"Please buy tickets online before the event to ensure parking for everyone!" That line is on Lakewold Gardens' page for All Hallows 2026. The same page asks visitors to carpool, bike or take the bus. It's an unusual thing for a Halloween event to ask, and it explains a lot about Lakewood this fall.
Lakewood's busiest October day is Saturday, October 17. The city's Truck & Tractor Day fills Fort Steilacoom Park in the afternoon, and All Hallows opens at Lakewold that evening. Both events run up against the same limit, which is how many people and cars a place can hold at once. The City of Lakewood's current parks project list is mostly about that same limit: parking, accessible trails, and new ways to reach places that used to be hard to get to.
Saturday, October 17, in order
One household can do both events that day, because the two schedules don't overlap:
- Noon to 3 p.m., Fort Steilacoom Park. Truck & Tractor Day is the city's yearly family event. It has pumpkin decorating, crafts, games and a giant slingshot for pumpkin chucking. Kids can climb onto dozens of trucks and tractors, sit in the driver's seat and honk the horn. They also get free hayrides and hard hats, and each family gets one pumpkin while supplies last.
- 3 to 6 p.m., the gap. This is a three-hour window for an early dinner and a costume change.
- 6 to 9 p.m., Lakewold Gardens, 12317 Gravelly Lake Dr SW. Lakewold calls this year's All Hallows a "new version" of the festival. Strange creatures have taken over the gardens. There are sculptures to find, a mystery to solve for a spin of the prize wheel, and crafts and vendors along the way. Costumes are encouraged.
All Hallows runs again October 18 and October 24–25, also 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for youth ages 6–17 or members. Member youth and kids 5 and under get in free. On Halloween night, Lakewold is free for trick-or-treating in the gardens from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
The parking advice is the part to plan around
Lakewold says plainly that All Hallows "has limited parking." It suggests three alternatives: carpool with friends and family, bike or walk using temporary bike racks near admissions, or take bus route 214.
The bus option comes with a catch. Lakewold notes that route 214 runs only on Saturdays, and only until 8:30 p.m. That's half an hour before the festival closes. Riders who come by bus on October 17 or 24 will need to leave before the end, or arrange a ride home. Lakewold also asks visitors to check that their route is running before they go.
Lakewold's site has also shown a "detour alert" this fall, but the page it links to now shows "Page not found." The City's October 2 road update lists active work on Wadsworth, Silcox and Boat, and on Custer Road. It does not list any closure on Gravelly Lake Drive. Check live City and WSDOT traffic updates before you leave. Lakewold's own parking advice holds either way.
Fort Steilacoom Park has the same problem on a bigger scale
The City's parks capital projects page describes Fort Steilacoom Park as 350 acres and one of Lakewood's most popular parks. It says the park "often" has several groups using it at once, which "creates parking and access impacts." The City's answer is a $250,000 ADA and overflow parking area near the barns and the pavilion. It would add ADA parking for pavilion users and closer parking for anyone who needs ADA spaces during SummerFEST, the Farmers Market and other special events. Design, permitting and construction are scheduled to finish in 2026.
The pumpkin chucking on October 17 happens near the park's biggest unfinished project. The City and Partners for Parks, a nonprofit, are raising money to restore the historic H-Barn and silos as a community space for programs, gatherings and events. The project costs $12 million and has an adopted schematic design. The City says it is working toward being ready for permits in early 2027 and still needs to close a $4 million funding gap. The project is still raising money, so there's no construction on site yet. Partners for Parks has details at partnersforparks.net.
A third project will change what a walk through the park teaches you. The City and the Nisqually Indian Tribe are adding signs, art and interpretive panels about the Tribe and Chief Leschi along a loop trail in the southeast part of the park. The panels will include information in the Lushootseed language. The budget is $346,000, and the City expects construction to finish by the first quarter of 2027.
The rest of the project list points the same way
Line up the City's current parks and transportation projects, and most are about getting people to places, not building new attractions.
| Project | What it adds | Timing as published |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Steilacoom Park ADA and overflow parking | Parking near the barns and pavilion | Completion slated for 2026 |
| West Lake Street End | Parking, an accessible trail to the beach, habitat and stormwater work | Construction anticipated Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 |
| Oakbrook Park | Walking path, picnic shelter, ADA parking and access | Bidding and construction anticipated Q1–Q2 2027 |
| Edgewater Park | Parking, swim area, fishing pier, accessible trails, relocated boat launch | Construction anticipated 2027–2028 |
| Camp Murray Boat Launch | Master plan for the American Lake site | Plan due by end of 2026 |
The West Lake Street End is the one to watch this winter. The City reviewed 13 street-end sites, and the City Council picked Westlake Avenue as the pilot. The budget is $740,000. Edgewater Park is currently just a primitive boat launch. Its $7.5 million plan is in design and permitting. The City also expects to adopt its 2026 Parks Legacy Plan update in early November. That plan inventories Lakewood's parks, open spaces and trails and identifies gaps across the city.
The biggest access project isn't a park at all. WSDOT's I-5 Gravelly-Thorne Connector is a $31.5 million project that creates "new non-motorized access for people between Tillicum and the rest of Lakewood." WSDOT lists it as under construction, with a timeline of summer 2025 to spring 2027. The project builds a 1.3-mile shared-use path between Tillicum and Gravelly Lake Drive SW. When work began in August 2025, WSDOT said it expected the path to open in late fall 2026. That date is more than a year old, so watch for an official opening announcement before planning a ride.
Filling the 3 to 6 p.m. gap
On October 17, the three hours between events is a good time to try somewhere new. Emad's Subs opened August 9 at 11620 Pacific Hwy SW. It's a New York-style sub shop run by co-owner Emad Qaifi with sandwich-maker Mazen Alareeki, and it lists hours of 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
For a sit-down meal, Mukja Korean Barbeque has taken over the former New Gangnam BBQ at 9104 South Tacoma Way. Myong and Tim Bartz run it. A News Tribune report from September 25 said it was open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The rest of October, with access details
Lakewood Playhouse, The Docent. This is the world premiere of a play by Donna Kaz. It runs October 9–25 at 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd SW, and opening night is Friday, October 9, at 7 p.m.
Lakewold Up Close. Horticulturist and artist Brianna Phoenix shows her work in Lakewold's Wagner House from October 11 to November 13. The artist reception is Sunday, October 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. Lakewold notes that most of the exhibit space requires steps and is not wheelchair accessible.
Fall Community Cleanup. The City's free cleanup for Lakewood residents runs October 24–25, 8 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., at the Lakewood Transfer Station, 3869 94th St SW. That's the same weekend as All Hallows' second run, so a household could haul a load in the morning and walk the gardens that night.
If this season has you rethinking how your own place fits into Lakewood, from its distance to Fort Steilacoom Park to its path to the lake, Alec Klasna and The Network can talk it through with you. Schedule a free consultation.
