Westwood's Luminary Night Falls on the Day the Clocks Go Back. Here's How the Week Before It Works.

If your front steps are going to glow on the evening of November 1, where will the kit come from, and on which day? Westwood Community Chest's 4th annual Luminary Night runs from 5 to 8 p.m. that Sunday. Getting a kit is harder to schedule than the event. Kits are sold at four local counters, and each one has its own hours. Two of those windows land on the two Saturdays that bracket Halloween week. The night itself is also the first evening of standard time, so the luminaries go on after sunset, as dusk falls.

You can still order online and skip the counters, with pickup at Décor & More starting October 22. If you'd rather pay in person and walk out with a kit, the calendar below matters.

Four Counters, Four Different Windows

The Community Chest's Luminary Night 2026 page lists the sale locations and hours.

The weekend sale at The Muffin House ended this morning, October 11. Pollard's Test Kitchen sells on weekdays only, so it suits a stop during the workday or on a weekday coffee run. From here until Luminary Night, only two Saturdays offer an in-person counter. Décor & More is open Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Roche Bros. sells on Saturday, October 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and that is the last in-person sale before the lights go on. Pollard's at 687 High St. and Décor & More at 695 High St. are on the same block of High Street, so one trip there covers both the weekday and Saturday options.

October 24 Is the Busiest Saturday on the Calendar

October 24 lines up a free event, a registered one, a library sale and an open kit counter in the same few hours.

At University Station, the free Truck-or-Treat runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. near Wegmans. The Westwood Minute listing promises music, face painting, balloons, ceramic pumpkin painting, character appearances, a magician and a lineup of construction trucks for kids to climb through. Bring a canned food item for the Westwood Food Pantry and your own trick-or-treat bag. Children 12 and under need an adult with them, and the listing rules out toy weapons.

On the same afternoon, Hale Education holds Hale-o-ween at 80 Carby St. Families register for one of two time slots, 1 to 3 p.m. or 4 to 6 p.m. The two events overlap by an hour. A family that books the later Hale slot can do Truck-or-Treat around midday and still make it to Carby Street.

Earlier that morning, the Friends of the Library open their book shop at the Main Library from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with used books and puzzles. Décor & More is open for kits from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. If you want a kit in hand before Halloween, this is the Saturday to get it.

Both of the day's giving efforts stay in town. The canned goods collected at University Station go to the Westwood Food Pantry. Kit sales fund Westwood Community Chest, which gives confidential grants to residents facing a financial crisis.

Halloween Morning, Washington Street

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and it brings the last in-person kit sale. Roche Bros. at 338 Washington St. sells from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day only.

October 31 is also the deadline for the Westwood Public Library's Poetry Quest, a self-guided, rhyming scavenger hunt that runs past historic sites around town. The library's calendar shows no events scheduled that day. Finishing the quest is something families can do on their own time, before or after a stop at Roche Bros.

Also on Washington Street, the storefront at 305 Washington St. has changed hands since last Halloween. Juicygreens closed that storefront on June 30, and Ron's Gourmet Ice Cream took it over as its third location, WhatNow Boston reported. According to the same report, the business started in 1976 as Ron's Ice Cream & Bowling in Hyde Park, added Dedham Square in 1999, and is now run by Ron Covitz's son, Jay. Boston Restaurant Talk reported the move on July 1.

Ron's own site now lists the Westwood shop with fall hours that started September 1. It opens at noon on Fridays and Saturdays and stays open until 10 p.m. On Sundays through Thursdays, hours run from 1 to 9 p.m. So Ron's is open after the Roche Bros. kit table closes on Halloween, and it is still open after Luminary Night ends at 8 p.m. on Sunday. The Ron's seasonal menu lists fall flavors such as Apple Pie, Pumpkin and Pumpkin Oreo, plus holiday flavors such as Egg Nog and Peppermint Stick. The page shows examples rather than what each shop has today, so check with the Westwood counter before planning around a specific flavor. WhatNow also reported that the shops serve beer on tap, hard seltzers and canned wine for adults.

Sunday Night, an Hour Earlier

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, when clocks fall back to 1 a.m. On timeanddate.com's Boston table, sunset that day is 4:37 p.m. The Community Chest asks participants to light their candles by 5 p.m. That is 23 minutes after sunset, on the first evening of standard time. The candles go on at dusk, and the event runs for three hours into the night.

Setup is quick. Each kit holds enough for 10 luminaries, and the Community Chest's instructions cover the rest:

• 10 white paper bags and 10 battery-operated tealights come in the kit.
• Fold down the top of each bag and weigh the bottom with sand, gravel or rice.
• Pull the tab on the tealight, switch it on and set it into the weight.
• Space the bags two to three feet apart along a sidewalk, driveway or steps, or set them in a front window.
• Families are encouraged to decorate the bags beforehand.

With 10 bags spaced two to three feet apart, a single kit lines roughly 18 to 27 feet of walkway or driveway. The tealights run on batteries, so a breezy November evening won't blow them out, and the window option works for homes without a walk to line.

The Community Chest asks participants to tag their photos @westwoodcommunitychest. Proceeds help cover basic needs for residents hit by an unexpected financial crisis, such as rent, utilities and medical expenses. They also fund summer camp opportunities for children through the Chest's Campership Awards. Needham Bank is the event's sponsor.

The four counters stay put, but their hours run out on their own schedules. Pollard's Test Kitchen sells on weekdays, Décor & More is open the Saturday of Truck-or-Treat, and Roche Bros. sells only on Halloween morning. Any one of them gets 10 tealights onto your steps by 5 p.m. on November 1.

A front walk lit for Luminary Night is when a house looks its best on a November evening. If you've wondered what yours is worth this fall, Elena Price can give you a figure grounded in recent Westwood sales. Request your Instant Home Valuation.