Tonight at 7 p.m., the City of Chelsea's 9 by 16 foot LED screen goes up in Chelsea Square at 179 Winnisimmet Street for an outdoor showing of Coco. Bring a blanket or a chair. It's free, like everything else in the city's Autumn in the Square series. This is also the last movie in the series, and the city put Pixar's Day of the Dead story in that spot on purpose.
The farmers market had its last Tuesday on October 20. What's left of the season is four days, Thursday through Sunday. Halloween gets one evening of them. The other three build toward Sunday, November 1, when a Día de los Muertos festival fills Chelsea Square Park.
The movie lineup was building to this one
The fall screenings ran on the city's Autumn in the Square schedule for weeks. Warm Bodies, which the city billed as a zombie rom-com, played October 22. Minions & Monsters played Tuesday, October 27. Tonight's show is the one the city describes differently:
"We'll be showing new animated classic Coco, the perfect movie to kick off Día de los Muertos weekend and the grand finale of Autumn in the Square."
That wording makes Coco the opening night of a weekend that ends at an altar and a street festival. Here is the whole run at a glance:
| Day | Event | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 29 | Movie in the Square: Coco | 7 p.m. | Chelsea Square |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Trunk or Treat | Late afternoon to 7 p.m. | Chelsea Square |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Movie in the Square: Hocus Pocus | 6:15 to 8 p.m. | Chelsea Square |
| Fri., Oct. 30 to Sun., Nov. 1 | Community Día de los Muertos ofrenda | All weekend | Chelsea Square |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | VROCC Día de Muertos exhibition | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | ICA Watershed, East Boston |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Día de los Muertos festival | 1 to 5 p.m. | Chelsea Square Park |
Friday is Halloween's night, and the ofrenda goes up the same day
Trunk or Treat is the only part of the finale that's purely Halloween. The Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and the City of Chelsea host it in the middle of downtown, with trick-or-treating, entertainment and candy for kids. The posted start time varies. The schedule heading and the Chelsea Record's September announcement both say 4 p.m. The event description on the city's page says 4:30 p.m. If you have little ones in costume, plan for 4:30 and treat anything earlier as a bonus. Either way it ends at 7.
The organizers are still asking for volunteers, local groups and businesses to park, decorate a trunk and hand out candy. To sign up, email the Chamber at [email protected].
Hocus Pocus starts at 6:15 p.m., before Trunk or Treat wraps up, so kids can go straight from the candy line to the screen. That's the end of Halloween in the Square. On Saturday, October 31, the only thing on the Chelsea Square schedule is the ofrenda.
The ofrenda goes up on Friday too. Community members build and decorate the altar, and it stays on display from Friday, October 30, through Sunday, November 1. Everyone is invited to visit "to honor and remember collective ancestors, lost loved ones, and community members who have passed away." Because it opens the same day as Trunk or Treat, families heading out for candy will pass the altar on the way.
Saturday, the celebration crosses the harbor
Apart from the altar, Chelsea Square is quiet on Halloween itself because the bigger celebration that Chelsea belongs to is happening in East Boston that day. The Veronica Robles Cultural Center, known as VROCC, presents the 2026 Día de Muertos Official Celebration with the Mexican Consulate in Boston, the City of Boston, the City of Chelsea and the ICA Watershed. VROCC calls it New England's largest multi-day, multi-site Day of the Dead celebration. 2026 is VROCC's 14th year marking the tradition as an established nonprofit.
The indoor half is an ofrenda exhibition at the ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal Street in East Boston. It's free and runs three days:
- Saturday, October 31: open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a concert from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, November 1: open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Monday, November 2: guided tours for groups, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
VROCC's page also has a link for free tickets. For Chelsea, this means the weekend has two altars: the community-built one in Chelsea Square and the exhibition across the water. VROCC sums up its setup as "Two experiences, one shared celebration of life, memory, and Mexican culture."
You can see both on Sunday. The Watershed opens at 10 a.m., and the Chelsea festival starts at 1 p.m.
Sunday brings it back to Chelsea Square Park
The outdoor half of VROCC's celebration takes place in Chelsea. It runs Sunday, November 1, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Chelsea Square Park, 179 Winnisimmet Street. It's free and open to everyone, and VROCC invites families, friends and pets, "especially those who come dressed as a Catrina!"
Sunday is also the ofrenda's last day, so the altar that went up Friday is still standing while the festival goes on around it. VROCC has been inviting food vendors, artisans, cultural crafts and traditional music performers to pre-register for a community marketplace at the festival.
The name changed along the way. The Record's September listing called Sunday's event a "Día de los Muertos Procession," with the same 1 to 5 p.m. window. The current city schedule and VROCC's own page both call it a festival. The date, time and place haven't changed.
Eating on lower Broadway between events
Chelsea Square sits at the bottom of Broadway, and a short walk uphill gets you to several Latin American bakeries and restaurants within a couple of blocks. They're worth knowing about for this weekend because the events start at awkward hours: 7 p.m. Thursday, late afternoon Friday, 1 p.m. Sunday.
- Café El Dorado, 241 Broadway. A Colombian bakery known for pandebono, pandequeso and empanadas, with online ordering for pickup. It opens at 4 a.m. Monday through Saturday and closes at 4 p.m. On Sunday it's open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Festival-goers should go before the 1 p.m. start or soon after, because it closes an hour into the festival.
- Delicias Salvadoreñas, 235 Broadway. A Salvadoran restaurant open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, with online ordering. Its hours cover the whole weekend, including after Coco lets out Thursday and after the festival ends Sunday.
- My Guatemala Bakery, 224 Broadway. Listed on the city's Discover Chelsea guide as a Guatemalan bakery that makes its baked goods daily. Call ahead for weekend hours.
- Mi Salvador Mexicano, 222 Broadway. Listed on the same city guide for Mexican food. Call ahead for weekend hours.
- El Santaneco, 24 Fifth Street. Listed for Salvadoran dishes, just off Broadway. Call ahead for weekend hours.
All five are within a few hundred feet of each other between 222 and 241 Broadway, plus the Fifth Street turn, so you can grab food for the screen or the festival without moving the car.
The city's arts and culture office runs the series. Questions or ideas for next year go to Delia Harrington, the City of Chelsea's Manager of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, at [email protected]. The city's event page hasn't posted rain dates, so check the Autumn in the Square schedule before heading out on any of the four days.
At Coldwell Banker First Quality Realty, our multilingual team lives and works in these same streets, from Maplewood Square to Broadway. Whether you're out at the Square this weekend or just curious what your Chelsea home is worth after a busy year, start with our instant home valuation, and when you want to talk it over, in English or Spanish, we're happy to meet you.
