Avon's October Comes Down to Two Crowded Saturdays: How to Plan Hayride Night and Halloween Weekend
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
What happens when two hayride events land in the same town on the same evening? In Avon this month, the answer is a schedule that fits together better than it looks at first. On Saturday, Oct. 10, the Town of Avon's Harvest Hayrides Festival runs from 4 to 8 p.m. at Blue Heron Park. On the same night, Nehemiah Ranch runs Fall Harvest Days from 6 to 9 p.m. Two Saturdays later, on Oct. 24, the same thing happens with Halloween. Washington Township Park and Avon Gardens hold afternoon events whose hours overlap almost entirely.
Neither pair is a true conflict. On each Saturday, one event stays open later than the other. Once you know where the handoff falls, you can plan an afternoon that runs straight into an evening. Most of the rest of Avon's October is weeknight and all-month programming that works around those two dates.
The town festival starts first. Admission is free. The Town lists free wagon rides around the lake plus a separate, longer ride out to an off-the-path area of the park. You'll also find horseback trail rides, bounce houses, a beer garden, the Pumpkin Hill Vendor Area and Pumpkin Patch, a pumpkin drop and splash zone, a photo trail and food trucks.
Nehemiah Ranch, at 1420 N. County Road 600 E., is a much quieter evening. The ranch lists hayrides, hot dogs, s'mores, hot chocolate, a fire pit, games, and a trip to the pumpkin patch where each child picks a pumpkin. Admission is free, with a suggested $5 donation per person. Visit Hendricks County's listing also mentions live music. The ranch's own event page doesn't, so treat it as a maybe.
Here is how the day lines up by the clock:
The two overlap for two hours. If you want both, the timing suggests the town festival in daylight and the ranch's fire pit after dark. If you'd rather keep the ranch to its own night, Fall Harvest Days also runs Saturday, Oct. 17, with the same 6 to 9 p.m. hours. Its first night was Oct. 3.
The two hosts are very different organizations. Nehemiah Ranch calls itself an all-volunteer nonprofit, established in 2009 under the Hendricks Community Foundation and granted nonprofit status in 2015. Donations from local churches and individuals support it, and its stated mission is a faith-based setting for family activities. The site covers 34 acres of woods and farmland with a rustic barn. The town festival, by contrast, is a municipal event with a vendor application and a race attached.
The Town calls the Apple Mash Dash its second annual race. The course follows the Blue Heron Park trails and finishes at Pumpkin Hill before the festival opens at 4 p.m. Registration on RunSignup costs $25 and closes Oct. 10 at 1:59 p.m. EDT. Entry includes a commemorative shirt, a finisher medal, a costume contest, and one hard cider for runners 21 and older or an apple cider for everyone else. The shirt and medal cutoff has already passed. The Town lists Sept. 17 and RunSignup lists Sept. 20, so anyone signing up now may not get them.
The start time is also inconsistent. The Town's race description says packet pickup at 2 p.m. at Avon Town Hall and a 3 p.m. start. RunSignup shows a 2 p.m. race time with day-of pickup from noon to 1:30 p.m. Check with Avon Parks before race day. RunSignup's parking notes say the race starts and ends on the park's north side off Romeo Drive. Runners should park at Avon Town Hall or Avon Parkside Church of the Nazarene, and post-race hayrides take participants back to Town Hall.
If the address 6570 E. U.S. Highway 36 sounds unfamiliar, the park may not be. Visit Hendricks County describes Blue Heron Park as the former Avon Town Hall Park, an 83-acre park directly behind Avon Town Hall. The Town dates it to 2002.
The park's size and layout explain why the festival can offer both a lake loop and a longer back-country ride. The Town says the paved trails cover 2 miles and pass a 9-acre lake and 4 acres of native Indiana prairie. They also connect to a half-mile Story Walk that leads to the library. The park has three fishing areas: Town Hall Park Lake, a small pond east of it, and the 3-acre Sycamore Lake. All three are catch-and-release and require a state license.
Two changes are new since many families last walked the park. With funding from the Parks Foundation of Hendricks County, every trail now has a name and a colored line, and QR codes on the trail signs pull up maps. The trail system is also planned to connect to the new Avon Civic Center/Riverwalk District and the Pickle Patch courts once both are complete. Neither project has a public completion date yet. On festival day, the color-coded trails make it easy to wander off toward the 18-hole disc golf course, completed in 2006, or Trak 36, the free RC track with a covered drivers' deck.
The second crowded Saturday follows the same pattern, this time in costume.
Washington Township Parks and Recreation holds its annual Ghosts and Goblins from 1 to 5 p.m. at Washington Township Park, 115 S. County Road 575. The event includes a mini haunted train, bungee trampolines, bounce houses, candy and food trucks. Kids trick-or-treat at local vendor booths along the path in the upper level of the park.
Boo Bash at Avon Gardens, 6259 E. County Road 91 N., runs from 1 to 6 p.m. and welcomes families and pets. It has a trick-or-treat trail, crafts, photo ops, games, treats and a dog costume contest at 3:30 p.m., with registration on the Avon Gardens site. Avon Gardens also plans for families who need a calmer start. The first hour, 1 to 2 p.m., is sensory-friendly, and the event has a sensory room and a nursing room.
Boo Bash runs an hour later than Ghosts and Goblins, which makes it the natural second stop. Start at the township park when it opens at 1 p.m. and you'll still reach Avon Gardens with time to spare. If your family wants the sensory-friendly hour, do it the other way around: Avon Gardens at 1 p.m., then the township park before 5 p.m. If a dog is coming in costume, the 3:30 p.m. contest is the fixed point to plan around.
Families who want a third stop have regional options the same day. Beasley's Orchard in Danville holds its Halloweekend Oct. 24 and 25, with kids' costume contests starting at 2 p.m. each day. Scares on the Square runs from 6 to 8 p.m. on the Danville courthouse square.
Between the two Saturdays, most of Washington Township Parks' October programming runs on weeknights or all month:
The putt-putt nights start the same week as the first camp session. That means the busiest stretch for weekday kids' activities falls between the two big Saturdays.
The month ends with one event for adults and one for the whole town. On Friday, Oct. 30, Avon Gardens brings back its Halloween Murder Mystery from 6:30 to 11 p.m. for guests 21 and older. The first half of the night has drinks, hors d'oeuvres, a costume contest and the gardens lit and decorated for Halloween. In the second half, guests try to solve the mystery. It overlaps the bat program at the Pavilion Center by about an hour, so one household could split up for the evening.
Trick-or-treat hours for the Town of Avon are 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. For comparison, Brownsburg's hours are 5 to 9 p.m., and Plainfield and Danville both use 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Avon's window is the same length as Plainfield's but starts and ends a half hour later.
I'll be at a few of these events this month, so if you see me, come say hello. If someone you know is thinking about a move in Avon, I'm always happy to help them figure out which neighborhoods are closest to the parks they'll actually use. Scott Harmeyer is here when you're ready. Book a consultation.
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