On Saturday, October 31, three free Jamaica Plain events share the afternoon. Registration for the JP Canine Costume Parade opens at noon, the parade steps off down Centre Street at 1:00, and the red carpet follows at 1:30. The Arnold Arboretum's Halloween program runs on the Hunnewell Lawn from noon until 3:00, overlapping the whole parade. At 3:00, Hyde Square Task Force starts its Halloween Fiesta at Mozart Park.
Because the Arboretum program stays open until 3:00 and the Fiesta starts at 3:00, one household can do all three in a single afternoon. The plan holds only if the weather does. The organizers have set different rain plans, so a wet Saturday would scatter the three events across Sunday or leave them waiting on a social media update.
The Saturday Schedule at a Glance
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 p.m. | Dog parade registration, $10, in person | First Baptist Church lawn, 633 Centre St. |
| 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. | Wicked Plants: A Botanical Halloween | Hunnewell Lawn, 125 Arborway |
| 1:00 p.m. | Parade steps off; Arboretum kids storytime begins | Centre Street; Hunnewell Lawn |
| 1:30 p.m. | Red carpet and costume judging | Loring Greenough House, 12 South St. |
| 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. | Annual Halloween Fiesta | Mozart Park, 10 Mozart St. |
| Showtimes on the Footlight Club site | Annie | Footlight Club, 7A Eliot St. |
The one real conflict is at 1:00. The parade leaves First Baptist Church at the same moment the Arboretum starts its kids storytime. Families with both a dog and a small child will have to pick one.
Noon to 1:30 Belongs to the Dogs on Centre Street
This is the 22nd JP Canine Costume Parade, and the organizers at JP Centre/South Main Streets are pointing out that this year it lands on Halloween itself. Registration opens at noon on the lawn of First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street. To enter the costume contest, you have to register your dog in person and pay the $10 fee. All proceeds go to Shultz's Guest House Dog Rescue in Dedham.
At 1:00 the parade heads down Centre Street to the Loring Greenough House at 12 South Street. The red carpet starts once every dog has arrived. Brad Brown of the Blue Frog Bakery emcees. The judges include City Councilor Ben Weber and Dr. Jonathan Levine of the JP Animal Clinic, with more names still to be announced. First, second and third place each win a prize, and spectators are welcome.
The sponsor list reads like a short walk through the neighborhood: TCB The Cooperative Bank, The Mindful Mutt Doggy Day Care and Boarding, First Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist, and Happy Tails Market.
Registration also takes place a few doors from something new on that block. In September, Jamaica Plain News reported that two businesses had moved into a long-vacant Centre Street building: Edwin Barber Studio at 636 Centre Street and JP Vape & Smoke at 638 Centre Street.
Down South Street to the Arborway Gate
The parade ends on South Street, which puts it in line with the Arboretum. The Arboretum's own directions for bus riders start at South Street and Bardwell Street. From there you walk along South Street, turn right on Custer Street, follow it to the end, then turn right and go about 300 feet along the Arborway to the Arborway Gate. The Hunnewell Lawn is just inside the gate on the right, outside the Hunnewell Building.
"Wicked Plants: A Botanical Halloween" runs from noon to 3:00, so anyone coming from the 1:30 red carpet still has time for it. The Arnold Arboretum describes it as a tour of the most sinister plants in its collections. Some defend themselves with spiky thorns, sticky latex and chemical warfare. Others poison their neighbors, scatter their seeds explosively, or glow under black light. You don't need to register, and the program is pitched at all ages. The lawn is flat and sits just off the paved road.
If you drive, the Arboretum notes that street parking on the Arborway, including six accessible spaces near the gate, can fill up during large programs, and it suggests allowing extra time. The Orange Line is the other option. Forest Hills has an exit marked for the Arboretum, and from the Forest Hills Gate you can bear right at the pond and follow Meadow Road to the lawn.
Hyde Square Takes the Last Shift
The Arboretum program ends at 3:00, the same time the Annual Halloween Fiesta begins at Mozart Park, 10 Mozart Street. Hyde Square Task Force presents it as a free afternoon of games, music, crafts and treats in what its event listing on Meet Boston calls Boston's Latin Quarter. It runs until 4:30, and you don't need to RSVP.
That timing carries the afternoon past the Arboretum's closing hour. A family that starts on the First Baptist Church lawn at noon could finish at Mozart Park at 4:30 without a break longer than a walk.
The Footlight Club, at 7A Eliot Street, gives the evening its own option. Its production of Annie plays on October 31 and November 1, with more performances on November 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14. The show page doesn't list curtain times, so check the Footlight Club site before you plan dinner around it.
If It Rains, the Afternoon Splits Apart
Each event has a different plan for bad weather:
| Event | Saturday, Oct. 31 | If weather intervenes |
|---|---|---|
| JP Canine Costume Parade | 12:00 to about 1:30 p.m. | Rain date Sunday, November 1 |
| Wicked Plants | 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. | Rain date November 1, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. |
| Halloween Fiesta | 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. | Updates on Hyde Square Task Force social media |
On Saturday, Wicked Plants opens at the same hour as dog registration. On the Sunday rain date it starts at 2:00, which changes how the two events fit together. The parade's Sunday listing doesn't give a time, and the Fiesta has no rain date at all, only a note to watch for updates. If Saturday is wet, check the JP Centre/South Main Streets events page and the Arboretum's event page before heading out. The Arboretum says it will post updates there.
Weather has already reshaped this fall's calendar. JP Open Studios was scheduled for September 26 and 27, and the organizers canceled both days because of a forecast nor'easter. Spontaneous Celebrations had scheduled its 43rd Annual Lantern Parade at Jamaica Pond for October 17 at dusk, with October 18 held as a rain date.
After the Costumes Come Off
The calendar doesn't stop after Halloween weekend. Several of the same venues have dates through November:
- November 7, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Arnold Arboretum's "Autumn in the Arboretum" tour meets in front of the Hunnewell Building at 125 Arborway, a week after Wicked Plants on the same lawn.
- November 6, 7 and 8, and November 13 and 14. Annie continues at the Footlight Club.
- November 10, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. JP Centre/South Main Streets holds its Mah Jongg Madness Fall Fundraiser at the Footlight Club. It includes a lesson from Carolyn Kramer, a Jamaica Plain Mah Jongg teacher, plus open play. Tickets are $50 per person or $200 for a table of four. The game is American Mah Jongg, so players need an NMJL card.
- Saturdays through November 21, 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Roslindale Farmers Market runs at Adams Park, 4225 Washington Street in Roslindale.
Two of the events in this post raise money for local causes. The $10 parade entry goes to a dog rescue in Dedham, and Mah Jongg Madness supports JP Centre/South Main Streets.
The Toland Team works across Boston's inner neighborhoods and the towns west of them, and we follow their weekend calendars the way our clients do. If you're in Jamaica Plain and wondering what your home is worth as the year winds down, ask us for a free home valuation.
