Halloween and the Harvest Moon Festival share a Saturday in Franklin this year. Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026 runs from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., and the City of Franklin describes it as "a great full day and night in Historic Downtown Franklin." Three events fill the day, and each one picks up where the last one ends. Each one also sits a little closer to Bayou Teche. The morning belongs to Main Street, the late afternoon to a small park on the water, and the evening to Teche Drive.
Because each event starts as or before the last one ends, a family can treat Oct. 31 as one outing that moves toward the water over the course of the day.
The Day at a Glance
| Time | Event | Where | Hosted by | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 27th Annual Harvest Moon Festival | Historic Main Street, Hwy 182 | The Franklin Merchant's Association | Free; $10 children's activity bracelet |
| 4 to 6 p.m. | Celebration of Life & Butterfly Release | Pocket Park, 716 Main Street, on Bayou Teche | City of Franklin | $20 per butterfly |
| 6 to 8 p.m. | 8th Annual Boo on the Bayou | Teche Drive, along Bayou Teche | City of Franklin | No price listed |
Two times on that chart do most of the work. At 4 p.m. the festival still has two hours to go, and a second event opens on the bayou side of Main Street. At 6 p.m. the festival closes at the same minute the trunk-or-treat opens.
Main Street Carries the Morning
The 27th Annual Harvest Moon Festival is free to attend and runs the full length of Historic Main Street from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Franklin Merchant's Association organizes it, so the businesses along the street are the ones running the day.
The program is long. The listing includes:
- a 5K run/walk supporting breast cancer awareness
- the Running of the Ducks, a fundraiser for the Franklin Fire Department
- kids' carnival games and the Dash for the Harvest obstacle course
- a petting zoo and the Pooch Parade
- face painting and the Scarecrow Contest
- a bass fishing tournament
- the Sugarcane Expo
- food trucks, street vendors and local shops open for business
DJ Shannon and Johnny Chauvin play live music on Main Street. Children's activity bracelets cost $10 for the whole day. The organizers call the bracelet good "for the entire day," so a child who gets one at 10 a.m. doesn't need another to keep playing in the afternoon.
The 10 a.m. start sits a full eight hours before Boo on the Bayou opens, so a single bracelet can cover a long day. The Merchant's Association posts updates on The Franklin Merchants Facebook page. Check it that week before you plan around a specific contest or the duck race.
Four O'Clock, When the Day Turns Toward the Water
At 4 p.m. Harvest Moon is still going, and a quieter event opens at the Pocket Park at 716 Main Street, along Bayou Teche. The Celebration of Life & Butterfly Release Fundraiser runs until 6 p.m. Names of loved ones are read aloud, butterflies are released, and local musician Chase Landry plays. The listing also promises activities for the whole family and says the event is open to the public. T-shirts will be for sale at the park.
Taking part costs $20 per butterfly. To buy one, add a name to the memorial list or ask a question, call 337-828-2678. If you want a specific name read, call ahead. That way the name is on the list before the afternoon starts.
This release hasn't always shared a day with Harvest Moon. Cajun Coast's earlier listings show it on Oct. 5, 2024 and Nov. 1, 2025, with Heart of Hospice–Franklin as host. The 2026 listing names the City of Franklin as host. The city's Boo on the Bayou announcement still calls it the Heart of Hospice Butterfly Release. Both names point to the same afternoon. This is the first year it sits between a Main Street festival and a bayou trunk-or-treat.
That placement changes the feel of the late afternoon. The Pocket Park has a Main Street address and sits on the bayou. From 4 to 6 p.m., the crowd at the music stage and duck race overlaps with a memorial gathering at the Pocket Park. For a family with a name to honor, the release is something to plan the afternoon around.
Six O'Clock Belongs to Teche Drive
Harvest Moon closes at 6 p.m., and the City of Franklin's 8th Annual Boo on the Bayou opens at the same hour. It's a trunk-or-treat along the Historic Bayou Teche on Teche Drive and runs until 8 p.m.
Turnout is the reason to plan ahead. The city says the event has drawn upwards of 4,500 people in past years. That's a cumulative estimate from earlier years, not a 2026 count, but it shows the scale. A two-hour trunk-or-treat with a crowd that size works as a line moving along a route. The city's own wording shows it. Organizers ask the people giving out candy to "help us keep the line moving as efficiently as possible," and say the entrance and route map will be posted closer to the event.
The practical takeaway is to find that map before you leave the house on Oct. 31. With a defined entrance, it matters where you join the line. A family coming straight from Main Street at 6 p.m. will want to know where the line starts.
For orientation along the water, the Bayou Teche paddling trail page from Cajun Coast places the Bayou Teche Boat Launch at the corner of Willow Street and Teche Drive. The same page lists the Grevemberg House Museum, Downtown Historic Franklin and the Franklin City Courthouse among the landmarks along that stretch of the bayou. The city hasn't published how those landmarks line up with the trunk-or-treat route, so wait for the official map rather than guessing at a starting point.
Handing Out Candy
The line runs on volunteers. Boo on the Bayou is open to families, businesses, churches, schools and civic organizations that want to take part. To reserve a space, call Tammy Rogers at 337-828-6350.
The city's request to participants is short:
"We are asking the community champions who wish to register and give out candy to help us keep the line moving as efficiently as possible."
That's from the City of Franklin's event announcement on Cajun Coast. Plan your setup so candy goes out quickly, with nothing that slows the walkers down. Have enough candy on hand to last two hours of steady traffic.
One Way Through the Day
The schedule's own handoffs suggest an order for a family that wants to do all three:
- Morning on Main Street. Arrive after 10 a.m., buy the $10 bracelet once, and spend the middle of the day on the carnival games, petting zoo and Pooch Parade.
- 4 p.m. at the Pocket Park. If someone in your group has a name on the memorial list, walk to 716 Main Street for the reading and release, with Chase Landry's music.
- Check the Boo map before 6 p.m. The city plans to post the entrance and route ahead of the event.
- 6 to 8 p.m. on Teche Drive. Join the trunk-or-treat line along the bayou.
Hardly anyone needs all ten hours. A family with small children might skip the morning and arrive for the last hour of Harvest Moon, then move to Teche Drive. A family there for the 5K or the bass fishing tournament might be done by midafternoon. The order still holds either way. The day moves from Main Street toward the bayou, and joining it partway through just means starting farther down that path.
Main Street Keeps Going Into November
Once the festival packs up, the businesses that hosted it go back to their own calendars. T-Shirts & Treasures at 1726 Main Street has its Holiday Open House on Thursday, Nov. 5, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Cajun Coast's Christmas on the Coast 2026 listing. The shop's event description lists a 10% to 50% discount draw, a free gift with purchases over $10, door prizes every hour and refreshments.
St. Mary Landmarks is also running a raffle, with the drawing set for the Aioli Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 14. Tickets are sold at Chic & Shabby, The French Door and the Grevemberg House Museum.
If you'd like to see more of the historic district the day passes through, Cajun Coast's Franklin Historic District page counts more than 420 noteworthy structures and offers downloadable district tour and Franklin maps. One of those maps is useful on Oct. 31, when the day starts on Main Street and moves down to the water.
At Lori Broussard, I love seeing Franklin come together on days like this one, from the Merchant's Association on Main Street to the families lining Teche Drive. If you're thinking about how life in Franklin fits your plans, from festival Saturdays to quiet evenings on the bayou, I'd be glad to talk it through. Schedule a free consultation and we can start with what matters most to you.
