On Saturday, October 24, a brewery's 15th birthday lands on the same day as NoDa's costume run and its ghost tour. NoDa Brewing Company lists its 15th Anniversary Party from 11:30 a.m. until midnight that day. That evening, the NoDaWeen Freaky 5K starts at 5 p.m. and the Ghosts & Legends walking tour begins at 6:30 p.m.
That stack shapes the rest of the month. The other days in the back half of October are lighter, and they're where most of NoDa's 2026 additions sit: a vintage train car you can step aboard, a coffee-to-cocktails bar that replaced a familiar lounge, a deli in an old doughnut shop, and a vinyl listening café on Raleigh Street.
Saturday, October 24, by the clock
These three events come from three listings on two websites, so they're easy to see one at a time and miss how they fit together. Put on one timeline, they look like this:
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 11:30 a.m. to midnight | NoDa Brewing's 15th Anniversary Party | NoDa Brewing, 150 W. 32nd St. |
| 5 p.m. | NoDaWeen Freaky 5K costume run | Starts at Great Wagon Road Distilling Company |
| 6:30 p.m. | Ghosts & Legends walking tour | Meets outside Stu's Barrel House |
| Evening | TRIPPP with Matthew Goodnough, plus Joe McGovern & Painetics | Evening Muse |
The brewery times come from NoDa Brewing's events page. The 5K and walking tour times come from the NoDaWeen schedule on noda.org. The Evening Muse bill is on the venue's upcoming shows page.
The brewery's listing calls the day an anniversary party and doesn't mention Halloween. It runs about twelve and a half hours, though, so it's still going when the runners line up and when the ghost tour sets out. If you live a few blocks away, that's the day to expect the most people moving through the neighborhood at once.
If you want the run, the tour and a pint in one day, the order is set for you: the brewery in the afternoon, the 5K at five, and the tour at six-thirty.
The weekend before is chalk on the ground
The first busy weekend comes a week earlier and at the same address. The free Charlotte Chalk Art Festival takes over the outdoor space at NoDa Brewing on October 17 and 18. Competing artists start at age 12, and a street gallery of chalk paintings builds up over the two days.
The festival's own Know Before You Go list answers the questions a neighbor would ask. Dogs are welcome, parking is free during the event, it goes on rain or shine, and you can bring a blanket or lawn chairs for the astroturf area if the picnic tables fill up. Creative Canvas Productions, a Charlotte company, started the festival and held the first one in 2022.
That means NoDa Brewing is the center of both late-October Saturdays, with chalk on the 17th and the anniversary on the 24th. It closes out the month on the 31st as well, with a free Halloween drag brunch. Doors open at 11 a.m. and the show starts at noon.
The weeknight that's easy to miss
Thursday, October 22, has the newest thing on the calendar, and it ends early enough to catch before an evening show.
Axios Charlotte reported that Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway is bringing its Pinehurst train experience to NoDa. The railway is starting with a free open house aboard Engine Room 87, its magenta locomotive bar, from 4 to 7 p.m. at 409 E. 35th St. The train stays parked. According to Axios, the three-car setup holds about 100 people. It includes a 24-tap self-pour bar with beer from NoDa breweries plus wine and cocktails, an indoor lounge with couch nooks, a canopy car and a rooftop deck above the bar car.
The railway's spokesperson told Axios how the company sees the evening:
"I keep saying it's like a little appetizer. Try it out and let us know what you want to have here."
That's Hayley Coleman Forgo, quoted in the Axios Charlotte story. The outlet reported that the team plans to use feedback from the open house to shape future events. Regular rides aren't expected until spring 2027, when the full fleet, which now splits its time with Pinehurst, comes back to Charlotte. Plans for later include holiday and themed trips, among them a Christmas train to Mint Hill.
If you live near 35th Street, the 22nd is your first chance to tell the railway what you'd like that rail car to become.
Evening Muse also lists a show that night, Adam Paddock with Willingdon and Lauryn Hobbins. On Friday the 23rd it's Fo Daniels with Gavin Kelly. The weeknights around them are open mic nights: Find Your Muse on the 19th, the Poetica poetry open mic on the 21st, another Find Your Muse on the 26th and a comedy open mic on the 27th. Some of the venue's mid-October shows are already sold out, including Tate Butts on the 17th and Maris on the 18th, so check the calendar before you head over.
Where to sit between events this year
Last October, three of NoDa's newer stops weren't open in their current form. All three fit in the gaps between the scheduled events.
- Goodyear Bar, 3024 N. Davidson St. It opened August 27, right next door to The Goodyear House, and serves Night Swim Coffee by day and cocktails at night. It's in the space where Chief's Modern Cocktail Parlor held its final service on August 23. Lauren Long, bar and event manager at The Goodyear House, leads the evening cocktail program, which includes espresso, chai and matcha martinis.
- Olivelli Deli, 3120 N. Davidson St. Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group set a July 1 grand opening in the former Reigning Doughnuts space, Axios Charlotte reported.
- Café Audire, 4090 Raleigh St. This coffee shop and vinyl listening lounge from owner Vishal Sanghvi had opened by mid-June, according to Axios Charlotte.
The Goodyear Bar timing lines up well with the 24th. Chris Coleman, executive chef and partner of The Goodyear House, explained the idea behind it to CharlotteFive at the Charlotte Observer: "You can come in for coffee in the morning, stay for lunch, meet friends for a drink in the afternoon and come back for dinner or a late-night cocktail." That's close to how the 24th itself unfolds, a full day of events.
The last stretch belongs to the kids and the porches
After the 24th, the calendar shifts toward families. The NoDa Downtown Candy Crawl runs Sunday, October 25, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., starting at the Johnston YMCA. Local businesses take part, and there are pop-ups on the YMCA lawn. NoDa Brewing also has a Spooky Embroidery Class earlier in the week, on Tuesday the 20th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Two dates matter if you have a front porch. NoDaWeen's house-decorating contest is judged on October 31, and the signup deadline is Friday, October 23. Organizers are raising money for 35th Street trick-or-treating. The NoDaWeen page asks for help reaching its goal "to keep this tradition going" and links to a fundraiser page. The page doesn't give a separate time for 35th Street trick-or-treating, so watch noda.org for updates.
Halloween night at Evening Muse is DOOM GONG. Here are the main dates for the back half of October, in order:
- Sat. Oct. 17 and Sun. Oct. 18: Charlotte Chalk Art Festival at NoDa Brewing
- Tue. Oct. 20: Spooky Embroidery Class at NoDa Brewing
- Thu. Oct. 22: Engine Room 87 open house at 409 E. 35th St., 4 to 7 p.m.
- Fri. Oct. 23: Deadline to sign up for the house-decorating contest
- Sat. Oct. 24: NoDa Brewing's 15th anniversary, the Freaky 5K at 5 p.m. and Ghosts & Legends at 6:30 p.m.
- Sun. Oct. 25: Candy Crawl, 4 to 6:30 p.m., Johnston YMCA
- Sat. Oct. 31: Drag brunch at NoDa Brewing, house contest judging and DOOM GONG at Evening Muse
Times come from each organizer's listing as of this writing and can change. The NoDaWeen page and the venue calendars linked above have the latest details.
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