The Loop Trolley's last regular day of 2026 is Sunday, Oct. 25. Most of what the Delmar Loop has scheduled after that happens inside its businesses. Trick-or-treating means going from one shop to the next. The Día de los Muertos festival hides its main activity in participating businesses. A comedy festival turns bars, a root beer bottling hall and a bowling alley into stages. The December cookie crawl is a walk through the Loop's shops.

So the next six weeks reward the people who live close enough to walk Delmar. Here's how the season lines up, and which doors are new since summer.

Oct. 22 to 25 Is the Trolley's Last Regular Stretch

The Loop Trolley has run Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., since April 30. It's free, and you board first-come, first-served. According to FOX 2's season-opening report, the 2.2-mile route has 10 stops between the Missouri History Museum and the University City Public Library. 2026 is its fourth straight year back in service since it resumed in 2022.

Thursday, Oct. 22 through Sunday, Oct. 25 is the last regular stretch. The operator's FAQ calls Sunday, Oct. 25 "the last day of operation for this year."

There's one listed exception. The Delmar Loop's events page says both Loop Trolleys will run throughout Trolley Trick-or-Treat on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 4 to 8 p.m. That fits a pattern FOX 2 described in April: the trolley's hours get extended for select events such as Twilight Thursday concerts and the Forest Park Balloon Glow. The trolley's own schedule still lists Oct. 25 as the season end, so check with the Loop Trolley before Halloween if a ride is part of the plan.

The Calendar, Oct. 25 Through January

Trick-or-Treat runs on the same idea as everything after it. The Loop describes it as trick-or-treating at participating Loop businesses. A week later, Calaveritas Night uses the same format at a much bigger scale.

Calaveritas Night Hides the Festival Inside the Shops

On Saturday, Nov. 7, from 4 to 10 p.m., the Día de los Muertos Festival spreads across the whole district. Programming includes DJs, Ballet Ollin dancers, Mariachi Los Reyes, stilt walkers, storytelling, and a Kids Zone with crafts, face painting and performers.

The event's own description calls the hunt the heart of the festival. Each participating business decorates and hides a calaverita, or "tiny skull," and each one you find earns a sweet treat. Find a designated number and you can enter a drawing through the Loop Passport App for one of three $250 cash prizes. The listing on Do314 suggests downloading the app before you go.

The ofrendas, or altars, follow the same layout. Participating businesses display themed ofrendas through the evening. Names that visitors submit are projected during the night, with a shared moment of remembrance at 8 p.m. followed by more performances. If you only stand on the sidewalk that night, you'll miss most of the festival.

Flyover Turns Delmar's Rooms Into Comedy Stages

Four days after Calaveritas Night, the same storefronts fill up again for a different reason. The Flyover Comedy Festival runs Nov. 11 through 15, 2026, and bills itself as more than 150 comedians on 12 stages. The Loop's calendar lists the festival as Nov. 12 through 15. Go by the festival's own dates, since the Wednesday shows count.

In July, St. Louis Magazine reported the lineup. Headliners include Dropout Improv, David Cross, Roy Wood Jr., the Sklar Brothers, Dulcé Sloan and Yakov Smirnoff, among nearly 150 performers. The same report lists these Loop venues:

• The Pageant
• Delmar Hall
• Church on Delmar, above Swade Dispensary
• Fitz's, on the second floor of the Delmar location
• COCA
• Pin-Up Bowl
• Blueberry Hill's Duck Room and Elvis Room

Stifel Theatre and the Improv Shop in The Grove round out the festival outside the Loop. The badge structure St. Louis Magazine described in July is built around walking Delmar. The Loop Badge, listed at $76.19 then, covered club shows at Loop venues and the Improv Shop on a first-come, first-served basis. It did not cover Stifel or The Pageant. A Loop+ badge at $150.28 added one theater show, and an Everything Badge at $213.78 covered all of it. Those were July prices, so check the festival's ticket page for current availability.

A first-come club badge works best for someone who can get from the Duck Room to Pin-Up Bowl to Fitz's quickly between sets, and that's easiest on foot.

New Doors on Delmar Since Summer

A few of the doors on this fall's route are new.

MOTW Coffee opened at 6509 Delmar on Aug. 22. It's the brand's first Missouri location, serving coffee, Yemeni chai, pastries and empanadas, according to St. Louis Magazine. It's a warm stop between Calaveritas Night stops on a November evening.

LOCAL on Delmar, the 259-unit mixed-use building at Delmar and Leland Avenue, officially opened according to developer Subtext's Oct. 7 announcement. It has street-level retail. Commerce Bank is returning to the site, and Misfit Society Coffee Club is planned there for early 2027. Misfit Society's website lists an existing café at 615 E. University Ave. in Ann Arbor.

Several other storefronts have announced openings, but St. Louis Magazine's early-October openings roundup still lists them as coming soon:

1. Junbi Matcha & Tea at 6372 Delmar, targeting October. FOX 2 reported in July that it will be the chain's first Missouri shop.
2. Nelly's EAT at 6254 Delmar, targeting October.
3. Pho Now at 6665 Delmar, targeting late 2026.
4. Zhangliang at 6685 Delmar, targeting late 2026.

If any of them open by early December, they'll arrive just in time for the busiest walking weekend left on the calendar.

December 5 Brings Santa to Delmar

The Holiday Cookie Crawl & Santa Take Over runs Saturday, Dec. 5, from noon to 5 p.m. The Loop describes it as a cookie crawl through its shops, with Santa taking over Delmar for the afternoon. For last year's crawl on Dec. 6, 2025, a Loop-sponsored guide in St. Louis Magazine said participating shops offered one free cookie per person while supplies lasted. The 2026 listing hasn't named participating shops yet.

After that, the next big date is the Loop Ice Carnival in January 2027, when ice sculptors, a frozen slide and street vendors fill Delmar for one Saturday. Apart from the Halloween evening the Loop has announced, trolley service is done for the year after Oct. 25. Until spring, every event on this list is a walk from one Delmar door to the next.

We follow how the Loop's storefronts, new buildings and seasonal calendar shape everyday life in University City. If you'd like to talk through which nearby blocks make Calaveritas Night or a Flyover club crawl an easy walk, Palermo & Co. Real Estate is glad to help. Contact Us.