Lakeway's best October nights are put on by its own residents. The witches on Lakeway Drive, the high school orchestra playing under a silent vampire film and the painters opening their studios in November are all neighbors, and the city calendar is mostly the stage it builds for them. The big community events cost nothing. The one ticketed screening costs $7. This year the city has added a new tradition to the morning of its busiest day.
Saturday, October 17 carries two traditions
The Witches Ride used to be the city's one Halloween-season anchor. This year Lakeway has added a morning event to the same Saturday, so October 17 now runs from breakfast to after dark.
The new event is the Floating Pumpkin Pool Patch at the Lakeway Swim Center, from 9 to 10 a.m. Kids get into the pool to pick a floating pumpkin, then head to a decorating station, and the city gives prizes for the most spectacular designs. The city's October newsletter is plain about what it wants this to become:
"Have fun making your best Halloween pumpkin and start a new fall tradition with us!"
That leaves the afternoon open for finishing costumes. The Witches Ride lines up in the evening, and the city's September 25 announcement sets the parade start at 6 p.m. on Lakeway Drive. The day runs like this:
- 9 to 10 a.m.: Floating Pumpkin Pool Patch at the Lakeway Swim Center.
- 5:30 p.m.: Parade participants gather at the Live Oak Golf Course driving range, 510 Lakeway Drive.
- 6 p.m.: The parade heads down Lakeway Drive, about one mile, to the Lakeway Activity Center.
- 6:30 to 9 p.m.: A free carnival with food and beverages. The October newsletter places it at the Lakeway Activity Center, while the city's September 25 announcement says Lakeway City Hall, so check the city's Witches Ride page before you head over.
The parade has no audience requirement
The Witches Ride lets almost anyone take part. The current event listing names bikes, tricycles, skates, scooters, wheelchairs, golf carts and wagons, and walking counts too. The city provides candy, and riders are invited to bring more to share with the people lining the route. The city's own announcement treats watching and riding as equal ways to join, and says you can join the costume parade "or just collect candy along the route."
The name comes from the parade's early look. A 2021 post from the Lakeway Arts District described the annual ride as women costumed as witches riding bicycles as their brooms and throwing candy to the crowd. The list of allowed wheels has grown since then. The city's current page links to parade rules, so read them before you decorate a golf cart, because rules posted in earlier years may not carry over to 2026.
The week before builds up to it
The days before October 17 have their own events, and the same pattern holds. Neighbors run them, and the city supplies the room.
On Monday, October 12, the Big Band Bash brings the 17-piece Republic of Texas Big Band, with David Cummings on vocals, for a free all-ages show. It normally runs every second Monday. This month it moves to Rough Hollow because the Activity Center is closed for the holiday. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the music runs from 7 to 9 p.m. The Swim Center is also closed that day for Columbus Day, in case your family's Monday includes laps.
On Tuesday, October 13, the city runs a special-effects makeup class with The Lakeway Players from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The newsletter bills it as "Blood and Bruises and Wounds OH MY!!!" The teacher is Cindy Baker, a theatre teacher and Lakeway Players board member with decades of experience making bruises, homemade blood, gashes and scratches. All supplies are included, and the class is for ages 16 and up. On the calendar it lands four days before the parade, which makes it useful practice for anyone riding on Saturday.
October 24 hands the stage to the high school
A week after the parade, the city screens Nosferatu, billed for its 104th anniversary, with a live score from the Lake Travis Chamber Orchestra. The show runs 7 to 9 p.m. and tickets are $7. Concession sales support the Lake Travis High School Chamber Orchestra, and the listing asks guests to wear their best vampire costume. The newsletter pitches it as a chance to see what a real thriller looked like to your great-grandparents. So the musicians are local students, and the snack money stays with their program.
The same evening, the Lakeway Halloween Comedy Festival runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Highland Village Community Center on Highlands Boulevard. It's posted on Lakeway Resort & Spa's events feed, but the community center is the venue. The times overlap, so most people will pick one or the other.
The weeknight layer under the big dates
Between the headline Saturdays, the city has filled ordinary weeknights. Kathleen's Line Dancing for Everyone class runs Tuesdays, October 6 through 27, from 6 to 7 p.m. It covers waltz, cha-cha, polka and swing rhythms, you don't need a partner, and BYOB is allowed. A new six-week Tai Chi class with instructor Michael Sandham meets Fridays from 9 to 10 a.m., October 9 through November 20.
Off the city calendar, the same weekly rhythm continues on Lohmans Crossing. SAF Wine Bar & Nosh reopened in May after a remodel at 2127 Lohmans Crossing Road, Suite 304. Community Impact reported in late September that it offers live music five nights a week and Friday salsa classes every other week from October through June. The salsa season starts the same month as the parade, which makes Friday the easiest night to keep going after Halloween ends.
The season at a glance
| Date | Time | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Oct 12 | 7 to 9 p.m. | Big Band Bash | Rough Hollow this month, free |
| Tue, Oct 13 | 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Special effects makeup class | With The Lakeway Players, ages 16+ |
| Sat, Oct 17 | 9 to 10 a.m. | Floating Pumpkin Pool Patch | Lakeway Swim Center, new this year |
| Sat, Oct 17 | 6 p.m. | Witches Ride | Gather 5:30 p.m. at 510 Lakeway Drive |
| Sat, Oct 17 | 6:30 to 9 p.m. | Carnival | Free, location per city page |
| Sat, Oct 24 | 7 to 9 p.m. | Nosferatu with live orchestra | $7 ticket |
| Fri, Nov 6 | 6 p.m. | ArtWALK open house | TexARTS Theatre & Academy |
| Nov 7 and 8 | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | ArtWALK studio tours | Maps at Lakeway Heritage Center |
| Wed, Nov 11 | 11 a.m. | Veterans Day Ceremony | Lakeway Resort & Spa |
November opens the studios
The hometown pattern is clearest at the 2026 Lakeway Art Walk, because local artists open their own work spaces to the public. The weekend starts Friday, November 6, with an artist open house and a TexARTS performance at TexARTS Theatre & Academy. The social begins at 6 p.m. and the performance at 7. On Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, self-guided tours run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through galleries, private studios and pop-up venues across Lakeway. You'll see paintings, sculpture, ceramics, photography and mixed media.
Start at the Lakeway Heritage Center, where printed studio maps and artist catalogs are handed out. The Arts District says digital maps will go online this fall. Artist registration is still open. Artists can sign up until October 18 at 5 p.m., and shared exhibition space goes first-come, first-served. If you have a studio in your home, you have one day after the Witches Ride to put it on the map. The Lakeway Arts Committee also takes volunteers, and you can reach it at [email protected].
Three days later, the City of Lakeway's Veterans Day Ceremony begins at 11 a.m. on November 11 at Lakeway Resort & Spa, 101 Lakeway Drive. The Swim Center is closed that day.
Where the stage is going next
The city is building more permanent places for this kind of program. Butler Rough Hollow Park broke ground on July 6 and is expected to open in summer 2027 with an amphitheater, a mountain-bike course, a multisports field and a playground. Upgrades to Lakeway City Park are still in design, according to an October 2 update. The proposal includes a looped pedestrian trail, a skate park and pump track, pickleball courts and lake overlooks. Design is due by January, and construction bidding is estimated for fall 2027. For this season, the plan is simple. Pick out a pumpkin at 9 a.m. on October 17, and be at the driving range at 510 Lakeway Drive by 5:30 p.m.
If you have family coming for the Witches Ride or the ArtWALK weekend and want to know which corners of Lakeway make the easiest home base for a day like October 17, Bessie Ostertag is glad to share what she knows. Let's Connect.
