The first organized costume night of Halloween week in Hillsboro–West End starts at 10 p.m. Thursday, when the Belcourt's last Rocky Horror Picture Show run of the season opens with the shadow cast Little Morals performing in front of the screen. The last event is the neighborhood association's annual meeting at 7 p.m. the following Monday. Halloween itself falls in between.
In 2026, October 31 is a Saturday. Most of the neighborhood's organized events fall on the days around it, and most of them are within walking distance. Here is how the five days line up.
- Thursday, October 29. Rocky Horror at the Belcourt, 10 p.m., 18+. Halloween specials start at Amerigo and Jasper's on West End Avenue.
- Friday, October 30. Vanderbilt's West End Neighborhood Halloween Spooktacular, 4 to 6 p.m. Rocky Horror at midnight.
- Saturday, October 31. Rocky Horror at midnight. Día de los Muertos events at Cheekwood and Nashville Ballet.
- Sunday, November 1. Rocky Horror at 10 p.m. The West End Avenue specials end.
- Monday, November 2. Hillsboro-West End Neighborhood annual meeting and party, 7 p.m.
Thursday starts the week on Belcourt
The Belcourt's Shocktober series ran all month. It included a horror comedy seminar and An American Werewolf in London on October 24, The Witches of Eastwick on the 25th, Altered States on 35mm on the 26th, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse on the 27th and The Babadook on the 28th. By Thursday, only one title is left, and it is the one with the most showings.
The Belcourt's Shocktober schedule lists The Rocky Horror Picture Show with the live shadow cast Little Morals on Thursday, October 29 at 10 p.m. It then plays at midnight Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31, and closes Sunday, November 1 at 10 p.m. Every screening is 18+. That makes four showings across four nights. The Thursday and Sunday shows start at 10 p.m., earlier than the two midnight screenings in between.
Two restaurants on West End Avenue start their Halloween specials the same day. Amerigo, at 1920 West End Ave., is serving a limited "Scare-A-Misu" tiramisu from October 29 through November 1, according to StyleBlueprint's October deals roundup. Next door at 1918 West End Ave., Jasper's has a pumpkin espresso martini on its October menu. It's listed for the same four days. The two addresses are side by side, and both specials run for exactly the same days as Rocky Horror. Neither listing gives serving hours, so call ahead before planning dessert around a 10 p.m. show.
Friday afternoon moves to 25th Avenue
The main family event of the week happens in daylight on Friday, on Vanderbilt's side of the neighborhood. The West End Neighborhood Halloween Spooktacular runs Friday, October 30, from 4 to 6 p.m. at 25th Avenue and Kensington. Vanderbilt's fraternities, sororities and other student organizations host it. The university's listing describes it this way:
"Nashville community members, Vanderbilt alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to bring their children for an afternoon of Halloween fun, including trick-or-treating, a bounce house, festive activities, and more. All children must be accompanied by an adult."
The listing also gives directions. Visitor parking is in the 25th Ave. Parking Garage at the corner of 25th and Highland. From there, families walk to the West End Neighborhood on the east side of 25th Avenue and cross into the WEN Green Space or onto Kensington. Families who live in Hillsboro–West End can walk over and skip the garage.
The time is half an hour earlier than last year. Vanderbilt's calendar shows the 2025 version on October 30 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. This year's 4 to 6 p.m. slot ends before most Friday dinner plans. It also leaves the evening open, and Little Morals takes the Belcourt stage again at midnight.
Friday is the hinge of the week. The family event happens in the afternoon, the 18+ screening happens late at night, and neither one is on Halloween.
Saturday sends much of the calendar outside the neighborhood
On Halloween itself, the organized events in Hillsboro–West End thin out. The Belcourt's midnight screening is the only one listed. The two Día de los Muertos events of the weekend are both outside the neighborhood.
Cheekwood's El Día de los Muertos festival runs Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. It includes traditional music and dance, art activities, altars, murals, food and children's activities. If you want a daytime outing and an evening at home on Halloween, Saturday morning at Cheekwood fits.
Nashville Ballet's Día de los Muertos offers more times. It plays at Studio A in The Martin Center for Nashville Ballet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. On Saturday, October 31, it plays at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., and the last show is Sunday, November 1 at 2 p.m. The two Saturday matinees mean a household can see the ballet and still be back on its own street by early evening.
Monday ends the week with the neighbors
The Hillsboro-West End Neighborhood homepage lists the association's Annual Meeting & Party for Monday, November 2 at 7 p.m. at "The Moxie." The closest match by name is the Moxy Nashville Vanderbilt at Hillsboro Village, a Marriott hotel at 1911 Belcourt Avenue that includes Bar Moxy. HWEN spells the venue its own way, and its events page asks residents to contact the board for details about annual neighborhood events. Confirm the location with the board before Monday night.
The meeting also closes out the association's fall calendar, and that calendar shows what HWEN has been organizing since Labor Day. On September 5, neighbors gathered at 2713 Woodlawn from 12:45 to 2 p.m. for the Jan Bushing I-440 Bridge Dedication. A Community Yard Sale followed on September 19, and a Fall Plant Swap at 3005 Blakemore on September 26. Dragon Music Sunday ran from 3:30 p.m. until sundown on October 4. The annual meeting is the last item on that list. On a Monday after a long Halloween weekend, it's also the event most likely to involve neighbors on a residential block, as opposed to a campus or a theater.
Five days around one Saturday
The week opens Thursday night at the Belcourt. It moves to the restaurants at 1918 and 1920 West End Avenue for four days of specials and to 25th and Kensington for two hours on Friday afternoon. It leaves the neighborhood for Cheekwood and the Martin Center over the weekend. On Monday, it comes back for the neighborhood association's meeting.
Halloween falling on a Saturday is why the schedule looks like this. Vanderbilt's student groups chose Friday afternoon. The Belcourt spread its shadow-cast run over four nights instead of one. The neighborhood association's meeting lands on the first weeknight after the holiday. Even Amerigo and Jasper's run their specials across the full weekend, not just on the 31st. If you live here, you can walk to most of the week's events, provided you plan around the weeknights as well as the holiday.
If your household is splitting the week between children and adults, the Spooktacular covers Friday afternoon, and the Thursday and Sunday 10 p.m. Rocky Horror screenings are the two that skip the midnight start, which still leaves Monday evening free for the association meeting.
If conversations at Monday's meeting about Hillsboro–West End have you thinking about your own plans for the year ahead, Barbara-Keith Payne follows this neighborhood's calendar as closely as its market and would be glad to talk. Schedule a free consultation, and we can start with what you saw on your walk down Belcourt this week.
