Prescott's Halloween Clock Starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday
"This year the city has taken extra precautions for public safety since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year." That's from the City of Prescott's October 14 street closure release, and the rest of the release explains what those precautions mean. Halloween on Mount Vernon Avenue may feel like a nighttime tradition, but this Saturday the important decisions come in the early afternoon. Traffic control on Mount Vernon starts at 1 p.m. Country Club Drive follows an hour later. Both streets are fully closed to cars by 3 p.m.
If you're driving in, driving out, hosting, or just trying to get groceries home, that hour gap shapes your day more than the costumes will.
Here is how Saturday, October 31 unfolds based on the City's published schedule:
So there's no published end time. If you live inside either zone and need to be somewhere Saturday evening, the real deadline is when the barricades go up, not when trick-or-treating starts.
Mount Vernon is a full corridor closure that reaches into the side streets. Country Club Drive is a single-street closure, and the street next to it stays open but loses its parking.
| Mt. Vernon Ave / Senator Hwy | Country Club Dr. / Park Ave | |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic control begins | 1:00 p.m. | 2:00 p.m. |
| Hard closure | 2:00 p.m. | 3:00 p.m. |
| Main closure | Mt. Vernon from Sheldon St., through Senator Hwy, to Haisley Rd. | Country Club Dr. from Park Ave. to Coronado Ave. |
| Side streets affected | Willis St. and Goodwin St. from Pleasant to Virginia; Carleton St. from Pleasant to Mt. Vernon; Oak St. from Virginia to Mt. Vernon | Access to Country Club Dr. closed at Moreland Dr., Aspen St., Perry St. and Vista Dr. |
| Other access limits | No vehicle access to Senator Hwy at Summit Pointe Dr. or Palmer Pl. W. | Park Ave. stays open to traffic, with no parking from Gurley St. to W. Leroux St. |
Gurley Street stays open to eastbound and westbound traffic throughout. That makes it the dependable east-west route on Saturday afternoon. The Park Avenue no-parking stretch also starts at Gurley, so expect anyone who planned to leave a car on Park to circle back toward Gurley and the surrounding blocks looking for a spot.
The Senator Highway closures matter if you live farther south. Blocking access at Summit Pointe Drive and Palmer Place West means drivers from those streets can't use Senator Highway as their way into town once the 2 p.m. closure is set.
When Halloween lands on a weekday, families on Mount Vernon get home from work and school and the evening begins whenever they arrive. A Saturday takes that brake off. The City says it expects "a higher volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic" this year and asks residents and visitors to "plan their evening accordingly."
The City's plan reflects that. Both closure zones will have a public safety presence, light towers, portable toilets and extra solid waste containers. The Signals AZ 2026 trick-or-treat guide tells families visiting Mount Vernon to expect more foot traffic and limited vehicle access. The City's plan includes no shuttle or designated remote parking lot, and the Park Avenue stretch loses its parking. That's one more reason to arrive before 2 p.m. rather than at dusk.
If you live inside a zone, consider moving anything you'll need that evening, a car parked on the right side of a barricade included, before 1 p.m. on Mount Vernon or 2 p.m. on Country Club. For live updates on Saturday, the City points residents to the Genasys Protect app. Recreation Services answers closure questions at (928) 777-1121 x4501.
All this planning exists because of what happens on the street itself. FOX 10 Phoenix described the neighborhood as 19th- and 20th-century Victorian homes on a leafy hillside, decorated with everything from aliens and zombies to witches and spiders, and said residents had been celebrating for "dozens of years." In that 2019 report, one homeowner said the previous owners left their decorations behind and the current owners add to the collection every year.
The scale is just as notable. In the same FOX 10 story, one neighbor estimated that more than 3,000 kids had come through the year before, and another resident said she bought a pallet of candy. That figure is one person's guess about a year before 2019. The Daily Courier's 2019 photo coverage showed hundreds of costumed visitors on the street that night.
Signals AZ's Mt. Vernon Halloween Town listing for 2024 described residents turning homes into haunted houses and lawns into graveyards, with children and adults both welcome to tour the decorations and collect treats. In 2024, a Thursday, that listing gave a 3 p.m. start. This year the street is fully closed to cars an hour earlier than that.
Country Club Drive is the second destination. Signals calls it an established Prescott Halloween spot where the City is preparing for more trick-or-treaters this year. Its later closure time gives it a slightly different rhythm, and families coming from the Mount Vernon side have an extra hour before the second barricade line goes up.
Some households want the Mount Vernon atmosphere without spending the whole evening in the crowd. Others have kids too young for a long walk on a busy street. The rest of Saturday's calendar works around the closures.
Candy Crawl at QuadCity Christian Church. This free event at 501 S. Senator Highway runs 4 to 8 p.m. with carnival games, inflatables, food and trick-or-treating for kids of all ages. Signals reports free parking at the church. Senator Highway is part of the City's closed corridor that afternoon, so check the City's closure map against the church's address before you drive over.
Boo at the Zoo at Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary. At 1403 Heritage Park Road, kids in costume trick-or-treat at stations around the sanctuary, and guests are encouraged to bring flashlights to see the nocturnal animals. Signals lists admission at $10 for members and $12 for nonmembers. The published times don't agree. Signals gives 5 to 8:30 p.m., with 5 p.m. early entry for families with children 6 and under. The Prescott Valley Chamber's listing gives 5:30 to 9 p.m. Check the sanctuary's own event page, which also handles reservations, before you go.
Safe Trick-or-Treat at Findlay Toyota Center. The Prescott Valley Early Bird Lions Club brings its annual organized trick-or-treat back to 3201 N. Main Street in Prescott Valley on Halloween. No start time has been published yet, so check the venue's listing.
Downtown changes over quickly once Halloween is over. Yavapai County scheduled holiday light installation on the courthouse for October 18 through 23, so the lights should already be up on Saturday night for anyone walking back toward the plaza. The City's Veterans Day Parade comes downtown on Wednesday, November 11, with pre-parade activities at 10:30 a.m. and the parade at 11 a.m. The Prescott Downtown Partnership has its 29th Holiday Lights Parade and after-parade bonfire on November 28. The County lists the Courthouse Lighting for December 5.
For this Saturday, the times that matter are 1 p.m. on Mount Vernon and 2 p.m. on Country Club Drive. Be parked, home or in position before then.
If you own one of the Victorian homes on the Mount Vernon route, or a house on Country Club Drive where the City is setting up barricades this Halloween, you already know Halloween is part of what makes that street what it is. If you'd like to know what it means for your home's market value, Peter Fife is happy to walk through it with you. Request a free home valuation.
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