Pumpkin Carving Near Me in LA: Calabasas Pumpkin Festival

When San Fernando Valley and Conejo Valley locals search for pumpkin carving near me in October, the community celebration with the deepest historical roots is the annual Calabasas Pumpkin Festival at Juan Bautista de Anza Park, located at 3701 Lost Hills Road in Calabasas. Because the name Calabasas literally derives from the Spanish word calabaza—meaning pumpkin or wild gourd—this sunny foothill festival on Sunday, October 18, 2026 turns the entire park into a gourd-themed playground featuring live professional pumpkin carving demonstrations, an open-air pumpkin patch, pie-eating contests, and a craft beer garden.

At the heart of the festival's Pumpkin Pavilion, master Southern California gourd sculptors perform live multi-hour carving demonstrations from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Using sharpened clay ribbon loops, wood gouges, and paring knives, the artists peel back the tough orange skin of massive fifty-to-one-hundred-pound pumpkins to reveal comical monster faces, expressive wildlife portraits, and intricate relief patterns, answering questions from spectators about how to keep carved gourds from shriveling in the dry Southern California heat.

Right beside the professional carving stage, visitors can stroll the shaded Pumpkin Patch to pick out their own carving pumpkins, sugar pies, and warty ornamental gourds, then head to the youth craft and decorating booths to paint or accessorize their finds. Every hour on the main lawn brings classic harvest competitions included free with admission: the messy Youth and Adult Pumpkin Pie-Eating Contests, pumpkin seed-spitting challenges, mummy-wrapping races, and a morning Halloween costume parade.

Food booths and the shaded Pumpkin Beer Garden take full advantage of the calabaza theme. Must-try festival dishes include warm pumpkin tamales steamed in corn husks for $9, pulled pork sandwiches topped with tangy pumpkin-apple barbecue sauce on brioche buns for $15, crispy roasted corn on the cob dusted with cotija cheese and chili-lime seasoning for $8, and thick slices of spiced pumpkin pie with whipped cream for $7. Over in the 21-and-over beer garden, local Ventura and LA County breweries pour frosty pints of seasonal pumpkin harvest ales, Oktoberfest marzens, and hazy IPAs for $11.

If you want a sit-down meal or coffee before heading back onto the 101 Freeway, drive five minutes east along Calabasas Road to The Commons at Calabasas or Old Town Calabasas. Pedalers Fork at 23504 Calabasas Road—a cyclist-friendly scratch restaurant with a creekside patio and in-house 10 Speed Coffee roastery—serves wood-grilled tri-tip tacos for $19, roasted honeynut squash salads for $17, and spiced autumn cold brews for $6.50.

The Calabasas Pumpkin Festival runs on the third Sunday of October—October 18, 2026—from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with gate ticket sales closing promptly at 4:30 PM. To enjoy the mildest foothill temperatures and watch the live pumpkin carvers start on fresh gourds, arrive at the Lost Hills Road shuttle lot by 9:50 AM, walk through the gates at 10:00 AM, and grab a pumpkin patch spot before the 1:00 PM pie-eating contest draws peak afternoon crowds.

Discounted presale tickets cost $15 per person when purchased online through the official City of Calabasas website before 11:59 PM on Saturday, October 17, while event-day tickets at the gate cost $20 per person (children under 24 months enter free). One huge perk of the Calabasas ticket is that it is an all-inclusive wristband: once inside, all inflatable rides, giant slides, live band concerts, reptile shows, and carving demonstrations are completely free with no extra ride tickets required.

The setting at Juan Bautista de Anza Park showcases the golden oak savannah and chaparral foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Surrounded by steep sandstone ridges, fragrant coastal sagebrush, and mature valley oaks, the park's terraced lawns and shaded stone picnic pavilions catch a steady afternoon breeze coming over Malibu Canyon just five miles south, keeping midday temperatures comfortable even when the central San Fernando Valley warms up.

Local legend holds that in 1824, a Basque rancher from Oxnard spilled a wooden ox-cart wagonload of pumpkins along the rocky El Camino Real trail in the western San Fernando Valley; the following spring, thousands of wild pumpkin vines sprouted along the Las Virgenes creek beds, giving the area the enduring Spanish name Las Calabasas. Revived as a modern civic festival by the City of Calabasas Community Services Department and Chamber of Commerce, the event celebrates that accidental two-hundred-year-old gourd harvest every October with historical exhibits and local artisans.

After wrapping up at the park, take a ten-minute drive south down Las Virgenes Road into Malibu Creek State Park at 1925 Las Virgenes Road for a golden-hour hike along the flat Crags Road trail under volcanic rock pinnacles where classic twentieth-century films were shot, or visit the historic Reyes Adobe Historical Site two miles west at 30400 Rainbow Crest Drive in Agoura Hills to tour an 1850 rancho homestead.

Keep a few practical logistics in mind before packing the car. There are no ATMs on-site at Juan Bautista de Anza Park, so buy your $15 tickets online in advance and bring both a credit card and $30 in cash for independent marketplace vendors and pumpkin purchases. The park's paved walkways, shuttle buses, and permanent restrooms are fully wheelchair and stroller accessible, and while personal dogs are not permitted inside the festival perimeter, ADA service animals are welcome.

The Calabasas Pumpkin Festival is a standout Sunday trip for Los Angeles families who love an all-inclusive $15 wristband with unlimited rides, craft beer fans chasing local pumpkin ales in the sun, and curious locals eager to see live gourd sculptors celebrate the city's namesake squash. Open the Karpo APP to check 101 Freeway travel times, lock in presale reminders, and find creekside dinner patios in Old Town Calabasas.