Where does Greenwood trick-or-treat when the sun is still up? For more than 30 years, the PhinneyWood business district has answered with a daytime trick-or-treat on the Saturday closest to Halloween. Most years that Saturday falls a few days before or after the holiday. In 2026, October 31 is a Saturday.
So this year, the Ave's version of Halloween and the real one fall on the same day. From noon to 3 p.m. on October 31, participating businesses on Greenwood Avenue between 67th and 87th will hand out treats. Look for the Participating Business sign in the window. The Phinney Neighborhood Association's Hunger Goblin' Trick or Treat & Food Drive is free. The food drive behind it has already started, and much of October on the Ave connects back to it.
A trick-or-treat that turned into a food drive
The PNA changed the event in 2013. The daytime trick-or-treat became a food drive for FamilyWorks in Wallingford, and the name Hunger Goblin' came with it. The PNA's event page also mentions working with Phinney Ridge Lutheran to support that church's Community Food Pantry.
FamilyWorks runs food banks in both Wallingford and Greenwood. Its shelves rotate through fresh produce, meat, dairy, baby supplies, and diabetic and low-salt items, plus vegan, vegetarian and culturally specific foods when it can get them. FamilyWorks says anyone can shop there regardless of zip code or income, and it never asks for ID.
That changes what the trick-or-treat is for. The event page says the neighborhood donated more than 1,500 pounds of food in 2022, the most recent total it lists. The candy route on the 31st is the end of a collection that runs all month.
The boxes are already out
All through October, decorated donation boxes sit in businesses around the district, collecting healthy, non-perishable food for FamilyWorks. The PNA lists these drop-off points:
| Drop-off point | Address |
|---|---|
| Kym's Kiddy Corner | 6701 Greenwood Ave N |
| PNA Phinney Center, Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Co-op, Ballard Preschool Co-op | 6532 Phinney Ave N |
| Ken's Market | 7231 Greenwood Ave N |
| PNA Whittier Kids | 1320 NW 75th St |
| Illumination Learning Studios | 7720 Greenwood Ave N |
| The Seattle Public Library, Greenwood Branch | 8016 Greenwood Ave N |
| Half Moon Bouldering | 124 N 85th St |
| Greenwood Senior Center | 525 N 85th |
| Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery | 8570 Greenwood Ave N |
| Kiddie Academy | 8701 Greenwood Ave N |
The list covers a lot of ground. It includes a climbing gym, a library branch, a senior center, a grocery store, several preschools and a brewery. The PNA's page points people to Ken's Market for anyone who wants to buy something to donate. That means you can shop for the food drive and drop it off in the same building.
Most of the drop-off points fall within the same stretch of Greenwood Avenue the trick-or-treat route covers on the 31st. A family walking that route can bring a bag of cans and leave with a bag of candy.
Flying Bike holds the 85th Street end
The north end of the route is busy this month. Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery at 8570 Greenwood Ave N calls itself a democratically run cooperative, owned and operated by its members. It has a donation box this month. On October 17, it also hosts A la Mode Pies for two Thanksgiving pie-and-beer tastings in its Aviator Alcove.
Those tastings have a back story. A la Mode served its last slice on Phinney in August 2023, when Homestead Community Land Trust redeveloped the property into permanent affordable housing. The pie shop is now building its new flagship café on the ground floor of the new Woodland View Apartments at 59th and Phinney, the same corner where it opened in 2011. According to PhinneyWood's September 25 report, permitting delays pushed the expected opening from this November to January 2027. Owner Chris Porter, who goes by the Pie Guy, still plans to sell pies on that corner during Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving preorders opened October 1.
"This year, our holiday pie sales are doing double duty," Porter told PhinneyWood. "Every pie ordered helps cover the real cost of bringing this space back to life."
The October 17 sessions run 5 to 6:30 p.m. and 7 to 8:30 p.m., with 16 seats each at $50 a ticket. Guests get a first taste of four new pies on this year's Thanksgiving menu, each paired with a Flying Bike beer.
A few blocks west, Chuck's Hop Shop Greenwood at 656 NW 85th St keeps up its weekly routine. Geeks Who Drink trivia runs Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m., and music bingo runs Wednesdays over the same hours. Both are free and all ages.
What's different on the Ave since last Halloween
The route has changed a bit since last year. The 8000 block lost a taproom. Snapshot Brewing poured its last pint at 8005 Greenwood Ave N on Saturday, August 15, after operating there since 2018. The brewery had just finished a new production facility in Shoreline that lets it brew nearly ten times as much as before. Owner Taylor McAtee explained the move to the Washington Beer Blog:
"It's important to remember that while we're closing a taproom, this is really a growth story. Our new production brewery allows us to produce nearly ten times as much beer as before, putting us in a position to serve many more wholesale accounts throughout the Seattle area."
Snapshot's own notice says it chose not to renew the Greenwood lease. The notice doesn't say what comes next for the space.
The 8500 block, meanwhile, is filling in around Flying Bike. Boba Buddies, the second location of a Silverdale shop from Nina Yoon, is at 8551 Greenwood Ave N, Unit 2. Yoon is opening it with Anahi Tat, her best friend of more than 20 years. The Greenwood menu adds musubi to the drinks the Silverdale shop already serves. An event listing advertised the shop's official grand opening for Saturday, September 12, at 11 a.m. Yoon grew up in Shoreline. She told What Now Seattle that she wants regulars: "I want to know our customers, see familiar faces, and become part of the neighborhood."
Across the street, at 8556 Greenwood Ave N, Molainín Distilling announced plans this summer. It plans to be a craft distillery and cocktail bar serving its own spirits, local beer and pub food such as steak-and-ale pies, grilled cheese and roast potatoes. In July, What Now Seattle reported a target of the first weekend of August. An undated hiring post for the kitchen says it is "opening at the end of October," so check its own channels before you walk over.
Greenwood businesses have also shown they can run a neighborhood event on their own. In August, PhinneyWood announced the first Greenwood Dog Pawrade, with stops at RidgeWood Bottle & Tap, Holy Mountain and Phinney Station. Hunger Goblin' is the older tradition, and this year it has the holiday itself on its side.
The weeks around the 31st
Here's the rest of October around the trick-or-treat route:
- Tuesdays and Wednesdays: Trivia and music bingo at Chuck's Hop Shop Greenwood.
- October 7: Smoke on the Mountain opens at Taproot Theatre in the Isaac Studio Theatre and runs through November 7.
- October 17: Conscience ends its Taproot run, which started September 16. The same evening, A la Mode and Flying Bike hold their two pie-and-beer sessions.
- October 24: The Couth Buzzard holds a Spooky Craft Fair.
- October 31: Hunger Goblin' runs on Greenwood Avenue from noon to 3 p.m. The same day, the Couth Buzzard's calendar lists a Silent Horror Movie Night with Nosferatu from 1922 and Faust from 1926.
- November 14: The PNA's Winter Beer Taste, a 21-and-over fundraiser with more than 25 breweries and cideries, runs 7 to 10 p.m. at 6532 Phinney Ave N.
The food drive boxes stay out until the end of the month, so October 31 is the last day to drop off donations, the same day as the trick-or-treat.
If you're mapping out a route for the 31st, with a stop at a donation box and a pie preorder in, and you'd like to talk about life in Greenwood, Mel Parsons Homes is happy to hear from you. Let's Connect.
