"Everyone, including adults, must have paid admission for entry." That line is on the St. Louis County Parks registration page for the Jack O'Lantern Trail at Faust Park. The page lists the price as $12 in advance for everyone age 2 and up, and it says preregistration is required and space is very limited.
The trail runs six days after the Chesterfield Fall Festival, which is free and starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2026. The city's free walk-up events are winding down. What comes next is run by the county park and the Missouri Botanical Garden, and much of it needs a ticket.
Saturday Is the Last Date on the Amphitheater's Calendar
Right now the Chesterfield Amphitheater events page lists exactly one event, and it's the Fall Festival. Nothing else is posted for the rest of 2026. The city could still add a date. As of this week, though, October 17 is the amphitheater's final listing of the year.
The festival's schedule is short and specific:
- 1:00 p.m. The festival grounds open.
- 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Russo & Co. plays.
- 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Box of Chocolates plays the main stage.
- All afternoon: carnival rides, a petting zoo, an inflatable obstacle course, a Clydesdale meet and greet, face painters, a pumpkin patch and a hayride.
The food lineup is long enough to make it a meal. Arch Italian Ice, Classic Red Hots Catering, Cluck, Oink, Moo Sliders, Eb's Tasty Treats, Fries & Fire, Philly Pretzel Factory, Ray Ray's Kettle Corn & Funnel Cake, Seb & Jams Bakery, Spellbound Sips, Theos Gyros and Travelin' Tom's Coffee are all on the list. Craft and market vendors will be there too, and Books & Baskets is one of them.
The city's other free family event this fall already happened. Trucks and Treats took over Central Park at 16365 Lydia Hill Drive on Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It had maintenance trucks, emergency vehicles and other machines on display, plus a quiet hour from 10 to 11 a.m. with no horns or sirens. With that event done, Saturday's festival is the only free city event left on the calendars we checked.
The Night Before Belongs to the Butterfly House
The handoff to Faust Park actually starts on Friday, a day before the festival. On October 16, the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House hosts Wicked Wings and Wine from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for adults 21 and older. The Butterfly House sits inside Faust Park, the St. Louis County park off the Olive-Clarkson exit of I-64. That makes October 16 and 17 a two-day stretch with two very different events. Friday evening is an adults-only event at the county park. Saturday afternoon is the free family festival at the city amphitheater.
During the day, the Butterfly House is running BOOterfly House every day from October 1 to October 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's a Halloween version of the regular exhibit. Scorpions and tarantulas get the spotlight, the Tropical Conservatory shows off carnivorous plants, and the Owl Butterfly is one of the featured species. BOOterfly House is included with regular Butterfly House admission and free for Garden members. So it costs the same as any other visit. Its last day is Halloween, and the daytime hours make it a different outing from the evening events.
Six Days Later, Everyone Needs a Time Slot
The Jack O'Lantern Trail is where the ticketing matters most. St. Louis County Parks has sessions on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, 2026. Entry is sold in half-hour windows, starting with a 6:00 to 6:29 p.m. slot on Friday.
| Friday, Oct. 23 | Saturday, Oct. 24 | |
|---|---|---|
| First entry window | 6:00 p.m. | 4:30 p.m. |
| Last entry window | 7:30 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. |
| Price | $12 in advance, ages 2 and up | $12 in advance, ages 2 and up |
Children under 2 get in free, and that's the only exception. For example, two adults and two kids over 2 pay $48 before anyone gets a piece of candy. At the festival the Saturday before, the same family walks in for free.
The ticket covers the whole evening at Faust Park. Kids trick-or-treat through Faust Historic Village, where the historic buildings are decorated for Halloween. After that come games and activities, a ride on the St. Louis Carousel and a walk through the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House.
One heads-up if you're searching online. The Missouri Botanical Garden's own Jack O'Lantern Trail page still shows October 24 and 25, 2025. Those are last year's dates. This year's sessions run Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, and the county's registration page is where you can see the times and book a slot.
Where the Pastry Stop Fits
The newest food stop near either venue is Dolce Napoli. It's the Napoli Group's gelato and Italian pastry shop at 17089 N. Outer 40 Road in The District, a stone's throw from Napoli Bros. Pizza and Pasta. St. Louis Magazine's early-October openings roundup gives the opening date as September 2.
St. Louis Magazine reported that the shop will serve about 13 gelato flavors, including pistachio and cherry, along with Italian pastries, cookies, bread and a few sandwiches. On weekends it plans pastry specials such as sfogliatella, a flaky layered shell filled with ricotta. Pastry chef Meaghan Coltrain runs the menu. She was previously executive pastry chef at Niche Food Group. The shop is also the commissary for all six Napoli restaurants, with a 2,100-square-foot kitchen in back.
The hours affect your plans. Dolce Napoli is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. On festival Saturday, it closes at 6 p.m., the same time Box of Chocolates wraps up. Stop by before the music if you want a pastry. On trail Friday, the shop closes at 6 p.m., the start of the first entry window. A gelato before your slot only works if you go in the afternoon.
Marble Slab Creamery is another dessert option that opened this season. It's at 128 Hilltown Village Center and opened August 20.
The Calendar From Here to Late November
Here's how the rest of the season lines up, in order:
- Through October 31: BOOterfly House runs daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House. It's included with admission.
- Friday, October 16: Wicked Wings and Wine runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Butterfly House, for ages 21 and up.
- Saturday, October 17: The Chesterfield Fall Festival at the Chesterfield Amphitheater is free and opens at 1 p.m.
- Friday, October 23: The Jack O'Lantern Trail at Faust Park has entry windows from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance.
- Saturday, October 24: The Jack O'Lantern Trail has entry windows from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance.
- November 23 through January 3, 2027: Enchanted Fairy Gardens runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Butterfly House.
Enchanted Fairy Gardens is the next dated Faust Park event we found after the trail. It's scheduled for November 23, 2026, through January 3, 2027. We couldn't confirm a 2026 date for Chesterfield's holiday tree lighting or the end of the farmers market season, so neither one is on this list. Between October 24 and November 23, nothing on the calendars we checked has a confirmed date. For more about the area, our Chesterfield neighborhood page has an overview, and our summer roundup covers what the amphitheater and Faust Park ran earlier this year.
Following the calendar this closely, like knowing which weekends need a ticket and which ones are free, is the kind of local tracking the Becky O'Neill Power Home Selling Team does for every listing in Chesterfield and the West County suburbs. If you're wondering what your home is worth heading into the holiday season, Get Your Home Value and we'll put together a number based on what's actually selling near you.
