The biggest event in Richmond this weekend is downtown. The Richmond Folk Festival runs Friday through Sunday, October 9 to 11, 2026, on the historic riverfront. It is free and it lasts three days. After that, the season gets much closer to Wyndham. Most of the October-to-December calendar that matters to a household on Pouncey Tract or Nuckols Road happens at Deep Run Park, Short Pump Park and the Twin Hickory Area Library. The restaurants that opened around Short Pump this summer cover dinner afterward.
The rest of this post goes through that calendar in date order, with the registration dates that sneak up on you.
October Ends at Deep Run Park
Henrico Recreation & Parks scheduled its Halloween evening at Deep Run Park. Trunk or Treat + Movie in the Park is Friday, October 23, from 4:30 to 9 p.m. The county lists candy and a spooky trail before the movie starts. The county event page has the details. It's a weeknight evening, which suits families who would rather not give up a whole Saturday.
That makes one Friday. The weekends on either side are covered by events a little farther from home:
- Awesome Autumn Afternoon at Dorey Park, Sunday, October 18, 3 to 5 p.m., with hayrides, a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo, pony rides and a craft. Henrico's listing has the details.
- Trough or Treat at Meadow Farm Museum/Crump Park, Saturday, October 24, 2 to 5 p.m., with farm animals, treats and pumpkin archery. See the event page.
- Honey Haven Fall Festival, running through October 31, 2026. According to the farm's site, it's open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m., plus Wednesday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. with limited activities. The farm lists a corn maze, a weekly craft show and free admission and parking.
So the last two weekends of October could look like Dorey Park on the 18th, Deep Run on the 23rd and Meadow Farm on the 24th.
The Full Season at a Glance
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9–11 | Richmond Folk Festival | Downtown riverfront | Three days, free |
| Through Oct 31 | Honey Haven Fall Festival | Honey Haven Farm | Wed–Sun |
| Sun, Oct 18 | Awesome Autumn Afternoon | Dorey Park | 3–5 p.m. |
| Fri, Oct 23 | Trunk or Treat + Movie in the Park | Deep Run Park | 4:30–9 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct 24 | Trough or Treat | Meadow Farm Museum/Crump Park | 2–5 p.m. |
| Tue, Nov 3 | Mocktails for Holiday Entertaining | Twin Hickory Area Library | 6:30–7:30 p.m. |
| Fri, Nov 6 | Movie in the Park: Hamilton | Meadow Farm Museum/Crump Park | 6:30–9:30 p.m. |
| Nov 7–8 | LEGO Store one-year celebration | Short Pump Town Center | Store hours |
| Tue, Dec 1 | Charcuterie Boards for the Holiday Season | Twin Hickory Area Library | 6:30–8 p.m. |
| Wed, Dec 2 | Gingerbread, teen penguins, salt dough ornaments | Tuckahoe, Twin Hickory, Gayton | Afternoon and evening |
| Sat, Dec 5 | Holiday Card Making | Tuckahoe Area Library | 2–4 p.m. |
| Tue, Dec 8 | Holiday Express: Three Chopt & Tuckahoe | Deep Run Recreation Center | 5–8 p.m. |
| Thu, Dec 10 | Make a Gummy Wreath | Twin Hickory Area Library | 5–6 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec 12 | Santa Paws | Short Pump Park | 10 a.m.–1 p.m. |
| Tue, Dec 15 | Holiday Rag Wreath | Twin Hickory Area Library | 6:30–8 p.m. |
November is the quietest month in the table. It gets two outings. On Friday, November 6, Movie in the Park: Hamilton plays at Meadow Farm Museum/Crump Park from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Henrico says it is free and that the VA250 Mobile Museum will be on site. The next weekend, November 7 and 8, the LEGO Store at Short Pump Town Center has a one-year celebration listed on its official calendar. WRIC reported the store's opening on November 7, 2025, so this marks a year, not a new store.
Twin Hickory Carries the Weeknights, and the Sign-Up Dates Fall at Odd Times
The parks host the large events. The branch libraries host the small ones, and Twin Hickory Area Library has the most holiday workshops of any branch near Wyndham. The catch is that several of them open registration at times when few people check a library calendar.
The first is Mocktails for Holiday Entertaining, an adult program on Tuesday, November 3, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is required. The rest of the Twin Hickory programs open registration on a schedule, and the dates in this order are the ones to put in a phone:
- November 17: registration opens for Charcuterie Boards for the Holiday Season, held Tuesday, December 1, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
- November 26: registration opens for the teen program Make a Gummy Wreath, held Thursday, December 10, 5 to 6 p.m. In 2026, November 26 is Thanksgiving Day.
- December 1: registration opens for Holiday Rag Wreath, held Tuesday, December 15, 6:30 to 8 p.m. That's the same evening as the charcuterie class, so anyone attending the first can sign up for the second before leaving.
Wednesday, December 2, is the busiest library day of the season across the three west-end branches. DIY Gingerbread Houses is a drop-in family craft at Tuckahoe Area Library from 3 to 4 p.m., with materials provided. Decorating with Penguins for Teens runs at Twin Hickory from 5 to 6 p.m. for grades 6 through 12. Salt Dough Ornaments Painting for Adults is at Gayton Branch Library from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with supplies provided. A household with a younger child, a teenager and an adult could fill that whole Wednesday afternoon and evening. Each event is at a different branch.
On Saturday, December 5, Tuckahoe Area Library holds Holiday Card Making from 2 to 4 p.m. Supplies are provided, with a limit of six cards per person. The library pages reviewed list no addresses or costs, so check the event page before you go.
December Comes Back to Deep Run and Short Pump Park
The holiday season brings the county events back to the same two parks where October ended.
The Henrico Holiday Express is a parade of decorated vehicles from Recreation & Parks, Police, Fire, Public Utilities and the libraries, with Santa along for the ride. The Three Chopt & Tuckahoe night is Tuesday, December 8, from 5 to 8 p.m. The county lists Deep Run Recreation Center at 9910 Ridgefield Parkway as the venue. Varina gets its night on December 9 and Brookland and Fairfield on December 10. Henrico's event page says Santa greets visitors at each night's ending location. It doesn't publish a route or a list of stops, so there's no way yet to know which streets the parade will take.
Four days later, on Saturday, December 12, Santa Paws returns to Short Pump Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A photographer takes free photos of dogs with Santa and emails them after the event. Vendors sell items for owners and pets, and concessions are available to buy. Details are on Henrico's Santa Paws listing.
In December, Henrico's Recreation & Parks events listing shows only the three Holiday Express nights and Santa Paws. Short Pump Town Center's events page hadn't posted a 2026 tree lighting or Santa arrival when we checked. If the mall adds them, they will join a December already built around Deep Run and Short Pump Park.
Dinner Afterward Stays in Short Pump Too
A year ago, a sit-down Italian dinner or a sushi night after a Deep Run event often meant a longer drive. Four openings this summer changed that.
Civita Italia opened in GreenGate at 3401 Haydenpark Lane with a grand opening on August 3, 2026, Richmond BizSense reported. It is EAT Restaurant Partners' first classic Italian restaurant, built from the ground up as a 7,000-square-foot building with a butterfly-shaped roof. Some pastas are made in-house, and diners can watch through the glass of a pasta room near the dining room. At opening, pasta dishes ran about $24 to $35 and entrees $27 to $84. The restaurant planned to serve dinner only for its first two weeks and then add lunch. It's EAT's third restaurant in GreenGate, after Red Salt Chophouse & Sushi and Wong's Tacos.
The same group opened Lucky AF at Short Pump Town Center, 11800 W. Broad St., Suite 1102, on Saturday, June 27, according to Axios.
Kura Revolving Sushi Bar opened September 1 at 11331 W. Broad St., in the former Persis Indian Grill space in the Trader Joe's shopping center, Axios reported. Its conveyor-belt service could make an easy Friday dinner before or after Trunk or Treat.
Lindsey's Sandwich Shop is open at 4336 Pouncey Tract Road, near Regal Short Pump, the Times-Dispatch reported. That's on Wyndham's own corridor, and it could work for a lunch before a December 5 card-making afternoon.
If an outdoor event gets rained out, Great Big Game Show is an indoor game venue on the ground level of Short Pump Town Center near Dillard's. BizSense reported in August that it was set to open on August 15.
Here's how the season could go: Kura before Deep Run on October 23, Civita after the Holiday Express on December 8, and Lindsey's on the way to Short Pump Park for Santa Paws on December 12.
If those Holiday Express lights have you thinking about what your home on the Pouncey Tract corridor would sell for this spring, Option 1 Realty can run a free market analysis before the holidays. You'll see the number, and what our 1.95% listing fee would save you, in time to plan your next move.
