Where Chantilly Gathers Between Halloween and the Luminaries

From late October through mid-December, Chantilly's neighborhood calendar has five gatherings. The Thanksgiving food truck is on Hanover Street, the Maddie Healy Halloween Parade sets up at Shenandoah and Hanover, the invasive-plant workday is at the Chantilly Ecological Sanctuary, the luminary is on Bay Street and the last beautification morning is at Shenandoah and Bascom. Hanover Street and Shenandoah and Bascom both hosted gatherings in the spring and summer too. The Chantilly Neighborhood Association organizes all five. According to its September 15, 2026 meeting minutes, it charges $25 in annual dues, and about 160 homes pay them.

The Same Corners, All Year

The association's 2026 event calendar shows a repeating set of locations.

Shenandoah and Bascom hosts five events on the 2026 calendar, more than any other corner. Hanover Street has four food-truck nights spread across three seasons. Chantilly Park holds the meetings and the family events. In a neighborhood without a commercial main street, those three spots serve as its gathering places.

The 10th Annual Hilly Chantilly 5K ran on Sunday, October 18, and its course connected those spots. According to the race's RunSignup page, it started and finished at Chantilly Park and looped through Wyanoke, Bascom, Laburnum, Saint Julien, Bay, Hanover, Chesterfield, Plaza, Shenandoah, Lorna and Kingsbury. The race benefits the Chantilly Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood calendar's table still lists October 25, but both the RunSignup page and the association's own race page say October 18.

The Association Behind the Folding Tables

The association's September 15 minutes report about $37,000 in assets, $25 annual dues and roughly 160 dues-paying homes. That group organizes a parade in its 27th year, a 5K in its 10th and a holiday market in its 5th, plus a full year of food trucks and coffee mornings.

The same minutes include a request for volunteers for the Hilly Chantilly 5K, the Home Tour, the Egg Hunt, the Gardening Committee and the neighborhood board. The association has also brought back its Yard of the Quarter program, with a $50 gift card for the winner. Nominations go to [email protected]. To volunteer, the association lists [email protected] as its contact.

Hanover Street Gets Two Evenings in Three Days

The last weeknight food truck of the year is Thursday, October 29, at 5:30 p.m. on Hanover Street. Each listing gives it a different name. The meeting minutes call it the Thanksgiving Charitable Food Truck Event, the calendar's month view says Final Food Truck & Donation Drive, and the calendar table says End of Year Food Truck. All three describe the last Hanover Street truck night of 2026, and two of the three include a charitable or donation element. An association post about an earlier luminary describes 901 Hanover Street as the place "where Food Trucks are hosted."

Two days later, on Saturday, October 31, the 27th Annual Maddie Healy Halloween Parade gathers at Shenandoah and Hanover. Two start times are posted. The calendar says 4:30 p.m., and the September minutes say 4:00 p.m. Arriving by 4:00 covers both. According to the minutes:

1. Shenandoah will be closed from Hanover to The Plaza.
2. A food truck will be at the parade.
3. The parade is grouped with the October 29 truck night under the same set of upcoming neighborhood events.

If you're driving out of the neighborhood that Saturday afternoon, plan a route that avoids that stretch of Shenandoah.

A Saturday Morning in the Sanctuary

On Saturday, November 14, from 10 a.m. to noon, the event moves to the Chantilly Ecological Sanctuary. The minutes describe a beautification and invasive-plant removal morning there. A presenter from Constructive Plant Rescue told the September meeting that porcelain berry, kudzu and Asian wisteria are spreading quickly and threatening the sanctuary's native plants and wildlife. He also said the neighborhood is working with Stormwater and environmental organizations on the problem.

Of everything on the fall calendar, this morning has the most lasting effect. The parade and the luminary are over in an afternoon. Invasive vines cleared in November mean less of them in the sanctuary next spring, and new volunteers make a large difference to a two-hour workday.

Bay Street Lights Up on December 5

The 5th Annual Bay Street Holiday Market & Luminary is Saturday, December 5, at Bay and Bascom. The calendar lists the date and location, and the minutes give a 5:00 p.m. start.

The luminary works differently from the other events because it starts at people's homes. The association's post from an earlier year described it this way:

"We will light our luminaries at 4:45 at our homes and then proceed to Bay Street for holiday festivities! Don't forget to pick up bags, sand and candles starting TODAY at 901 Hanover St (where Food Trucks are hosted)."

That post describes a past year. The 4:45 lighting time and the Hanover Street pickup are how the luminary has worked before, so check ichantilly.com in early December for this year's details. In that earlier year, supplies came from the food-truck lot on Hanover, the candles were lit on front walks across the neighborhood, and everyone then walked to Bay Street.

A week later, on Saturday, December 12, the year ends with a 9:00 a.m. beautification morning and coffee truck at Shenandoah and Bascom. It is that corner's fifth gathering of 2026.

What's Changing Around Those Corners

Next year's calendar will happen on slightly different streets. Three changes are planned or underway near the routes used this season.

A crosswalk and new signals near the parade route. According to the September minutes, Phase 1 of a transportation project is a crosswalk over Pecan Avenue at Shenandoah, expected to start in fall 2026. Phase 2 adds signals on 7th Street at Bascom Street and Cameron Avenue and begins after Phase 1 is finished. The whole project is expected to be complete by March 2027. Shenandoah and Bascom both carry much of the year's foot traffic, so this project affects the routes people use to walk to the events.

The arts campus at the end of Shenandoah is closed for construction. For the parade, Shenandoah closes from Hanover to The Plaza. At 2304 The Plaza, Arts+ is turning the former Plaza Presbyterian Church into its Community Campus. Axios Charlotte first reported the project in July 2023. In a June 2026 update, Arts+ said the campus would close at the end of summer to turn the sanctuary into a 250-seat performance space, build a gallery that connects the buildings and makes them accessible, and upgrade existing infrastructure. The update reported $14.2 million committed toward a $16 million capital campaign.

Arts+ told the September Chantilly meeting that construction should take about 10 to 12 months. In the meantime, it is running children's programs, adult music classes, art classes, choir and Kids Night Out at Watershed, and financial assistance is available for families who need help with costs. Arts+ also lists its Uptown Studios and other community partners as interim locations.

A new spot on Commonwealth. For dinner after one of the evening events, Postino Wine Cafe opened on Monday, September 21, at 1606 Commonwealth Ave., Suite 101, according to CharlotteFive at the Charlotte Observer. It is the newest opening near the Halloween parade and the October 29 truck night.

The parade closure ends at The Plaza, the next stage of the Arts+ campus is about a year away, and the Pecan Avenue crosswalk at Shenandoah is due in place before the signals at 7th and Bascom, with the full project set to finish by March 2027.

Jessica Grier follows Chantilly closely, from the Hanover Street truck nights to the street projects changing how people walk between them. If you'd like a local perspective on Chantilly this season, or on what the new crosswalk and arts campus could mean for your part of the neighborhood, Let's Connect.