Old Northeast's Halloween began with two neighbors, Cynthia Serra and Connie Lancaster. Back when the holiday was still a small local affair, they dressed as witches and rode bicycles around Old Northeast handing out candy. Next they pitched a prize for the best-decorated houses to the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association. The first contest, in 1996, had 20 participating households.
In 2014 the Tampa Bay Times reported that more than 200 households were expected to enter. One couple who had bought their house in 1994 remembered 75 to 100 trick-or-treaters that first year. Another longtime resident said they had stopped counting once the number at their door passed 2,000.
That pattern still shapes Old Northeast's fall. The neighborhood's social season is staged by residents, and most of it happens at a specific house, porch, alley or block. HONNA lists seven dates between now and early December. Five of them take place on a street, a porch, an alley or inside private homes. Only two use an outside venue.
The Season, Date by Date
All dates below come from HONNA's event listings, which were posted between May and September 2026.
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Oct. 9 | Flamingo Friday Block Party | 106 14th Ave NE | 5:30–7:30 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct. 17 | Old Northeast Night at the Rowdies | Al Lang Stadium | 7:30 p.m. |
| Thu, Oct. 29 | Share and Scare Ride | Alley behind 116 18th Ave NE | 6:30–8 p.m. |
| Fri, Oct. 30 | "Come as You Aren't" Halloween Porch Party | Home of Frank Hay and Steve Deal, 116 18th Ave NE | 7:30–10 p.m. |
| Mon, Nov. 16 | Quarterly neighborhood meeting | Westminster Palms | Not listed |
| Fri, Nov. 20 | November Porch Party | Home of Susan and Larry Wildes, 105 17th Ave NE | 7:30–10 p.m. |
| Sun, Dec. 6 | Candlelight Tour of Homes | Across the neighborhood | 3–8 p.m. |
Flamingo Friday, this coming Friday, is first. HONNA files it under family, community and social events, and the flyer is branded "Stroll Old Northeast." The Rowdies night on Oct. 17 is a fundraiser for the association. According to the club's 2026 schedule, the opponent that night is Detroit City FC. A flyer attached to HONNA's event page advertises specials for an earlier July match against Charleston Battery. Those terms belong to that game and may not apply on Oct. 17.
One Address, Two Nights in a Row
Halloween week uses a single address twice. On Thursday, Oct. 29, the Share and Scare Ride meets in the alley behind 116 18th Ave NE, and HONNA lists it as a family and kids event. The listing gives no route and doesn't say whether it's on bikes, foot or anything else. Check the details with HONNA before you pump up the tires. The next night, the same house hosts the "Come as You Aren't" Halloween Porch Party, with Frank Hay and Steve Deal as hosts.
Both events come out of the 1996 story. The Times history credits the neighborhood's Halloween reputation to two residents on bicycles, a contest that grew one house at a time, and neighbors handing out candy from their porches as crowds arrived. We found no source confirming whether the decoration contest will run in 2026, so treat it as history until HONNA announces it.
How a Porch Party Works
The monthly porch party is the neighborhood's longest-running social format. Its most direct record dates to at least 2011, when a Patch listing called the gatherings a way for neighbors to get together. That listing said cups, ice and light snacks were provided and suggested walking or riding over together. It also asked residents to volunteer their own front porches. Hosting has been a matter of a neighbor raising a hand, not a venue booking.
Today, HONNA lists porch-party entry as a membership benefit. Membership is voluntary for Historic Old Northeast residents and comes in three household tiers:
- $50 for one year
- $100 for three years
- $500 for 15 years
The membership page doesn't spell out a policy for non-members, and we found no current statement on food or drinks beyond the older Patch description. If you're new to the neighborhood and planning to go to Susan and Larry Wildes' porch at 105 17th Ave NE on Nov. 20, it makes sense to sort out membership first.
Four days before that, the Nov. 16 quarterly meeting at Westminster Palms is the season's one business event. It's also the most direct place to ask how the December tour is coming together.
The Candlelight Tour Opens the Houses Themselves
The Dec. 6 Candlelight Tour of Homes goes one step further than the porch parties. Residents open their interiors, and ticket sales fund the trees outside. HONNA has confirmed the date and the 3–8 p.m. window for 2026. Homes, ticket price and check-in location haven't been posted yet.
What we can describe is last year's version. The 2025 tour was the 26th edition and featured seven homes, five from the 1920s and two from the 1940s. Styles included Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Craftsman Bungalow and Florida Ranch. The homes ranged "from 'modest to mansion'" and stretched from 9th Avenue to 28th Avenue. One was in the Granada Terrace local historic district, and trolleys carried guests between houses. The headline stop was a newly restored home that Babe Ruth and his family lived in during 1935, his last spring training as a player.
The tour also came back from a gap. Nick Bell, then president of the association, put it this way in the 2025 announcement:
"Last year's Candlelight Tour was cancelled due to the hurricanes. So, we're pleased to once again treat local residents to a favorite holiday tradition."
In HONNA's description, the money from the tour helps replenish the neighborhood's tree canopy, and part of it goes to Friends of Strays and Pet Pal. Last year's tickets cost $35, went on sale the first week of November, and weren't sold on tour day. Guests picked up guidebooks and wristbands at Westminster Palms, 939 Beach Drive NE. If 2026 follows that schedule, tickets would open about a month from now. That's an assumption based on last year, not an announcement.
The 4th Street Edge Is Shifting
Last year the tour also depended on businesses along 4th Street N. Besides online sales at honna.org, cash-or-check tickets were sold at Marion's at 1301 4th St N, Sunken Gardens at 1825 4th St N, and Old Northeast Rally Station at 2131 4th St N. HONNA hasn't said where tickets will be sold this year.
The corridor itself has changed since last December. The Blend Coffee & Cocktails closed its original shop at 1211 4th St N at the end of July after six years. That was about nine months after the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, Patch reported. The owners' farewell post thanked neighbors "for every person who walked through those doors over the years," and the chain's Magnolia Heights and 34th Street N locations are still open.
Farther south on the same street, Carúpano Kitchen plans to open by mid-November at 1040 4th St N, according to St. Pete Rising. It's a 1,070-square-foot space that used to hold a catering kitchen and, before that, Urban Canning Company. Andrea Osorio launched the arepa and empanada concept at the Foodie Labs incubator in 2025 with her mother, Diann Cedeño, and her wife, Lauren Haley. For anyone trying an arepa for the first time, Osorio recommends La Pelúa, filled with slow-cooked shredded beef and gouda. The arepas and empanadas are naturally gluten-free. Mid-November is the owners' target, not a confirmed date. If it holds, the restaurant would open a few days before the Nov. 20 porch party.
The other big fall routine starts outside the neighborhood. The Saturday Morning Market's main season came back to Al Lang Stadium, 230 1st Street SE, on Oct. 3. It runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through May. That's the same stadium as the Oct. 17 Rowdies fundraiser, so that Saturday has a market in the morning and a match at night at one address.
If you're trying to decide between porch-party season and listing your home, or you'd like to know how a historic Old Northeast house reads to buyers before it opens for a tour, Silver and Welch Collective is glad to talk it through with no pressure. Schedule a free consultation.
