"So I wondered, 'What if you just stick a skeleton on a light post?'" That's how Jenny Starkey, executive director of the Littleton Downtown Development Authority, described the idea behind this October's newest Main Street fixture to the Littleton Independent.
The skeletons are a fun idea, and the way they work says a lot about the whole season. Downtown Littleton's late-fall calendar for 2026 is built around repeat visits, starting with weekly Halloween drawings and running into January. This year, each of those trips also passes near a construction zone on South Prince Street, the street that connects the light rail station to Main.
A Reason to Come Back Every Saturday
Bones About Town is new for 2026. Skeletons went up on Main Street lampposts on October 1 and stay until October 31. Each one has a toe tag you can scan to enter a drawing for a gift card to the Downtown Littleton business of your choice.
The rules reward repeat visits. Each week you can scan up to 25 different skeletons, and every scan counts as an entry. A $100 gift card is drawn every Saturday in October: the 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st. On Halloween, one more participant wins a $250 grand prize. As of October 11, the first drawing has passed, but three weekly drawings and the Halloween prize are still ahead.
Starkey told the Littleton Independent that the goal was to give visitors "a reason to come back throughout October," and she called it a way of "generating foot traffic throughout the district." She also said, "every local purchase helps keep your downtown 'alive'." The program runs on weekly cycles, and the rest of the calendar keeps giving people reasons to come back.
The Older Anchor Turns Fifty
Starkey also told the Littleton Independent that Littleton was already closely tied to Halloween, pointing to Reinke Brothers as a downtown mainstay. Visit Littleton calls 2026 the Haunted Mansion's 50th year.
The two sources give slightly different dates. Visit Littleton lists September 26 through November 2. Reinke Brothers' own Haunted Mansion page lists September 25 through November 1, so the operator's schedule is the one to plan around. The official page also lists weekend "lights on" tours from September 26 to November 1, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those daytime tours give you a way to see the mansion without the full scare.
The downtown merchants' events calendar lists one more October date. Goblin Give Out is on Sunday, October 25, with costumes and candy at participating shops and restaurants. The same calendar mentions the Pumpkin Poles on Main, Alamo and Prince streets as a recurring tradition but gives no 2026 display dates.
The Run From October to January
Here are the listed dates from the downtown merchants, Hudson Gardens and the city.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 1–31 | Bones About Town, Saturday drawings Oct. 10, 17, 24, 31 | Main Street lampposts |
| Sept. 25–Nov. 1 | Reinke Brothers Haunted Mansion | Downtown Littleton |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Goblin Give Out | Participating downtown shops and restaurants |
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Pink Friday | Downtown Littleton |
| Fri., Nov. 27 | Candlelight Walk, 5:30–7:30 p.m. | Main Street and Bowles Plaza |
| Nov. 27–Jan. 3 | Hudson Holidays | Hudson Gardens |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday | Downtown Littleton |
| Wed., Dec. 2 | Sensory-friendly Hudson Holidays night | Hudson Gardens |
From mid-October through Thanksgiving week, the longest stretch with no listed downtown event is the three weeks between Goblin Give Out and Pink Friday. The newest storefronts help fill that gap.
New Stops Between the Dates
A weekly loop only works if there are new places to visit, and downtown added several this year.
Leaves on Main opened September 5 at 2699 Main St. It sells indoor plants and gifts. The Littleton Independent reported that founder Nancy Szilagyi wanted a calming, community-oriented shop and saw a gap for that kind of business in Littleton.
Lewis & Cluck has moved back downtown to 5827 S. Rapp St. after a stretch on South Broadway. According to the Littleton Independent, Steve Skundberg bought the shop from founder Pete McClintock and chose a brighter, newer downtown space to help it grow.
Two other additions sit outside the Main Street core. Hodgepodge Market is a new shop at Aspen Grove, 7301 S. Santa Fe Dr., Suite 110. The city's August business bulletin says it sells antiques, apparel, furniture, décor, snacks, gifts, books and jewelry. With holiday shopping on the calendar, that mix fits the season well. The Midnight Toad at 5302 S. Federal Circle, Suite A, held its grand-opening show on July 10 in the room that used to be the Toad Tavern. According to its site, it offers live music and comedy, pool, darts, karaoke and a full bar.
Pink Friday on November 20 and Small Business Saturday on November 28 fall on either side of Thanksgiving. Both are good chances to visit shops that weren't open last holiday season.
The Night Everything Lands at Once
Friday, November 27 is the peak of the season. Two of the area's biggest holiday events start that evening, and Small Business Saturday follows the next morning.
The city's Candlelight Walk page gives the schedule. The event runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with carolers, dancing Christmas trees, hot cider and Santa's reindeer along Main Street. The parade starts at 6:30. After the parade, Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, and then a drone show flies over the Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street. Visit Littleton also promises free hot cocoa and warm cider and photos with Santa. A 2025 city StoryMap documents one at last year's walk, so 2026 is at least its second year.
Since the drone show flies over the west end of Main, that end of the street is the place to be at the close of the evening.
Hudson Holidays opens the same night at Hudson Gardens and runs through January 3, 2027. It includes a lighted maze, themed displays, Santa, drinks and theme nights. The sensory-friendly night on December 2 has lower music volume and capped attendance. If the crowds on opening night are too much, Hudson Holidays runs for more than five weeks, so there are plenty of quieter evenings to choose from.
Visit Littleton's Candlelight Walk page still said "Please check back in mid-October" under its Know Before You Go section when it was last reviewed. Parking, street closures and transit details for the walk haven't been posted yet.
The Street Between the Train and Main
The transit details matter more than usual this year. The Littleton/Downtown light rail station on RTD's C Line sits near the southeast corner of Alamo and Prince. That stretch of South Prince Street is now under construction.
The city's October 2 bulletin confirmed that construction has started on the Prince Street Link project. Traffic impacts will continue on South Prince Street between West Lake Avenue and West Alamo Avenue through spring 2027, including a major rebuild of the Prince and Church intersection. That end date is later than the city's September 18 estimate of February 2027. The September bulletin also said some impacts "will occur during the busy fall and holiday season."
So the work zone covers the whole calendar above, from the last Bones About Town drawing through the final night of Hudson Holidays.
The finished project should make the walk from the station to Main easier. The city plans wider sidewalks where possible, ADA-compliant curb ramps, bike lanes and upgraded traffic signals that give pedestrians more time to cross. It will also improve connections to Arapahoe Community College and the Colorado Center for the Blind. For now, the city hasn't published a detour plan or a closure schedule for the intersection. Its Cone Zone map is updated weekly and is the best source for current impacts.
The same October bulletin says repairs to the Main/Alamo/Prince bridge fence are nearly done. The city will post on social media when the temporary fencing on the Main Street bridge comes down. The larger Project Downtown work on Main Street itself is still in preliminary design. No Main Street construction closures have been announced for this holiday season. Main Street should be open as usual for the Candlelight Walk, and you'll probably see the construction on your way there.
If you're planning a season of Saturdays on Main Street, or thinking about how a home within walking distance of downtown Littleton would fit your life, Lisa Snyder is glad to talk through what the neighborhood is like week to week. Let's Connect.
