Spellbound, the Downtown Carlisle Association's Halloween week, runs October 21 through 25. This year it lands on a downtown that looks different from last October. A distillery now fills a restored 1890 warehouse on East Chapel Avenue. A cat cafe has reopened on North Hanover under new owners. One address on North Hanover now holds two game shops, and one of them is hosting the week's film festival. Each of these places keeps its own hours, and those hours line up with the event calendar unevenly. The newest bar in town is open on parade night and closed for the rest of the weekend. The best way to plan Spellbound is to start with what's open each night, then add the events.
The Week at a Glance
Here's the full Spellbound lineup the Downtown Carlisle Association posted on October 1, set beside the newer downtown businesses whose posted hours cover each day.
| Day | Spellbound happenings | Newer downtown stops open that day |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Oct. 21 | Pumpkin Patch and scavenger hunt begin | Moon Bird Distilling, 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Halloween Parade at 7 p.m.; East Side Ghost Tour at 7:30 p.m. | Moon Bird Distilling, 5 to 10 p.m.; Gather Your Party, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | Minute Mysteries screening; West Side Ghost Tour at 7:30 p.m. | Gather Your Party, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Coaster Cats, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Spooky Saturday, noon to 3 p.m.; Masquerade Ball; West Side Ghost Tour at 7:30 p.m. | Art & Attire, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Coaster Cats, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Gather Your Party, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Pennsylvania Witches talk at 2:30 p.m.; witch trivia at Molly Pitcher Brewing at 5 p.m. | Coaster Cats, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Gather Your Party, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
Two of the five days stand out. Thursday is the only night when the parade, a ghost tour and the new distillery's tavern overlap. Saturday afternoon is the only stretch when the downtown trick-or-treat and the new boutique's hours share the same three hours.
Wednesday Starts Quietly, and That Helps
The opening day of Spellbound is mostly setup. Merchants put out carved pumpkins for the Downtown Pumpkin Patch, which stays up October 21 through 25, and anyone walking downtown can vote for favorites. The Digital Scavenger Hunt Mystery posts its first clue on the DCA website and social pages on October 21 and runs through November 1. Everyone who finishes gets a prize, and teams that solve the mystery are entered for a grand prize.
The scavenger hunt is the one piece of Spellbound that outlasts the weekend, so Wednesday's lighter crowds are a good time to get ahead on clues. The DCA's calendar also lists a Spooky Social with Carlisle Has Pride on Wednesday.
Thursday Is Moon Bird's Night
The Sentinel reported that Moon Bird Distilling opened August 31 at 12 E. Chapel Ave. It serves spirits, cocktails and brick-oven pizza, and the co-owners are Eric Storms and Kathleen Calvert.
The building has a long backstory. According to Moon Bird's own history of the property, McClellan Zinn built a warehouse for his farm implements business at 12 East Chapel Avenue in 1890 and added a showroom at 133 South Hanover Street five years later. Eric and Kathleen bought what the distillery calls the condemned and blighted McClellan Place in 2014. They got zoning approval for a craft distillery in 2019, started distilling in 2024, and finished the 12-year revitalization this year.
For Spellbound, the schedule matters most. The tavern currently lists Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., and is closed Friday through Sunday. The site also says hours "will be extended in coming weeks," so a quick check before heading out is a good idea. Under the posted schedule, Thursday, October 22, is the last Spellbound night the tavern is open.
Thursday also happens to be the busiest night of the week. Carlisle Parks and Recreation's annual Halloween Parade steps off at 7 p.m., and the DCA calls it the premiere Halloween parade in the area. At 7:30 p.m., Jennifer from Timekeeper Tours leads her East Side Ghost Tour. Like all her Spellbound tours, it runs 90 minutes and costs $15 per person, with tickets through timekeepertours.com. The tour starts while the parade may still be going, so you'll probably pick one. Either way, Moon Bird stays open until 10, which leaves time for pizza and a cocktail afterward.
Friday Moves to 219 North Hanover
Friday's anchor is Minute Mysteries, Carlisle's mystery and macabre film festival, which returns October 23. This year's theme is Transformation. Films run one to three minutes, and the DCA asks for original work with no generative AI scripts, video, imagery or voices. John-Paul Checkett hosts again. Filmmakers have until October 18 to submit.
The public screening is at Gather Your Party Games, 219 N. Hanover St., with a red carpet before the films and a goody bag for each featured filmmaker. Gather Your Party is a game and hobby shop selling board games, trading cards, role-playing games and accessories, and it has a community and event hall. That hall is why a film festival fits there. The shop stays open until 10 p.m. on Fridays.
The same address now has a second game shop. The Sentinel reported that Let's Replay, a video game shop owned by Anna and Jeffrey Pyatt, opened April 18 at 219 N. Hanover St., Rear #1. Between them, the two shops have turned one building on North Hanover into a small gaming hub.
Friday night also has the first West Side Ghost Tour at 7:30 p.m. Each night's tour starts after the previous night's has finished, so one long weekend is enough to cover both sides of downtown.
Saturday Runs on a Three-Hour Window
Spooky Saturday runs October 24 from noon to 3 p.m. It's a downtown-wide trick-or-treat for kids 12 and under, with costumed kids collecting candy from participating businesses. The DCA releases its map of participating businesses on Friday, October 23, and paper copies are available at the Halloween House on the Square starting at noon Saturday. Until that map is out, there's no way to know which of the newer shops will hand out candy.
What's already known is when they're open. Art & Attire Boutique at 30 W. Pomfret St. lists Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which covers the full trick-or-treat window. The Sentinel reported that owner Jessica Whysong took over the former Pat Craig Studios space for the boutique.
On North Hanover, the newer spots sit within a few blocks of each other.
- Coaster Cats Cat Cafe, 150 N. Hanover St. This is the former Round-A-Bout Bagels cat cafe, reopened under Roxy and Nick Moseley, according to The Sentinel. Weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Nesta's Jamaican Food & Desserts, 204 N. Hanover St. Owner Edith Proctor moved her food truck business into the former Nonna Ilva space and opened March 13, The Sentinel reported.
- Gather Your Party Games and Let's Replay, 219 N. Hanover St. Gather Your Party is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays.
Saturday night is for adults. The Downtown Carlisle Masquerade Ball is an 18+ event held outdoors in the Pocket Park and parking lot of the Cumberland County Historical Society, with live music, food and drinks, and readings. Getting in takes a ticket, a mask and the answer to a question that comes with your ticket. The Eventbrite listing shows doors at 6 p.m., the ball from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and a ticket price of $28.52. The second West Side Ghost Tour starts at 7:30 that same night, while the ball is still going, so you'll need to choose between the two.
Sunday Ends on High Street
The last day starts Sunday, October 25, at 2:30 p.m. with historian and folklorist Rissa Miller's talk on how witchcraft has lived on in Pennsylvania for centuries. Seating is limited to 50 and tickets are sold through Eventbrite. Afterward, Molly Pitcher Brewing Company, a couple of blocks down High Street, hosts witch-themed trivia at 5 p.m. Coaster Cats is open until 7 and Gather Your Party until 6, so the afternoon has a few other stops between the talk and trivia.
The Saturday Before Is Its Own Event
Spellbound's calendar also includes something the weekend before. The 4th Annual Mrs. Roper Carlisle Crawl is Saturday, October 17. Participants meet at noon on the steps of the Historic Old Courthouse, on the southwest corner of High and Hanover, for a group photo, then explore downtown, where some businesses will offer specials. The DCA encourages caftans, oversized sunglasses and red wigs, and is again partnering with Pink Hands of Hope for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There's no set schedule and no required donation, and the organizers make a point of inviting the guys too.
What Comes After the Pumpkins
Once Spellbound wraps, the DCA's events schedule moves straight into the holidays.
- Holiday Open House, November 14
- Making Spirits Bright Downtown Holiday Parade, Thursday, November 19, at 7 p.m.
- Pink Friday, November 20
- Small Business Saturday, November 28
- Hotchee New Year at the Carlisle Theatre, December 31, 6 to 9 p.m.
Carlisle Parks and Recreation also lists Santa's Workshop for kids ages 1 to 10 on Saturday, December 5.
Like the Halloween parade, the holiday parade falls on a Thursday, which is a night Moon Bird's tavern is currently open. That could change if the distillery extends its hours as planned.
At least one more downtown opening is on the way before the end of the year. The Sentinel reported that Matt and Kris Simon plan to open The Coffee Table in December at 57 W. Pomfret St., in the space that housed Eclipse Gaming Cafe.
New shops on the square do more than make Spellbound more fun. They're part of what buyers weigh when they look at homes within walking distance of downtown. If you live near High or Hanover and want to know what this year's changes mean for your home, Jennifer Jablonski follows these openings as closely as she follows the sales. Get a Free Home Valuation and see where your home stands this fall.
