From Elawa Farm to Market Square: Lake Forest's Calendar From Late October to the Tree Lighting
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Over the next five weeks, Lake Forest's events move steadily closer to downtown. This Saturday they are at Elawa Farm on Middlefork Drive and at Gorton Center on East Illinois Road. Next week they move to the Mellody Farm preserve on Waukegan Road and to the Library. Through November, most of the calendar sits in one room at the History Center on Deerpath. On Friday, November 27, it all comes together in Market Square for the 42nd Annual Tree Lighting.
The season opens with two events that both start at 10 a.m. and end two hours apart.
At Gorton Center, 400 East Illinois Road, the free Trunk or Treat Free Community Event runs from 10 a.m. to noon. Registration is required, and the listing warns that weather may cancel it, so check before you leave the house.
At Elawa Farm, 1401 Middlefork Drive, the Fall Fest runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free and the festival is open to the public. Some experiences, food, drinks and activities cost extra. The farm's list includes caramel-apple decorating, face painting, games, a skeleton scavenger hunt and two Halloween story times. For adults there are tarot readings and aura photography. Visit Lake County's 2026 listing adds hot cider and cocoa, fall cookies, mulled wine and seasonal cocktails, and confirms the October 24, 2026 date.
Gorton closes two hours before Elawa does, so you can do both in one morning:
Elawa's regular programs keep running alongside the festival. Yoga on the Farm, Hooves & Hugs and Feathery Friends all need advance registration and can sell out. If one of those is the reason for your trip, book it this week.
The night before, Friday, October 23, Lake Forest College is hosting a Musical Salon featuring Kyle Ray and His Band from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel, with a reception afterward at Glen Rowan House. The college's listing says Lake Forest community members are welcome. The college's 2026 Family Weekend runs October 23 to 25, so expect a busier campus that weekend.
After the Saturday double-header, the next week's events are smaller and more spread out, and each serves a different group.
Monday, October 26 brings the Pumpkin Party for ages 0 to 5 at Lake Forest Library, from 10 to 11 a.m. You can register or just drop in.
Wednesday, October 28 is the season's last evening event at a preserve. Lake Forest Open Lands, The LGBTQ+ Center Lake County and Brushwood are hosting the Out Together Fall Campfire from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Mellody Farm Nature Preserve, 350 N. Waukegan Road. It is free, and the hosts strongly encourage registering. The same night, the Library's "Evolution of the Modern Zombie" is a Zoom talk with author Scott Kenemore from 7 to 8 p.m. It is listed under the Library but held online, and registration is requested.
Saturday, October 31, trick-or-treat hours in Lake Forest run from 4 to 8 p.m., according to Visit Lake County's 2026 roundup. The roundup gives citywide hours and does not list a separate downtown event.
That Saturday is the end of the outdoor part of the season. Until the tree lighting, November's calendar is held indoors downtown.
Once Halloween is over, most of the calendar moves to the History Center of Lake Forest–Lake Bluff at 509 E. Deerpath. It hosts more dated programs this month than any other place on the calendar. The Library's evening coloring event on November 2 is the one stop elsewhere downtown.
| Date | Program | Time and place |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 22 | Radical Sisters: Shirley Temple Black, Rose Kushner, Evelyn Lauder and the Dawn of the Breast Cancer Movement | 7 to 8 p.m., on Zoom |
| Mon, Nov 2 | Colossal Collective Coloring | 5 to 6 p.m., Lake Forest Library |
| Thu, Nov 5 | Transformation of the Late 20th Century | History Center calendar |
| Sat, Nov 14 | Local Legends 2026 Honoring Rebecca Makkai | 4 to 6 p.m., 509 E. Deerpath |
| Tue, Nov 17 | Read with Ragdale | History Center calendar |
| Thu, Nov 19 | Lake Forest Transforms America | 7 to 8 p.m., 509 E. Deerpath |
Tonight's Radical Sisters is an online conversation with author Judith Pearson about the three women's advocacy and the rise of the breast cancer movement. The History Center asks people to register in advance.
The month's main event is Local Legends 2026 on Saturday afternoon, November 14. WGN Morning News anchor Larry Potash will interview author Rebecca Makkai. Tickets and sponsorships are sold through the History Center's event page, and a Patron Sponsor Cocktail Party is held the evening before, on November 13.
Five days later, Lake Forest Transforms America is the program most rooted in the town itself. Jim Phelps will talk about Lake Forest business pioneers and their innovations, including the mimeograph and NutraSweet. The event page has a registration link.
East Illinois Road shows up at the start of the season and again at the end. Gorton Center at number 400 hosts the first event, Trunk or Treat on October 24. It also hosts the first item on the tree-lighting schedule, a holiday movie at 1 p.m. on November 27.
The same street has the newest restaurant on this calendar. NBC Chicago reported in March that The Brasserie, the Deer Path Inn's new restaurant, had replaced the century-old English Room. It is at 255 East Illinois Road and serves breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner, according to its own site. This is the first holiday season with The Brasserie in that room. It is the obvious place for dinner on the evenings in this stretch when you are already downtown, such as after Local Legends lets out at 6 p.m.
The 42nd Annual Tree Lighting Holiday Celebration is on the Friday after Thanksgiving in Market Square. Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company sponsors it. The Parks & Recreation schedule fills the whole afternoon:
Rosati's, Left Bank, the LF/LB Rotary Club and Sage Explorers will have food and drinks on site. Aire Serv of Lake Forest-Gurnee will serve hot chocolate and coffee.
Santa's hours matter most for planning. His visits run from 3:15 p.m. to 6 p.m., nearly three hours, which covers the orchestra set, the caroling, the dance performance and the lights. Santa is still visiting for nearly an hour after the 5 p.m. performance, so families can see the lights first and visit him afterward. Families with younger children may want to start with the 1 p.m. movie at Gorton, head to Market Square for the kids' activities at 3, and stay until the lights go on.
If you are setting up your own calendar and wondering how these weekends fit around a move, a listing or a house full of holiday guests, The GGL Group has an office in downtown Lake Forest and is glad to talk it through. Schedule A Call whenever it suits you.