Waynesville's Fall Ends at Roubidoux Park Twice, a Week Apart

The splash pad at Roubidoux Park has been dry since the first of September. The city runs it from Memorial Day weekend to Sept. 1, so by late October the park is down to its year-round pieces: the Little Heroes Playground, the Roubidoux Stage, and the walking trail that follows the creek toward Laughlin Park. Roubidoux Spring, at the far end of that trail, closed for city maintenance Sept. 21 through 25 and was set to reopen once the work was done.

On two Saturdays a week apart, that quiet park is where Waynesville wraps up its outdoor fall. On Oct. 31 it hosts Pumpkin Fest. On Nov. 7 it's the finish line for the Veterans' Day Parade. Four days before that parade, the town's calendar starts moving off the creek bank and into downtown storefronts. The rest of the year runs through a $10 booklet.

Halloween Saturday Is Also the Stagecoach Stop's Last Open Day

The Old Stagecoach Stop Museum at 106 Lynn Street is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 4 through Oct. 31. That makes Halloween its last scheduled public day of 2026. Admission is free, and the museum appreciates donations. The Pulaski County Tourism Bureau calls it the oldest publicly accessible building in the county. Over its life it served as a stagecoach stop and a Civil War medical hospital, and its 10 rooms are each restored to a different period. Those periods run from its 1850s start as a residence and tavern to its last chapter in the early 1960s, as a boarding house for soldiers and their wives. After Oct. 31, groups can still book tours by appointment, depending on guide availability. Watch the museum's website for updates.

The museum's last day overlaps with Pumpkin Fest at Roubidoux Park, 105 North Street. It runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free. Local businesses and churches sponsor it, with candy, games and activities for the whole family. Because the two overlap, a family can do both in one morning.

The rest of Halloween week stacks up around that Saturday:

1. Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24: The first weekend of the Haunted River Float at Ruby's Landing River Resort, 22474 Restful Lane, runs 3 p.m. to midnight. It includes a dark river float, a haunted walk and a haunted house.
2. Friday, Oct. 30: Fort Leonard Wood's free Trunk or Treat runs 3 to 5 p.m. in the Main PX parking lot at 143 Replacement Ave. Visitors from off post need to meet the installation's access requirements to get in. The Haunted River Float also returns that night.
3. Saturday, Oct. 31: Pumpkin Fest from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Old Stagecoach Stop's last open day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the final night of the Haunted River Float starting at 3 p.m.

A Week Later, the Parade Comes Back to the Same Park

On Saturday, Nov. 7, at 11 a.m., the Waynesville-St. Robert Chamber of Commerce holds its Veterans' Day ceremony at Waynesville Middle School, and then the parade begins. The cities of Waynesville and St. Robert are sponsoring the parade together this year. It steps off from the middle school at 1001 U.S. Route 66 West, heads east along Route 66, and ends at Roubidoux Park. The Tourism Bureau's event listing says "Wednesday" in one line. Nov. 7, 2026 is a Saturday, and the city's own notice uses Saturday.

The Chamber named Clay Williams, U.S. Army Retired, its 2026 Veteran of the Year. He'll be recognized at the ceremony and will lead the parade as grand marshal. Groups that want to march can register through the link on that listing, or call the Chamber at 573-336-5121 or email [email protected] with questions. The listing also says the parade may be canceled if the weather is bad.

The finish point sets up the rest of the day. Roubidoux Park is the trailhead for the Roubidoux Walking Trail, a paved path along the creek to Laughlin Park. Laughlin Park holds the Cherokee encampment memorial and a wayside exhibit on the Trail of Tears, with National Park Service interpretive signs. It's also home to Roubidoux Spring, a second-magnitude spring that the city says averages about 37 million gallons a day. The five-span concrete arch Roubidoux Bridge on Route 66 dates to 1923 and was widened in 1939. After a Veterans' Day parade, a walk past a 1920s highway bridge and a federal Trail of Tears exhibit fits the day.

Lunch After the Parade, Within a Few Downtown Blocks

The parade ends at 105 North Street, close to the downtown addresses the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau put on its 2026 Big BAM dining list for the Sept. 7–8 event.

• Paradise Deli & Ursula's Schnitzelhaus, 311 North Street, is on the same street as the park.
• Sweet Sam's on Route 66, 103 North Benton.
• Mu Bahn Thai, 304 Historic Route 66.
• Hopper's Pub, 318 U.S. Route 66 East.
• Piney River Taproom, 326 Historic Route 66 East, posts its current hours and food menu on its own site.

If you're heading west after the ceremony instead, Westside Cafe at 1119 Route 66 West is on the Tourism Bureau's West Waynesville list. For a stop between lunch and the walk, Plants and Pages Shop at 310 Historic Route 66 East is open Tuesday through Saturday and already has a fall 2026 shirt in its online shop.

Those same storefronts are where the calendar heads next.

From Nov. 3, the Calendar Moves Indoors

The Chamber's Season of Savings Passport runs Nov. 3 through Dec. 13. Booklets cost $10 and go on sale Tuesday, Oct. 27. Each participating business gets a listing in the booklet with its logo, contact information and the discount or special it's offering for the six weeks. When you shop at those businesses, your receipts count as stamps. Turn in the passport with your receipts at the end and you're entered in a drawing for gift cards to participating businesses, with multiple winners. Participating businesses also go on a Google Map on the Chamber's website and its social media. Businesses don't have to be Chamber members to take part. Members pay with a $25 gift card, and non-members pay $50 plus a $25 gift card.

The downtown restaurants and shops people pass on parade day become the stops on a six-week receipt hunt that starts four days earlier. The Chamber's other November events push in the same direction:

• Wednesday, Nov. 18: The Chamber's Friendsgiving Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at The ARK Community & Sports Center.
• Saturday, Nov. 28: Shop Small Business Saturday, a natural day to collect passport receipts.

December Moves Next Door, Then Into the Yards

The holiday kickoff is in St. Robert this year. The city's second annual Christmas Kick-Off Spectacular is Tuesday, Dec. 1, 5 to 7 p.m., at the St. Robert Municipal Center, 194 Eastlawn Ave., with the tree lighting at 6 p.m.

Two days later, Light Up Pulaski County begins. The Chamber invites residents, businesses and nonprofits to enter holiday light displays and invites the public to vote on them. The contest starts Dec. 3. The Chamber's listing ends it Dec. 26, while the Tourism Bureau's October guide says Dec. 27, so check the Chamber's events page before planning a last drive past the displays. The passport keeps running through Dec. 13, so the storefront season and the front-yard season overlap for about 10 days.

Before then come the Saturdays that close out the park's year. The museum on Lynn Street opens its doors one last time on Oct. 31, Pumpkin Fest fills Roubidoux Park that same morning, and on Nov. 7 the parade follows Route 66 east and ends at the park again.

If your family arrived at Fort Leonard Wood this year and these are your first fall weekends in Waynesville, we're happy to share what we know about this side of the county. Rudloff Legacy Group knows Pulaski County from both the relocation side and the hometown side. If you're thinking about a move, now or down the road, reach out to Rudloff Legacy Group and Contact Us.