Free Scottsdale Fall Festival Returns: Date Set For Trick-Or-Treating, Live Music

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Costumes, candy and carnival games are returning to Scottsdale this fall.

Scottsdale's annual Fall Festival is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, at Scottsdale Civic Center, where families can enjoy a longer evening of trick-or-treating, live entertainment and seasonal activities in the city's newly renovated gathering space.

The free event runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at Scottsdale Civic Center, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd. That's an extra hour of fun compared with previous years, with organizers saying the expanded schedule is made possible by the renovated park.

Families can expect an evening filled with trick-or-treating, carnival games, hands-on arts and crafts, live music, a DJ, food trucks and a cocktail garden for adults. Community organizations and city departments will also host booths throughout the event, and attendees are encouraged to wear costumes.

This year's festival also gives visitors another chance to experience the reimagined Scottsdale Civic Center, which reopened after an extensive renovation designed to create a more flexible community gathering space.

The updated park features a reconstructed West Paseo entrance at Brown Avenue and Main Street, a new 360 Stage surrounded by open lawns near the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, expanded gathering areas and improved pedestrian connections.

Several Scottsdale Public Art favorites have returned to the park, including LOVE, The Yearlings and Windows to the West, with some pieces relocated as part of the redesign. Visitors can also explore the Children's Gardens, the Water and Fog Plaza, the City Hall Lagoons and other new amenities.

Scottsdale Civic Center is home to City Hall, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, the Civic Center Library, museums, restaurants, shops and an outdoor amphitheater. The park is open daily from sunrise until 10:30 p.m.

More information about the Fall Festival and other events at Scottsdale Civic Center will be available through the city's event calendar.