How many people get to stand in the lantern room of the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast after dark? On Saturday, October 24, the answer is 20 at most. A week after Halloween, anyone who walks in can see the same staircase, and paper marigolds made by children from Manchester Elementary will be hanging on it.
Those two nights at the light station bracket the late-October calendar on this part of the coast. Most of what happens between them takes place in Point Arena, the town next door, and gets busier as Halloween gets closer. Here is the calendar in order, with the details needed to plan around it.
October 24: Twenty Seats at the Top
The Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers call it the Almost Full Hunter's Moon Night Tour. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the tour starts around 6:30. Docents lead the night climb and explain what the job was like for a keeper. At the top, the lantern room looks out over the sea and the coast, lit by the moon if the weather allows. Champagne, sparkling juice, and sweet and savory snacks are served, and every guest takes home an etched Point Arena Lighthouse champagne flute.
Tickets are $50, and all proceeds go to upkeep of the Lighthouse Tower, the museum and the grounds. Because the tour depends on group size, the booking rules matter more than the price:
- Book by phone or in person. Call 877-725-4448 ext. 1 or 707-882-2809 ext. 1. The deadline is 3:30 p.m. three days before the tour, which for a Saturday tour is Wednesday, October 21.
- It runs only with at least eight guests. Below that number the tour is canceled and everyone gets a full refund.
- There's a cap of 20. Once the minimum is reached, reservations stay open until the day of the tour, up to the limit. Walk-ins are accepted only if there's room.
- Cancellations within three days get no refund. The lighthouse asks guests to call the reservation desk three days ahead to confirm the tour is going forward.
On the same Saturday, Arena Theater has Karen Rontowski's psychic standup at 7:30 p.m. That gives the evening two quite different options.
The Weeks Before Halloween, on the Arena Theater Screen
Before Halloween, most of the evening calendar happens at Arena Theater, 214 Main Street. The October and early-November schedule has more range than usual:
- Heart of the Beast: Sunday, October 11 at 4 p.m., and Thursday, October 15 at 7 p.m.
- The Met: Macbeth: Saturday, October 17. The posted telecast schedule doesn't list a start time.
- The Great Dictator: Monday, October 19 at 7 p.m., part of the Freedoms on Film series.
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Monday, November 2 at 7 p.m., also part of Freedoms on Film.
The two Freedoms on Film nights are both Mondays, two weeks apart, with Halloween weekend in between. Standard cinema prices are $14 general, $13 senior, $12 member and $8 youth. On Frugal Friday it's $10 general and $8 youth.
Halloween Weekend Spreads Across Town
Halloween is on a Saturday this year, so the festivities run two nights, starting Friday. Over that weekend the events spread from the Veterans Hall on School Street to the length of Main Street. Every Point Arena merchant shop is decorated all month, and the merchants donate all the candy for trick-or-treaters.
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Fri. Oct. 30 and Sat. Oct. 31, from 5 p.m. | Kidworld, a magical land for ages 12 and under | Point Arena Veterans Hall, 451 School Street |
| Fri. Oct. 30 and Sat. Oct. 31, after 8 p.m. | Dark Park, with live performers, gruesome storytelling, spooky food and adult beverages | Point Arena Veterans Hall |
| Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Spooktacular sale, with bigger discounts the more you spend | Point Arena Lighthouse store |
| Sat. Oct. 31, 4 p.m. | DJ party | The Record Pub |
| Sat. Oct. 31, dusk to dark | Trick or Treat on Main Street, costumes encouraged | Main Street merchants |
| Sat. Oct. 31 | Haunted House, sponsored by Coastal Seniors | Veterans Hall |
| Sat. Oct. 31, 7:30 to 11 p.m. | Halloween with Orchestra Gold, plus Redwood Roots Revival and a costume contest | Arena Theater |
KOZT lists Dark Park and Kidworld as a two-night series. The merchants' Halloween page doesn't give hours for the Haunted House, so check with the Veterans Hall before you go.
The Orchestra Gold show is the biggest booking of the weekend. Malian singer Mariam Diakité and guitarist Erich Huffaker lead the band, which mixes West African musical traditions with psychedelic rock. They've played Newport Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Pickathon and SXSW. Their 2025 album, DAKAN, got a four-star review in Songlines and reached the Top 10 of KEXP's Global Chart. The theater's ticket page has an ordering link but no posted price.
November 1: The Staircase Belongs to the Students
The day after Halloween, the season returns to the light station, and the tower takes on a very different role. Día de los Muertos Bajo la Luna, the Moonlight Day of the Dead, opens on Sunday, November 1, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. It's free. Pacific Community Charter School presents the event, and its students put the exhibit together.
The student art fills the Buttress Room at the base of the tower. Students also decorate the spiral staircase where the Hunter's Moon guests climbed a week earlier, using paper marigolds, pressed tin art and other surprises, and they hang art on the landings and in the Lantern Room at the top. The work comes from students at Pacific Community Charter School K-12, Point Arena High School, Point Arena Elementary, Manchester Elementary, Horicon, the North Coast Homeschool Collective and The Forager School.
The exhibit also has a Community Altar in the Whale Watch Room Gallery of the Fog Signal Building Museum. The public is invited to bring offerings for the altar in memory of loved ones. The exhibit stays up through Wednesday, November 11.
That makes the light station's season two events at opposite ends. The Hunter's Moon tour caps attendance at 20, charges $50 and needs at least eight reservations before it runs. The Día de los Muertos exhibit is free, open to anyone and made by local children. The Point Arena Light Station is private property, owned, managed and maintained by the nonprofit Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers, Inc., and the ticketed night tour is one of the ways it pays for the tower.
What's Still Open After November 11
Once the altar comes down, the Whale Watch Room Gallery keeps its fall show. It's listed as Tempra Board, Iconic Landscapes of Mendonoma, and runs through December 13. In town, Arena Theater's Short Film Festival runs November 13 through 15, with a 7:30 p.m. start on the cinema schedule.
Closer to home, the campground at Manchester State Park is closed for the season. State Parks expects it to reopen Memorial Day weekend 2027 and stay open through Labor Day weekend 2027. If you have family or friends planning to camp near your Manchester home next year, that's the window.
If you'd like to spend more of the fall on this part of the coast, whether in a second home you seldom open after summer or one you're thinking about buying near the lighthouse road, Jeff J Ortman is glad to talk through what owning a home here looks like in the quieter months. Contact Jeff.
