Every Saturday Left in October Lands in Stowe Park. Main Street Caught Up This Year.

The address is 24 South Main Street. Stowe Park hosts most of Belmont's public events this month, from a Halloween festival to two outdoor movie nights to a Saturday morning litter cleanup. On Sundays the Belmont Farmers Market sets up in the same park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The calendar itself looks a lot like last year's. What changed in 2026 is the sidewalk around it. A sandwich and ice cream shop a few doors down South Main added indoor seating in August. A toy shop opened on North Main. A food truck lot behind a South Main storefront is partly built. For the rest of October, the park is booked every Saturday and Sunday, so those new places sit next to a crowd that keeps coming back.

Four Saturdays, One Park

Today is Saturday, October 3. From here through Halloween, each remaining Saturday has an event at Stowe Park:

1. October 10, 7 to 9 p.m. Movies in the Park shows "Hotel Transylvania."
2. October 17, 9 to 11:30 a.m. Keep Belmont Beautiful runs its Big Sweep fall cleanup.
3. October 24, 2 to 7 p.m. The City of Belmont hosts BooFest, its free family Halloween festival.
4. October 31, 7 to 9 p.m. Movies in the Park closes October with "Hocus Pocus."

The times vary more than the place does. The Big Sweep is over by lunch. BooFest runs through the afternoon into early evening. The two movies start after dark. Each of these Saturdays puts people downtown at a different hour, so the businesses nearby see a morning crowd one week and a dinner-hour crowd the next.

The park stays busy after October. The Veterans Celebration is set for Sunday, November 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Stowe Park's Upper Field, with veteran recognition, music and military displays. The downtown calendar also lists the Christmas Tree Lighting on November 30 from 6 to 7 p.m.

Sundays Run Out on October 25

The Saturday events change every week. The Sunday market repeats, and its season is almost over. The Belmont Farmers Market runs Sundays from April through October. The October calendar lists it on the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th, so four Sundays are left in the 2026 season.

The market's 2026 vendor directory is still marked as under construction. It lists Simply American Dog Treat Company, Roses & Whiskers, Jade and Elise Obsidian Coffee Company and Trinity Family Farms, among others. The directory doesn't say which vendors come on which Sunday, so a favorite stall may not be there every week.

The market doesn't go away for the winter. It goes to a reduced schedule. Its vendor application describes a biweekly Sunday market from January through March 2027, and the market says more details will come at the end of this season. After October 25, the next Sunday market at Stowe Park is set for January at the earliest.

What Moved Onto Main Street This Year

Two of this year's changes are on the same stretch of Main Street as the park.

Two Chicks Sandwiches and Scoops at 102 South Main Street isn't new. It's an established shop run by sisters Rhonda Sparks and Tina Burch. What's new is the indoor seating they added this summer, which the Gaston Gazette covered in mid-August. The shop's own site confirms the expansion. Its address puts it on the same block numbers of South Main as Stowe Park, so you can sit down inside before a 7 p.m. movie or after a long afternoon at BooFest.

Woodson's Toys opened on North Main Street in August and held its grand opening on August 28. Owners Samantha and Kenny Moniz stock toys, puzzles, games and crafts, plus a baby section. Sources give two addresses: the Gazette says 27 North Main, and the Downtown Belmont directory says 25 North Main, Suite B. Look for it on the north side of downtown either way. With BooFest and two family movie nights on the calendar, a toy shop on Main gives a family a second stop on the same trip.

The Lot Behind Everyday Market

The third change on Main is still under construction. Food Truck Alley is a planned outdoor dining lot at 2 Airline Street, owned by Belmont native Alex Hostetler. When CharlotteFive reported the plan in November 2025, the project still needed final approval from the city and was aiming to open before the end of that year.

It missed that date. The latest public update came from the Gaston Alive newsletter on August 18, 2026. It said the project was moving ahead after delays, with room for seven food trucks, a striped lot and power installed. The lot sits behind Everyday Market at 7 South Main Street, and the newsletter listed parking as "TBD." We found no opening date, hours or named trucks published since then. For now, don't count it as a dinner option for a park weekend. If it opens, Stowe Park and two other South Main addresses will be close together, with a cluster of food options next to the town's busiest event space.

Off Main, Two Openings Built for an Evening

Two of 2026's biggest food openings aren't on Main Street at all. They're worth knowing about for the hours after a park event ends.

The New York Butcher Shoppe & Wine Bar is at the corner of Bryant Street and McLeod Avenue, listed at 100 Bryant St. It combines a specialty butcher counter, a market and a wine bar. It opened quietly on January 13 and held its ribbon cutting on January 17. It was supposed to open in late November. Co-owner Antonio Tillery explained the gap this way:

"We were delayed a lot. It just took forever to get things done. It wasn't any one thing. It was just a series of setbacks."

Tapside Pizza opened in early 2026 inside Primal Brewery at 52 Ervin Street. Reports differ on the exact date: CharlotteFive's 2026 openings roundup says mid-February, and its story on the opening says March 3. It's a partnership between Primal, co-founded by Ray Steimel, and ASM Group, the restaurant group behind The Cowfish and eeZ. Before this year, Primal was a brewery. Now it also serves dinner, so you can eat a full meal there without leaving the taproom.

The butcher shop opened about two months after its target, and Food Truck Alley is now well past its own. In both cases, the opening date was a better guide than the announcement.

When the Park Is Quiet, the Conservancy Isn't

The one weekend slot Stowe Park doesn't fill is tonight. Daniel Stowe Conservancy hosts Roots + Rhythm on October 3 from 6 to 9 p.m., with Southern food, bluegrass, beer and wine. The Conservancy covers two more October dates:

• Saturday, October 10, 8 a.m. to noon. The Halloween-themed Jeepers Creepers Race offers 10K, 5K and 1-mile trail options. It's done hours before "Hotel Transylvania" starts at Stowe Park that evening.
• Friday, October 23, 6 to 8 p.m. Vino in the Village pours eight wines with charcuterie and live music, with registration limited to guests 21 and older. It's the night before BooFest.

Put together, the rest of the month looks like this:

The "nearby" column is a suggestion. The event dates and times come from the published calendars. October 25 is the last Sunday market on the Stowe Park calendar until the winter schedule starts in 2027.

The same stretch of Main Street that hosts BooFest and Sunday market crowds is a big part of what people value about living near downtown Belmont. Whether you're thinking about buying close to Main Street or getting a home near Stowe Park ready to sell, The Byers Group can show you how the new businesses and the event calendar fit into your plans. Schedule a Consultation when you're ready to talk it through.