Rockridge has two parades this October, eight days apart. Neither one is run by the city. On Saturday, October 17, Market Hall Foods rolls a giant wheel of Italian cheese down Shafter Avenue. On Sunday, October 25, the Rockridge District Association turns more than 40 businesses on College Avenue and Broadway into trick-or-treat stops. Both events are staged by merchants on the same blocks where you buy coffee every day, and each one uses those blocks in its own way.
The usual outdoor alternative is a short walk up Broadway, and it comes with limits this month. Lake Temescal has a blue-green algae Danger Advisory posted, and one of its trail footbridges is closed for work. In October 2026, the place to be in Rockridge is the commercial strip.
October 17: One Shop, One Side Street, One Very Large Cheese
The Great Crucolo Parade runs from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 17. Rockridge Market Hall calls this year's event its 11th annual parade, held to honor a cheese from Italy's Trentino-Alto Adige region.
The parade has one subject. Rockridge Voice's October 6 preview describes Crucolo as a three-foot-wide wheel of creamy cow's milk cheese. It reports that Market Hall Foods is one of only two shops in the country that sell it. The wheel weighs 350 to 400 pounds. Market Hall's cheesemongers, dressed in Italian clothing and escorted by Dominican friars, push it on a cart down Shafter Avenue while people play music and dance. If you want to walk in the parade rather than watch it, the preview says to arrive by noon.
The route stays close to the market. Berkeleyside's 2023 account followed the wheel from the Market Hall parking area down Shafter to College Avenue, then back to a stand near the cheese counter entrance. That was three years ago, so this year's exact path may differ. The basic idea holds, though: the parade is one shop's loop around its own corner.
After the walk, someone ceremonially cuts the wheel open and samples go out. Market Hall's retail program director gave Rockridge Voice a reason to come early:
"Last year, Market Hall sold half the wheel during the Crucolo event. This year, we expect to sell the entire wheel in a single day."
If the market sells all of it in one afternoon, a cheese that's hard to find anywhere else in the country could be sold out by evening. The same preview mentions Italian-themed samples throughout the market during the event.
The tradition is fairly young. Market Hall told Berkeleyside the giant wheel first came to Rockridge in 2016 and the first parade was in 2018. The "11th annual" label is Market Hall's own count, and the two sources don't explain how those dates line up.
October 25: The Whole Avenue Becomes the Venue
The Rockridge Halloween Parade is much older and covers far more ground. This year is the 34th annual event. It runs Sunday, October 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free. The Rockridge District Association lists trick-or-treating at 40+ businesses along College Avenue from Broadway to Alcatraz, plus costume contests for kids and dogs.
The Crucolo Parade has one center. The Halloween Parade has two hubs about six blocks apart, and the first one is set up for families arriving on foot or by bike.
Halloween Hub #1, Rockridge Library parking lot, 5366 College Ave
- Bike and stroller storage and public restrooms
- Free commemorative trick-or-treat bags while supplies last
- Crafts hosted by the Museum of Children's Art, known as MOCHA
- 11 a.m. Ricky Roo and Friends puppet show
- 12 p.m. Asheba musical performance
- 1 p.m. Librarian Story Time
Halloween Hub #2, College Avenue Presbyterian Church, 5951 College Ave, has crafts and entertainment from noon to 2 p.m. With the schedules staggered, a family can catch the puppet show at the library at 11 and then walk north to the church after noon without missing either.
The RDA lists stops from south to north. Some include an extra activity beyond candy. On the east side of the street:
- Blick Art Materials, 5301 Broadway, with a painting table
- Bambino Thrift Shop, 5290 College Ave, with a prize wheel
- Sweat, 5410 College Ave, with temporary tattoos
- À Côté, 5478 College Ave, and Pegasus Books, 5560 College Ave, as trick-or-treat stops
- Cactus Taqueria, 5642 College Ave, with a Halloween menu item called Little Nachitos and a tamales special
- Starter Bakery Cafe, 5804 College Ave, handing out mini cookies to kids in costume and their parents
That's a little over half a mile of the east side alone, from Blick at the Broadway end to Starter Bakery, with the full list running all the way to Alcatraz. The list can change before the day, so the RDA's event page is the place to check for final stops.
Two Ways the Same Blocks Get Used
Taken together, the two weekends show how Rockridge's commercial district is set up to host its own events. The Crucolo Parade is one business celebrating one product. It starts on a side street and pulls people toward a single counter. The Halloween Parade is a merchant association event with the opposite design. It spreads families along the avenue, uses a public library's parking lot and a church as rest stops, and asks each shop to add something of its own. The RDA also runs other events on the same model. Its Rock-N-Stroll on August 22, 2026 brought an art bazaar, 20+ performances, pop-ups and tastings to the district.
The Rockridge Branch Library appears on the RDA calendar all month, too. The calendar lists "Making Stories" at the branch on October 13 and the California Writers Club there on October 24, the day before the parade sets up in its parking lot.
Lake Temescal, the Outdoor Option With Conditions
For Rockridge households, the usual break from the sidewalks is Lake Temescal, the East Bay Regional Park District site at 6500 Broadway by the Highway 24 and 13 interchange. This month it comes with conditions.
The park district has posted a Danger Advisory for blue-green algae, and swimming is closed. The lifeguarded swim season already ended September 27, after running on weekends and holidays from May 16. So the advisory affects dog walks and shoreline time more than swimming. The district says a Danger advisory means toxin levels have a higher potential to make people sick and the lake is closed to water contact. The posted sign tells visitors:
- Stay out of the water and don't touch scum in the water or on shore
- Keep children away from the water
- Don't let pets go in or drink the water
The district also lists ways dogs can be exposed beyond swimming: drinking, wading, licking contaminated fur or paws, and eating dried algae along the shoreline. A leash and a fresh water bowl brought from home cover most of those. The park pages don't say when the advisory was first posted, so check the Lake Temescal page before each visit rather than assuming it has been lifted.
The trail has its own detour. The second wooden footbridge on the Lower West Shore Trail has been closed for refurbishing since September 10, 2026, and the park page, last updated October 11, says it stays closed until the work is finished. If you drive in, the $5 parking fee applies April through October when the kiosk is staffed, and the kiosk only takes cards or tap-to-pay.
With the water closed and part of the shore trail detoured, Rockridge's two biggest October afternoons happen on the sidewalks. The cheese goes down Shafter at noon on the 17th, and the Ricky Roo puppet show starts in the library lot at 11 on the 25th.
Spencer Mills keeps track of Rockridge's event calendar along with its listings. If you're weighing a move nearby and want to know which blocks fill up on parade days and which ones stay quiet, reach out and we'll walk through it together.
