Where did the 30,000 people go? On Saturday, October 3, Honolulu Avenue was full of rides, beer and three stages of music. A week later the 2200 to 2400 blocks are back to their usual scale. The Montrose Shopping Park has two and a half months of events left on its calendar, and almost every one of them runs through the stores.
Oktoberfest is built for the street. Most of the events after it send people to a counter, a pour station or a register, and the outdoor events that remain sit on the sidewalk right in front of the shops.
Thirty Thousand People and a Cheese Shop With No Open Door
The 47th Annual Montrose Oktoberfest took over the 2200 to 2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue from noon to 10 p.m. on October 3. Admission was free, and the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce hosted. The Chamber's preview column in Crescenta Valley Weekly laid out the day. A Kids' Zone backed by the YMCA of the Foothills had small rides and a Ferris wheel. The Superslide and Euro Bungee filled the 2400 block. The Bavarian Stage on Wickham Way had a revamped lineup, and Ace Cider and sparkling rosé were new this year. Even the mister fans came from the Sunday Montrose Harvest Market.
The same column invited visitors to stop at Atavola Cheese Shop, "which will be hosting a special pop-up in front of their soon-to-open storefront." Crescenta Valley Weekly's post-festival recap confirmed it happened:
"Some local spots, including Atavola Cheese Shop, took advantage of the estimated 30,000 people who were on Honolulu by having impromptu 'pop-up' shops to introduce their wares."
The Montrose Shopping Park Association's business directory already lists Atavola at 2424 Honolulu Ave. As of the October 1 column, though, the storefront was still described as soon to open, and no opening date had been published. For now, Atavola is a shop that met its first crowd on the sidewalk before customers could walk through its door.
The rest of the season works the same way, only smaller and more often.
October 31: The Candy Comes From Behind the Counter
The Halloween Spooktacular is set for Saturday, October 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the same three blocks that held Oktoberfest. The Shopping Park's event page says merchants hand out the candy. The trick-or-treat route is the storefront row.
It's a two-hour event with no rides or stages. Each stop is a business, and each piece of candy comes from the people who run it. On the first Saturday in October the avenue holds tens of thousands of people. On the last Saturday it hands each child a reason to step up to a specific door.
Ten Dollars That Only Spend in the Shopping Park
The Montrose Holiday Wine Walk on Saturday, November 14, from 5 to 8 p.m., shows the design most clearly. Tickets cost $55. Each guest gets 15 tasting tickets, a souvenir glass, a map of the stations, and $10 in MSPA scrip. The association's page notes that the scrip brings the effective ticket price down to $45.
The scrip is the part to understand. It works like cash, but only at Shopping Park businesses that accept it, and the Wine Walk page says it never expires. The pour stations are hosted by merchants and businesses, more than 30 of them, with live music and activities across the Shopping Park. A Wine Walk guest spends the evening walking into shops that they can come back to later with money that only spends there.
Scrip isn't new to Montrose. Crescenta Valley Weekly reported that the 2018 Holiday Wine Walk, then in its second year, also gave ticketed guests $10 in scrip. In summer 2022, Patch described a promotion that paid $50 in scrip to shoppers who made purchases of at least $10 at 10 different businesses and turned in their receipts. That 10-store threshold is the clearest statement of the goal. The prize went to people who spread their spending across the Shopping Park, not to people who spent the most.
The organization behind it has been at this for decades. The Montrose Shopping Park Association formed in 1968 and has administered the district's Business Improvement District since 1973.
A few practical details for the 14th. Check-in opens at 4 p.m. and closes at 6:45 p.m., and every guest has to check in by then. It's an adults-only event for ticketed guests. In-store tickets are sold at Copy Network, 3600 Ocean View Blvd. #9, and It Takes A Village, 2317 Honolulu Ave. A portion of ticket receipts goes to the co-sponsor, the La Crescenta Woman's Club. The association's page warns that the event will sell out. Night-of tickets are offered only if it hasn't.
November 15: Teenagers Take a Turn at the Register
The next day the same idea gets passed to younger merchants. The Student Entrepreneur Fair on November 15 sets up in the 2300 block in front of Joselito's Restaurant. High school students sell handmade crafts, artwork, jewelry, clothing and other approved products. Applications close October 15 and approved applicants are notified by October 22, so no vendor list has been published yet.
A day after adults sample wine from more than 30 established businesses, the same sidewalk hosts people running their first one. The newer storefronts on this end of the avenue are fresh examples. Craft & Create at 2429 Honolulu Ave. celebrated its grand opening in April 2026, according to the Chamber's column in Crescenta Valley Weekly. It sits a few doors from Atavola's planned storefront at 2424.
December Slows the Avenue to Trolley Speed
From late November, the holiday program spreads the same approach across four weekends. Old Town Christmas opens with a tree lighting on November 27. Carolers start at 5:30 p.m. and the tree is lit at 6:15 p.m. Activities then run Saturdays and Sundays from November 28 through December 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with strolling carolers, Santa photos, live street music and free horse-drawn trolley rides along Honolulu Avenue. The association's Christmas page promotes the family-owned shops, restaurants, cafes and bakeries as the places to shop and eat in between.
Those weekends overlap with the Sunday Harvest Market, which runs every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine. The association notes that hours can change.
The 48th Montrose-Glendale Christmas Parade steps off Saturday, December 5, at 6:10 p.m. Like Oktoberfest, it's the one December night built for the curb rather than the counter.
The season's biggest draw outside the avenue is a short drive away. Descanso Gardens' Enchanted Forest of Light runs November 22, 2026, through January 9, 2027. The November 28 session runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m. That makes it easy to pair a weekend trolley ride on Honolulu with an evening in the gardens.
How Each Event Reaches the Shops
| Date | Event | Where the foot traffic ends up |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 31, 5–7 p.m. | Halloween Spooktacular | Merchant doorways handing out candy |
| Nov. 14, 5–8 p.m. | Holiday Wine Walk | 30+ merchant-hosted pour stations, plus $10 in scrip |
| Nov. 15 | Student Entrepreneur Fair | Student tables in front of Joselito's, 2300 block |
| Nov. 27, 6:15 p.m. | Old Town Christmas tree lighting | Honolulu Avenue, with carolers from 5:30 p.m. |
| Nov. 28–Dec. 20, weekends | Old Town Christmas activities | Trolley rides and Santa along the shop row |
| Dec. 5, 6:10 p.m. | 48th Montrose-Glendale Christmas Parade | The curb |
Wine Walk tickets are the one item on this list that needs planning. Buy them before November 14, and bring the scrip back to the avenue in December.
At The Kostrey + Eckert Collection, we follow Honolulu Avenue one storefront at a time, from new shops like Atavola to the long-running association calendar. If you own in Montrose or La Crescenta and want to know how the block around your home is changing, request a personalized home valuation or consultation.
