Halloween and Fall Family Events — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian's fall family season runs through Riverview Park on the Indian River, where the city holds its Halloween Costume Contest each October and opened the 2025 to 2026 event year with its first Kids Fest.

The City of Sebastian's Signature Events list for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2025, put Sebastian Kids Fest at Riverview Park on Saturday, October 4, 2025, and the Halloween Costume Contest at Riverview Park on Friday, October 24, 2025 (City of Sebastian Signature Events). The same list runs on to holiday light displays from mid November, which belong to the holiday season rather than to fall.

For 2026 the dates come from the city calendar. The October 2026 calendar lists the Sebastian Halloween Costume Contest on October 23, 2026, at 5:30 PM at Riverview Park, with a Sebastian Police Movie Night at 7:15 PM the same evening (City of Sebastian calendar). Civic clubs and county first responders fill the rest of October with a kids fishing day, a haunted house on Main Street and a Halloween 5K on County Road 512.

The 2026 Sebastian Halloween Costume Contest is set for Friday, October 23, 2026, at 5:30 PM at Riverview Park, and in 2025 it judged children in five age groups from 0 to 12 years old.

The 2025 program shows the usual order of the evening. The city's Annual Halloween Celebration ran Friday, October 24, 2025, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Riverview Park, opening with a trunk-or-treat hosted by the Treasure Coast Jeep Club, when families could also sign up for the contest (Sebastian Daily, 2025). The costume contest began at 6:15 p.m., and the movie Minecraft started at 7:15 p.m. under the stars between the Twin Piers.

The format has shifted over the years. In 2018 the contest was a Saturday morning event: Sebastian Daily listed it by the Twin Piers on Saturday, October 27, 2018, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with prize categories for funniest, cutest, scariest, most original and best group, and with goody bags, music, dancing and hayrides for Sebastian River area kids (Sebastian Daily, 2018). By 2021 it had moved to Friday evening, October 29, 2021, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., paired with pumpkin decorating (Sebastian Daily, 2021).

The pairing with a film comes from the police department. In 2021 the Sebastian Police Department COPE Unit hosted a Family Movie Night in the field next to the Twin Piers on Indian River Drive after the contest, showing Monster House, rated PG, and serving snow cones and popcorn. The 2026 calendar keeps that sequence, with the Police Movie Night listed at 7:15 PM after the 5:30 PM contest.

The event is older than its current format. Vero News reported on November 1, 2009, that about 75 kids of all ages turned out for the annual City of Sebastian Halloween Costume Contest in Riverview Park, with costumes judged on a stage and the Sebastian Lions Club selling popcorn, sodas and water for its charitable work (Vero News, 2009).

Sebastian Kids Fest was the City of Sebastian's first Kids Festival, a free day at Riverview Park on Saturday, October 4, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sebastian Daily reported on September 23, 2025, that the city would host the festival at the park along the Indian River at 600 U.S. Highway 1, with rides, inflatables, face painting and educational booths on topics including conservation and local wildlife (Sebastian Daily, September 2025). Anglers for Conservation, a group focused on youth fishing education, hosted a kids fishing clinic with online registration, teaching angling and environmental stewardship from the Sebastian riverfront.

The city placed Kids Fest at the head of its Signature Events year, ahead of the Halloween Costume Contest three weeks later (City of Sebastian). Riverview Park suits that kind of day: the city describes it as the primary event and gathering point for Sebastian, with a playground, restrooms, picnic pavilions, the Splash Pad and the twin piers for observing the river or fishing (Riverview Park).

Whether Kids Fest returns in 2026 is not yet on record. The city calendar for October 2026, checked October 10, 2026, listed no Kids Fest date at Riverview Park, so the October 4, 2025, festival remains the only edition with a confirmed date.

The two largest civic Halloween events in Sebastian are the GFWC Sebastian River Junior Woman's Club haunted house, Terror on Main Street, and the Sebastian Scream 5K and Haunted Rail Trail run by Indian River County First Responders.

Terror on Main Street is a fundraiser with a long run. The 45th annual haunted house in 2025 was at 1036 Main St. in Sebastian, open 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on October weekends from October 10 and on October 29, 30 and 31, with $10 admission and parental discretion advised (Sebastian Daily, 2025). Proceeds benefit science and music camps, local schools and charities, Sebastian Police Department activities and the Sebastian River High School Marching Band.

It is built for older children and adults. Vero News described the 2023 edition as a walking tour through 22 rooms, each with a different theme, set on four vacant lots owned by the Sebastian United Methodist Church, and reported that it usually raises about $20,000 (Vero News, 2023). The organizers told Vero News it is not a kiddie haunted house.

The Sebastian Scream moved to the North County Aquatic Center for 2026. The registration page lists the Sebastian Scream 5K and Haunted Rail Trail on October 24, 2026, with a $35 race fee, a Haunted Rail Trail ticket for each runner, an award for best costume and a trunk-or-treat hosted by the Indian River County Parks and Recreation Department after the race (Sebastian Scream registration). The page warns that the haunted trail may be too intense for young children. Proceeds go to counseling services and peer-support programs for local police, sheriff, fire and EMS personnel.

The first Sebastian Scream ran on October 25, 2025, on the Sebastian Rail Trail, with a movie night at North County Pool, a 5K costume run, a free trunk-or-treat and a haunted trail with scare zones built by each agency; the Rail Trail cost $10 that year (Sebastian Daily).

Outside Halloween, Sebastian's October riverfront calendar adds the police department's Community Night Out and the Exchange Club of Sebastian's Junior Blue Water Open kids fishing day, both at Riverview Park.

Community Night Out is the police department's fall open house. In 2025 it ran Thursday, October 16, 2025, from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm at Riverview Park, with officers from the Sebastian Police Department, the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Highway Patrol and federal agencies, plus police motorcycles, patrol boats and helicopters on display and free hot dogs, popcorn and snow cones (Sebastian Daily, 2025). The 2026 city calendar lists it on October 15, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:30 PM.

The Junior Blue Water Open puts children on the city docks. On October 30, 2021, the Exchange Club of Sebastian held its Junior Blue Water Open Kids Fishing Day at the Sebastian city docks at Riverview Park, where 44 youngsters each received a rod, reel and t-shirt and three hours of supervised fishing in the Indian River Lagoon, and every fish was released (Sebastian Daily, 2021). The club funds the day through its Blue Water Open charity offshore fishing tournament. The 2026 edition is on the city calendar for October 24, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM.

The month closes with the Craft Club of Sebastian show at Riverview Park on October 31, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, according to the city calendar (City of Sebastian calendar). The Sebastian Clambake follows at Riverview Park in November and is covered on its own page.