St. Mary's Park in Mott Haven will host Pumpkin Palooza on Halloween afternoon, Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. NYC Parks is putting on the free fall celebration at St. Mary's Playground West, with the action centered on the park's basketball courts. No registration is needed, and the event is open to anyone who walks up.

Parks lists the afternoon as a family event built around fall colors and games, and files it under arts and crafts, festivals and fall festivals. The program ends at 4 p.m.

Where to find it

St. Mary's Park sits on St. Mary's Street between St. Ann's Avenue and Jackson Avenue in the Bronx, covering just over 35 acres across the 10454 and 10455 ZIP codes. Parks describes it as the largest park in the south Bronx. Pumpkin Palooza takes place at the basketball courts in the Playground West section, so head for the courts rather than the recreation center when you arrive.

The nearest subway stations are E 143 St-St Mary's St on the 6 and Jackson Av on the 2 and 5. Several playgrounds, a running track, ball fields, handball and tennis courts, public restrooms and Wi-Fi hot spots are all inside the park, according to Parks.

A park with a long playground history

According to the NYC Parks historical sign for the site, the Bronx's very first playground opened inside St. Mary's Park in 1914, at a time when the grounds also held a baseball diamond, two tennis courts and a children's farm garden. Three more playgrounds followed between 1938 and 1941.

St. Mary's is one of the six original parks in the Bronx, purchased by the city between 1888 and 1890 alongside Van Cortlandt, Claremont, Crotona, Bronx and Pelham Bay Parks. The land was once part of the estate of Jonas Bronck, the settler the borough is named for, and later belonged to the family of Gouverneur Morris, one of the authors of the U.S. Constitution. In the mid 1800s the hill was known as Janes' Hill, after Adrian Janes, whose local iron works produced the dome of the U.S. Capitol. The park takes its name from a Protestant Episcopal church that stood three blocks west until 1959.

The recreation center

The park also holds a citywide first. In 1951, New York's first full service indoor recreation center opened at St. Mary's, with a swimming pool, a gymnasium and rooms for classes and community programs. Today the St. Mary's Recreation Center runs daily classes and has a 72 foot pool, and Marvel Comics superhero murals have decorated the building since the early 1970s. The center's hours and programs are on the Parks website.

Plan your visit

Pumpkin Palooza runs Saturday, October 31, 2026, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the basketball courts at St. Mary's Playground West in St. Mary's Park, St. Mary's Street between St. Ann's and Jackson Avenues, Mott Haven, the Bronx. Admission is free and no registration is required. Event details are posted on the NYC Parks event page for St. Mary's Park, which lists any updates before the day.

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