"I think we've taken back our town," Carmel resident Carolyn Hardy told the Monterey Herald in October 2015. She was watching pumpkins roll down Ocean Avenue in daylight, with the city's permission, for the first time.
That afternoon was a birthday party as much as a Halloween event. The Herald reported it as part of the city's 99th anniversary, with children, adults and dogs in costume. The day opened with an 11 a.m. parade on Ocean Avenue, and the pumpkins rolled at 2 p.m.
Eleven years later, the costumes, pumpkins and parade route are all still part of the calendar. This year, though, Carmel-by-the-Sea gives the date itself back to the birthday.
The Date Under the Costumes
Carmel was incorporated on October 31, 1916. Because of that coincidence, the village's Halloween has always been tied to a civic anniversary. The Carmel Residents Association calls it the Halloween Anniversary Parade, held each year on or near October 31 and hosted by the city's Community Activities Department.
Most years, the two occasions sit together without trouble. The city's own description of this year's parade invites people to celebrate "Halloween and the City's birthday" in one procession. A 110th anniversary called for more than a shared billing, and the city has rearranged the week around it.
How a Prank Became a City Event
The Pumpkin Roll shows most clearly how Halloween in Carmel turned into a civic event.
As the Herald told it in 2015, the tradition goes back at least to the 1950s. Young people would fill a pickup with pumpkins on Halloween night, park it up the hill on Ocean Avenue, and roll the pumpkins down when nobody official was watching. "They'd hit the trees and explode," one former roller told the paper.
One of those night rollers, from the 1990s, was Steve Dallas. By 2015 he was on the City Council, and the Herald credited him with the idea of making the roll an official event. The Carmel Pine Cone later reported that the council legalized the practice that year. At the August 4, 2015 meeting, Community Activities Director Janet Bombard asked to fold it into the annual City Birthday celebration.
The first official roll took place on a stretch of Ocean Avenue about 450 feet long, two blocks east of Junipero Street. Hay bales and plastic fencing lined it, and a Dumpster at the bottom served as the target. Tanimura & Antle donated 400 pumpkins. "This is the first time I've done it legally," John Martine of Carmel told the Herald, dressed as a pirate with a pumpkin under each arm. Scott Campbell offered his technique: "It's all in the wrist and what pumpkin you pick."
The city later split the roll from the birthday program. By 2018 it ran as its own event, kept apart from what the Pine Cone called "that busy day." This Saturday's roll is billed as the 11th annual. The city's event page still describes it in terms of where it came from: "no need anymore to steal pumpkins to roll down Ocean Avenue under the cover of darkness!"
A Second Anniversary Two Blocks Away
The village's birthday is not the only milestone this month. On the Sunset Center campus at San Carlos and Ninth, the original 1926 Sunset School building turns 100 in 2026. Sunset Center calls the occasion "One campus. Two centennials." The theater auditorium opened in 1931 and reaches its own centennial in 2031. The two dates frame a five-year campaign, Century of Creativity, 1926 to 2031.
The Centennial Community Celebration is on Sunday, October 25, from 1 to 4 p.m. It is free, and no ticket is required. The main stage features the Carmel Bach Festival, Monterey Symphony, Carmel Music Society and Chamber Music Monterey Bay. On the outdoor terrace are Youth Music Monterey, the CUSD Chamber Singers and String Quartet, and Monterey Peninsula Ballet Theatre. Sally Russell Art Studio will lead a participatory Legacy Wall. The afternoon also includes oral-history collection, campus tours and an exhibit of school-life photography.
The Marjorie Evans Gallery is showing archival photographs of Sunset School this fall, and visitors are invited to add their own memories to a centennial archive. According to the Pine Cone's September 25 preview, display tables will include the Carmel Heritage Society, Harrison Memorial Library, the Carmel Foundation, Carmel Youth Center, the Carmel Residents Association and the Carmel Woman's Club.
The two anniversaries are linked in a practical way too. Sunset Center is sponsoring the music at the city's birthday party.
This Year, the Parade Moves to Friday
The Pine Cone's October 9 issue reported that the city's Halloween parade has been held on the holiday itself for the past several years. This year, "to make time for its 110th birthday party," it moves to Friday, October 30, at 4:30 p.m. October 31 falls on a Saturday, so the city is holding its birthday in daylight that day, in Devendorf Park.
The anniversary has been in the background since September. The Pine Cone reported that builders at the Great Sandcastle Contest on September 19 were asked to make homages to the city at 110. The season's smaller events have already passed. The last Third Thursday in Devendorf Park ran on October 15, and the series returns in March.
Here is the rest of the week, in order:
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 24 | 11th Annual Pumpkin Roll | Ocean Avenue at Santa Fe Street | 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Howl-o-Ween Pet Parade and Costume Contest, Carmel Chamber of Commerce | Carmel Plaza | Afternoon; confirm with the Chamber |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Centennial Community Celebration | Sunset Center | 1 to 4 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | City Halloween Parade, then trick-or-treating | Ocean Avenue, then Devendorf Park | 4:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | City's 110th Birthday Bash | Devendorf Park | 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
The roll, the parade and the birthday are free city events, and the Sunset Center celebration is free too. The pet contest is a Chamber event, and its time and entry details are on the Chamber's event listing.
Closures for the Week
The pumpkins need the most street. Ocean Avenue between Carpenter Street and Junipero Avenue is closed to all traffic from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. The city supplies the pumpkins at Ocean and Santa Fe, and participants roll them down the hill.
Friday's parade lines up at Mission Street and Sixth Avenue, where the Thursday farmers market sets up. It heads south on Junipero, turns right onto Ocean Avenue, runs down to Monte Verde Street and loops back up. Cross traffic over Ocean between Junipero and Monte Verde stops at 4:15 p.m., and Ocean closes from 4:30 to about 5 p.m. The city's notice warns that anyone parked on Ocean or the side streets between Ocean and Sixth or Seventh avenues "will be a captive audience" until the streets reopen. The city says the best viewing is anywhere along Ocean, especially at Devendorf Park. No one may stand or sit on the medians. Well-behaved pets are welcome to walk in the procession. Groups need to register through the participation form on the city's page.
The birthday on Saturday needs no closure. The city asks guests to bring a picnic blanket or chair to Devendorf Park between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Hovering Breadcat Band will play, and the city promises free hot dogs while they last, face painting and "other surprises." In 2015, the year the pumpkins became legal, the Herald predicted the orbs would roll again at the next year's centennial. They did, and this year the music in Devendorf Park starts at 11 a.m. on October 31.
Traditions like these, and the history of the streets they run on, are part of what Michele Altman knows about Carmel-by-the-Sea. If the village's 110th has you thinking about your own place in it, Let's Connect.
