The Afternoon Howell Mill Road Belongs to Pedestrians, and the Upper Westside Fall Weekends Leading Up to It

At 8 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8, Howell Mill Road between 8th Street and 17th Street closes to cars. By noon the road is open to people on foot, bikes, scooters and strollers, and it stays that way until 6 p.m. for the fourth annual Westside Stride.

If you went last year, you might remember the Stride as an early-October block party. The 2025 edition was held Sunday, Oct. 5, on the same 8th-to-17th stretch with the same hours. Two things are different in 2026. The event moved a month later, and it now runs as part of the city's open-streets program. That second change explains most of what is new, from how you can get there to why the Upper Westside's Halloween and holiday events fall where they do.

A Neighborhood Block Party Becomes a City Open Street

The Upper Westside Improvement District still organizes Westside Stride. This year it partners with Atlanta Streets Alive and the Atlanta Department of Transportation. SaportaReport reported that the partnership puts Howell Mill Road in an Atlanta Streets Alive event for the first time since 2019.

Atlanta Streets Alive has a long history. According to the same SaportaReport article, Propel ATL, formerly known as the Atlanta Bike Coalition, started the open-streets program and hosted 29 events over a decade before ATLDOT took it over in 2023. Since then the city has run it on Peachtree Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Georgia Avenue. Howell Mill joining that list puts a district created by commercial property owners in 2016 on the same calendar as some of the city's main corridors.

The event is free.

The Ways In That Didn't Exist Last October

Most of the practical difference shows up before you reach Howell Mill. Atlanta Streets Alive's route page says a closure on 3rd Street will create a car-free connection to Tech Parkway. It also says new bike and pedestrian facilities on 17th Street, 10th Street and West Marietta Street expand safe routes for people walking, biking, rolling or pushing strollers. The route page links to an interactive map of the full route.

That means the Stride now reaches past the 8th-to-17th closure. If you live near Tech Parkway or along any of those three streets, you have a protected way to the event that wasn't there for the 2025 edition.

Drivers still need to cross the corridor during the day. The official Westside Stride site lists the cross streets that stay open to vehicles while Howell Mill is closed:

• 17th Street
• 14th Street to Interlock Avenue
• Brady Avenue
• 10th Street
• 8th Street
• West Marietta Street

Organizers strongly encourage biking, walking, transit and rideshare. If you have to drive, the event's parking page points to the district's parking map of paid decks and says many developments offer $10 all-day parking. If you ride a Bird or Lime, designated parking zones are at Huff Road, 14th Street, 11th Street, 10th Street and 8th Street.

What Fills the Road Once the Cars Are Gone

SaportaReport describes the afternoon as live music, DJ sets, a pop-up maker's market, local food, an artist and vendor market, and family activities including bounce houses and a petting zoo. The main live-music spot is outside Northside Tavern. The music page lists the current lineup by stage:

The 2026 list of participating businesses and vendors hasn't been posted yet, and the official home page still links to last year's map. Check westsidestride.org closer to Nov. 8 for the final layout.

Two Weekends of Halloween at The Works First

The new date leaves the second half of October to Halloween, and most of the Upper Westside's Halloween events are in one place, The Works on Chattahoochee Avenue. Spookeasy, a Halloween cocktail bar at Chattahoochee Food Works, is open every Thursday through Sunday in October, with tickets through the event page.

Here is what's left on the calendar from publication day through Halloween:

1. Thursday, Oct. 22: Spooky Taste & Learn, 7 to 9 p.m.
2. Friday, Oct. 23: Stones & Spirits, 6 to 9 p.m., a free event with gemstone bracelets and tarot readings at the Maker's Building, 1235 Chattahoochee Ave. NW.
3. Thursday, Oct. 29, through Saturday, Oct. 31: the Pumpkin Carving Contest at Chattahoochee Food Works, 1235 Chattahoochee Ave. NW, Suite 130, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, with voting across all three days.
4. Thursday, Oct. 29: the last Spooky Taste & Learn, 7 to 9 p.m.
5. Saturday, Oct. 31: Trick-or-Treat from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Spooky Day Out from 2 to 9 p.m., and the Halloween Party & Costume Contest from 5 to 10 p.m.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so all three Oct. 31 events land on a weekend day.

Where to Eat Between the Two

A few blocks off the Stride route, Chattahoochee Avenue has a new permanent restaurant this fall. BARA ATL, a Trinidadian food truck, opened a permanent location at 999 Chattahoochee Ave. Rough Draft Atlanta covered its launch party in a Sept. 10 report. Rough Draft's September openings roundup also lists a new Toastique at Brickworks in West Midtown.

The two fit around the event weekends differently. Toastique at Brickworks is close to the Howell Mill corridor on Stride day. BARA ATL on Chattahoochee Avenue is close to The Works for a Halloween-week dinner.

Four Days After the Stride

The late-fall run ends back on Chattahoochee Avenue. The Works holds Community Night as a recurring series, and the Oct. 15 edition was a Halloween theme. The next one is Thursday, Nov. 12, from 5 to 10 p.m. at The Camp, 206 Chattahoochee Row NW, with a llama meet-and-greet and a cider station.

So the season runs on a tight schedule. Halloween at The Works fills the last two weekends of October, Howell Mill goes car-free on Nov. 8, and Community Night follows on Nov. 12.

The Christine Bradley Team tracks changes like the new bike and pedestrian routes on 10th, 17th and West Marietta because they affect daily life on the streets near Howell Mill. If you're curious how that access figures into your home's value, request a free home valuation and we'll walk you through it.