By Samantha Melia
Hometown Weekly Staff
The “Spooky Walk” is an event that has been put on by The Town of Needham for upwards of 30 years, where local businesses invite Trick-or-Treaters to stop by during daylight hours to collect candy. Due to the events popularity and notoriety among residents of Needham, recent endeavors by the Town’s Department of Parks & Recreation have expanded The Spooky Walk to a full-day event.
The Department of Park & Recreation’s maximized endeavors in recent years to promote the event, and a mission to expand the event itself into the “Fall Family Day” were manifested on the day of, when both Greene’s Field and the center of town sprawled with costumed kiddos and their parents in tow.
This year, the “Spooky Walk” was encompassed by a day-long “Fall Family Day,” a product of the town’s goal to maximize the participation of com
munity members of all ages. The “Spooky Walk” itself maintained its original route through the center of town, priced at $12 a ticket, but activities held at Greene’s Field and The Needham Library were completely free to the public.
The “Spooky Walk” itself occurred in two-parts, with the first timeframe ranging from 10:30 through 11:30 a.m., and the second window opening up at 12:00 in the afternoon to conclude around 1 p.m.
At 9:00 a.m., The Needham Library hosted a “slightly spooky” Halloween-themed book reading, as a contribution to the already hefty lineup of participatory businesses, vendors, and community members.
Greene’s Field was prepared by the Department of Public Works, alongside the Department of Park & Recreation, to ready the field for the set-up of a variance of activities including a petting zoo, live music, an inflatable obstacle course, an inflatable bouncy-house, and a 9-hole mini golf course!
Live-action storyteller Rona Levanthal was also present at Greene’s Field, giving lively renditions of spooky ghost stories to get event-goers into the Halloween spirit. Local band “The Tear Downs” provided the live music for the event, beginning their set at approximately 3:00 p.m.
Weeks before the event, “Spooky Walk” ticket sales were already in the hundreds for both time-slots, with participation across the whole of the “Fall Family Day” anticipated to surpass 1,000 people during its hours of operation from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Some sponsoring businesses who contributed to this event from within the Needham community include, but are not limited to, Blue Lotus Healing Arts, Needham Martial Arts, Cook Restaurant, Needham Garden & Hardware, and Chapters on Chestnut Cafe & Bookstore. Roche Brothers of Needham provided pumpkins for participants to decorate at Greene’s Field in between activities, as well.
Nicole Connolly, owner of Chapters on Chestnut, was eager to get involved in “Fall Family Day” despite her business's official opening day not occurring until 2027. According to Connolly, she seeks to provide through her business a space where community members can simply come, linger around the shop, peruse their book selection, enjoy a cup of coffee, and connect with other like-minded community members. Because of the interactivity with the greater community encouraged by this event, and the morale-boost that it provides residents of the Town of Needham, Connolly felt as if “Fall Family Day” was right up her alley.
“So many families came out for this, and we’ve had a beautiful day to do it,” says Connolly, dressed in a onesie costume of the popular children’s television character “Bluey.”
“People have been really excited about our books and being together, so I love that.”
Co-owners of Blue Lotus Healing Arts, Kirsten Allen and Kathleen Krivak, who have been involved in the “Spooky Walk” for over three years before it was encompassed by “Fall Family Day” for the first time in 2026, feel similarly about the annual gathering.
“We deal in energy,” explained Kirsten, almost fittingly wearing a pointed witches hat and matching with her colleague, “And what would the world be without our children? We wouldn’t have that excitement and desire to create holidays, to offer them our traditions.” In particular, they relish the ability to interact with children in the community during the holiday season, to see their joy and excitement, and to experience its infectiousness for themselves.
Needham Parks & Recreation worked tirelessly over the course of the past several months to organize this event to benefit the greater community, and needless to say, it went off without a hitch! It was a lively, sunny fall day, full of candy, music, and laughter. There were more than a few sleepy smiles, sticky with candy, being carried or pushed back home in a stroller at the end of “Fall Family Day,” to prove it.
“Recreation is not just about sports and games,” says Hannah Corrigan, Assistant Director of Needham’s Department of Parks & Recreation. “These are things that bring people together with a common interest, and we have so much of that [already] in Needham, we just wanted to draw from that,” she says.
Throughout the day there were vendor booths stationed on the field, one of which belonged to Needham Parks & Recreation. In addition to a big bowl of candy, a pile of blank sheets of paper sat on the table, and passersby were encouraged to take one to draw on and return it. This process is a part of a community “creativity contest” for which the Department of Parks & Recreation seeks to release its seasonal brochures detailing upcoming in-town events, with the selected winner of the competition being featured as the cover-image on the next brochure. Runner-ups will also be included within the brochure upon its release date.
“In the past I have had the opportunity to be at the [Parks & Recreation] table, being able to provide information to those who aren’t familiar with what we do is super powerful,” says Corrigon. “Getting the opportunity for the community to put a face to the name is extremely important, and that is a big element of our mission with events such as this.”
If you did not get a chance to submit your art to the “creativity contest,” or are just learning about this opportunity now,– fear not! The Department of Parks & Recreation will still be holding their competition throughout the fall, and an opportunity to participate will be extended just the same at the Town of Needham’s upcoming “Turkey Walk,” scheduled for November 14, 2026.
