
| Sat.–Sun., Oct. 17–18, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | 54th Art & Pumpkin Festival, free admission | Main St. between Miramontes and Spruce |
| Sun., Oct. 18, 7:15–8:20 a.m. starts | Pumpkin Run, benefiting Senior Coastsiders | Hatch School, 490 Miramontes |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | "Made On The Coast" local artists block | Mac Dutra Plaza area, Main and Kelly |
| Sun., Oct. 18, about 10 p.m. | Main Street reopens | Mill Street to Monte Vista Lane |
The closed section is longer than the festival itself. Booths fill Main between Miramontes and Spruce, but traffic is shut out from Mill Street all the way south to Monte Vista Lane. Main Street is closed for about 39 hours, from roughly 7 a.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Sunday. The festival itself is open for 16 of those hours.
The Exit Rule Matters More Than the Closure
Most people know Main Street closes. The rule that catches people is how they get out. During the festival, you can't reach eastbound Highway 92 from Main Street, whether you're coming from the north or the south. The festival's guidance says the only way onto eastbound 92 is from Highway 1. So for that weekend, every trip over the hill starts at Highway 1. That matters for Saturday errands toward San Mateo and for picking up guests on Sunday afternoon.
The festival's other logistics follow the same pattern and sit along the edges of the closed zone:
- Rideshare and paratransit drop-off: Shoreline Station lot at Highway 1 and Kelly Avenue.
- Accessible parking: Purissima Street between Correas Street and Kelly Avenue.
- Bike and stroller parking: The Straight Wheel Cycling lot at Kelly and Purissima, run with Coastside on Bikes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, with a suggested $5 donation.
- Car parking: The south end of Main at Metzgar, Half Moon Bay High School, Our Lady of the Pillar Church and the Community Center/Shoreline Station complex on Kelly. Local nonprofits run many of these lots for a small fee.
Kelly Avenue keeps coming up. It's where the drop-off, the bike parking and two of the main parking lots are, and it leads to Mac Dutra Plaza at Main and Kelly. If you're on foot or on a bike, Kelly is the way in.
A Car-Free Route From the North Coastside
This year, people in Montara and Moss Beach have a new way to reach downtown. In August, SamTrans expanded its on-demand Ride Plus service to cover Moss Beach and Montara, and Half Moon Bay service now starts an hour earlier, at 7 a.m. Before the change, the Coastside zone ran from south Half Moon Bay at Cañada Cove and Moonridge north to Pillar Point Harbor. Rides cost $2.25 for adults and $1.10 for youth, are door-to-door within the zone and can be booked up to seven days ahead through the app or by calling (650) 238-5880.
That seven-day window happens to cover the whole week. If you book on Monday, October 12, you can reserve a Sunday morning ride from Montara for October 18. The 7 a.m. start time also lines up with the weigh-off's opening on the 12th. Remember that pets are not allowed at the festival, except leashed service dogs.
Sunday Is the Coastside's Own Day
The festival has a Saturday and a Sunday, but most of the local programming lands on Sunday. "Made On The Coast," a group of Coastside artists that works as a subcommittee of the festival, brings back its one-day pop-up show on Sunday, October 18. Its booths cover painters, photographers, potters, jewelers, fabric artists, glassblowers and furniture makers, and some will give live demonstrations. Its music stage plays both days in Mac Dutra Plaza with local bands and is presented by the Half Moon Bay Winery, Visit Half Moon Bay and James Ford.
Earlier that Sunday, the Pumpkin Run starts at Hatch School, 490 Miramontes, between 7:15 and 8:20 a.m. It offers a half marathon, 5K, 10K and a kids' fun run, all benefiting Senior Coastsiders. Free pumpkin carving runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Family Fun Zone at 620 Main Street, with pumpkins and knives provided.
All of this fits the festival's origins. The Main Street Beautification Committee started it in 1971 to help restore historic downtown Half Moon Bay, and over the years it has raised several million dollars for civic projects and Coastside community groups.
Main Street Looks Different Than It Did Last October
Coming back downtown for the festival is a chance to see what has changed on Main this year. Dead Wax Records opened at 330 Main Street on June 24, 2026, selling new and used vinyl sorted by genre, turntables and its own "Coastal Noir" candle. In June, Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. opened HMB Brewing on Main in the 1906 building that used to house Sacrilege Brewing. It serves pub fare and BrewCo beer and has a dog-friendly patio out front. The brewery's Pumpkin Harvest Ale, Kölsch and Full Swing IPA will also be poured at the festival's Xfinity Take 5 Lounge.
Not everything from last year is still there. Crows Nest, a women's boutique on Main Street that opened in 2013, closed in July. More changes are coming up the coast. The Harbor District has signed leases for Pillar Point Grill and Harbor Bar, run by Brian Overfelt and Andrew Turner, and for Lucky's, run by Fletcher Morgan and Juan Carlos Pantoja. Both are tentatively expected to open around February 2027, so they won't be ready this fall.
Highway 1 After Dark
The festival closures sit on top of road work that started last fall. Caltrans is rehabilitating 7.3 miles of Highway 1 between Moss Beach and Half Moon Bay on a schedule that runs from fall 2025 to summer 2027, and the highway stays open through the work zone. Caltrans' August 10 update set overnight lane closures and one-way traffic control from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. It warned that occasional closures could start at 6 p.m. or happen during the day on short notice, and it said signal upgrades would continue through the end of 2026. The agency's fall 2026 newsletter says final paving was wrapping up through August, with striping and guardrail work to follow and foundation work underway on the Pilarcitos Creek Bridge.
Caltrans hasn't announced any pause in this work for October 17–18. Because the festival sends all eastbound 92 traffic through Highway 1, check Caltrans District 4 traffic advisories before a Sunday night trip home from the 10 p.m. reopening or a 7 a.m. Saturday run into town.
When Main Street reopens Sunday night, downtown goes back to its usual routine. If the week has you wondering what a home on these blocks, or in Montara or El Granada, would look like with media-first marketing and strong presentation, Watson Marshall Group can walk you through it, from preparation to closing. Request a Home Valuation, and we'll put together a Coastside-specific picture of where your property stands this fall.