This year, two of the Port Credit BIA's Halloween events take place west of the Credit River at Brightwater Pop-Up Park, at Lakeshore Road and Brightwater Boulevard. They are the Friday night dance party and the Saturday morning dog show. Fall #INThePort and its farm animals are on Brant Avenue. The scarecrows and the trick-or-treat trail are spread throughout the village. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the weekend moves back and forth across the bridge.
The west bank also has more to offer around the events than it had a year ago. Mercatto Centrale opened in March and Coffee at Carlton's opened in May. Nani's Gelato was serving by late summer. None of them has been through a Halloween in Port Credit before. With all three open, a stop at Brightwater can fill an evening.
The week on one page
All dates and times below come from the Port Credit BIA's event pages, including its fall events overview, dated October 6, 2026.
| Date | Event | Time | Where | Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 17 to 24 | The Great Scarecrow Hunt | All week | Storefront windows across the village | Both |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Fall #INThePort | 12 to 4 p.m. | Brant Avenue | East |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | The Big Monster Mash Dance Party | 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Brightwater Pop-Up Park | West |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Spooky Paws Fashion Show | 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Brightwater Pop-Up Park | West |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Trick-or-Treat with Local Businesses | 12 to 3 p.m. | Throughout Port Credit | Both |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | The Great Pumpkin Patch | 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. | Heated big white tent, venue not listed | Not listed |
The pumpkin patch page describes a "fully heated big white tent" but doesn't say where it is. Check the BIA's pumpkin patch listing before you plan the walk there.
This Saturday on Brant Avenue starts a hunt that ends at Brightwater
The scarecrow hunt started on October 17 and runs through Saturday, October 24. According to the BIA, thirty Port Credit businesses have creative scarecrows in their storefront windows. Families pick up a scavenger hunt map at the BIA tent on Brant Avenue and try to find all 30. A finished entry goes into a draw for a Family Prize Pack donated by local businesses.
Fall #INThePort runs on Brant Avenue this Saturday, October 24, from noon to 4 p.m. The program includes live entertainment, crafts, face painting and farm animals, including alpacas, goats and a unicorn. Brant Avenue is the obvious place to finish the hunt that afternoon.
Families who need more time have another option. The BIA says finished entries can also be handed in at its tent at Brightwater Pop-Up Park during the Halloween events on October 30 or 31. So the hunt starts on Brant Avenue and can end at Brightwater a week later.
Friday night at the tent, and the tables around it
The Big Monster Mash Dance Party is the only evening event of the week. It runs Friday, October 30, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The BIA describes a gym-style dance party inside a fully enclosed, heated tent, with bleacher seating, disco balls, smoke machines, snacks and hot chocolate sponsored by Farm Boy. The tent is heated, so it can go ahead whatever the weather does on the last night of October.
Families who want dinner nearby have more choice on the west bank than they did last October.
Mercatto Centrale, 230 Missinnihe Way. The restaurant opened March 13, 2026. insauga reported that it is the Toronto group's first restaurant outside the city and its largest. It covers 8,500 square feet and seats up to 290 guests, with 200 seats indoors and 90 on the patio. A room that large has a better chance of fitting a Friday table for a group in costume than a small village bistro. A private dining room seats up to 18 guests. Studio Munge designed the interior, and a floor-to-ceiling mural based on Botticelli's The Birth of Venus greets guests at the entrance.
Dessert after the dance. Brightwater lists Nani's Gelato, D Spot Dessert Café and COBS Bread among its retail tenants. D Spot is at 215 Lakeshore Rd W, Unit 6, and COBS is in Unit 8 of the same building. The Weekly Sauga reported that Nani's was open in Brightwater by August 25, 2026, so this is its first fall. The dance party ends at 8:30, and dessert is a short walk from the tent.
Saturday is a relay across the bridge
October 31 brings three events in about six and a half hours, and they don't share a location. Here is the order they run in:
- 10 to 11 a.m., Brightwater Pop-Up Park. Dog owners register their dogs for the Spooky Paws Fashion Show.
- 11 a.m. to noon, same spot. The Spooky Paws Fashion Show takes place at Lakeshore Road and Brightwater Boulevard.
- Noon to 3 p.m., throughout Port Credit. Trick-or-Treat with Local Businesses runs across the village. Halloween bags are handed out at the BIA and La Villa Bakery pop-up tents.
- 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., heated big white tent. The Great Pumpkin Patch has pumpkin picking, carving and decorating, face painting, music and art activities.
The trick-or-treat window overlaps the pumpkin patch by half an hour, so families with young children will have to decide how to split the afternoon.
The morning is on the west bank, and two Brightwater tenants fit it well. Bone & Biscuit has a Port Credit store at 175 Lakeshore Rd W, Unit 4, a short walk from the dog show. Mercatto Centrale is the only Mercatto that serves brunch. insauga reported that the brunch menu pairs Italian comfort dishes with classics such as Eggs Benedict and French toast. If you're planning to go after the show, check the brunch hours before you book.
One part of the usual Saturday is gone. The Port Credit Farmers Market played its last 2026 market on October 10, so the library parking lot will be empty on Halloween morning. For produce on the way home from the dog show, Farm Boy is at 175 Lakeshore Rd W.
The fireplace room for the cold hours
Halloween week has two outdoor mornings and one evening in a tent, and parents and grandparents need somewhere warm in between. Coffee at Carlton's opened in May in the Brightwater Experience Centre, Unit 2, 220 Missinnihe Way. insauga described a large room with floor-to-ceiling windows, comfortable seating and a gas fireplace. The café pours espresso drinks, including an Aussie-style cappuccino, and serves pastries.
The café opened in May, so this is its first cold season. The same report says the Experience Centre is meant to be a hub for co-working, social gatherings and community events. The café sits a few steps from the Pop-Up Park, so it makes an easy place to warm up before the Friday dance or after the Saturday dog show.
Where the west bank stands after October 31
The Halloween events are confirmed. The holidays at Brightwater are less settled. When this was written, Brightwater's own What's On calendar listed only two September dates. The Santa, tree lighting and skate trail pages on the BIA site still describe earlier years. The tree lighting and the skate trail were both held at Port Credit Memorial Park in past seasons.
The City of Mississauga describes roughly 18 acres of planned Brightwater parkland, including a 13-acre waterfront park, and is collecting public input on the design through its YourSay page. For now, the BIA is putting events on a temporary pop-up site. The permanent park is still being planned.
Our Port Credit summer guide covered the summer weekends at Memorial Park, and the Port Credit neighbourhood page covers the village on both banks of the river.
The Papousek Team follows what changes on both sides of the Credit River, from the businesses opening around Brightwater Village Square to the plans for the waterfront park. If you'd like to talk about how the new west bank affects your own corner of Port Credit, The Papousek Team is happy to meet. Schedule a private consultation.
