Liberty Lake Between the Last Market and the First Lights
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
Two of Liberty Lake's summer anchors closed within two weeks of each other this fall. Spokane County posted on September 29 that park services had wrapped up on September 27 and that all park restrooms and gates were closed. The Liberty Lake Farmers Market held its last 2026 Saturday at Town Square Park, 1421 N. Meadowood Lane, on October 10. The next big shared-space events come on Saturday, November 21, when three holiday attractions open on the same evening.
That leaves exactly six weeks between the two. For most of that stretch, the city's own calendar puts the season on front yards, porches and one library meeting room. From today, October 12, through November 20, at least one city decorating contest is open for entries or being judged. By the time the lights come on at Pavillion Park, many residential blocks will already have spent a month as part of the city's events schedule.
Here are the dates the City of Liberty Lake and the Liberty Lake Municipal Library have posted for the stretch:
Only the first and last items take place in a park. Everything in between happens on residential streets or inside the library at 23123 E. Mission Ave.
The city runs two separate home-decorating contests, and their timelines overlap. Deck The Homes opened for registration on October 12, four days before Haunted Hometown entries close. For about three weeks this month, a household can sign up for the December contest while finishing its Halloween display.
| My Haunted Hometown | Deck The Homes | |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Closes Friday, Oct. 16, 5 p.m. | Oct. 12 through Nov. 20 |
| Ready or judging dates | Ready by Saturday, Oct. 24 | Judging Dec. 5, 12 and 19, 5 to 8 p.m. |
| Display window | Through Halloween | Not stated in city calendar |
| How it's judged | People's Choice, from a citywide map | Not stated in city calendar |
The detail that shapes the Halloween contest is the map. The city's Parks & Recreation Department runs My Haunted Hometown and plots each registered home on a citywide map. Judging is by People's Choice. That makes the entries a self-guided route, so the people doing the judging are the ones walking or driving past. Homes have to be ready by October 24 and stay decorated through Halloween, which gives the route about a week.
Deck The Homes stretches its judging across three Saturday evenings in December, from 5 to 8 p.m. each time. The city's calendar doesn't list categories or describe how entries are scored. Those details belong on the city's contest page, and anyone registering should check there before planning a display around them.
Taken together, the two contests mean that some part of residential Liberty Lake is on the city's official schedule for almost the entire stretch from late September to mid-December. The city posted the Haunted Hometown announcement on September 14, before the regional park season had even ended. The last Deck The Homes judging night is December 19.
The other half of the in-between calendar is indoors at the Liberty Lake Municipal Library. It has three events across four dates.
The last Bluegrass Jam of 2026 meets in the library's Meeting Room on Wednesday, October 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Because the library calls it the year's final session, the series stops before the holiday events begin.
The library's annual Halloween Party runs Thursday, October 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. The posted activities are games, a tattoo station, a reading and a bat exploration. It falls two days before Halloween and five days after Haunted Hometown displays are due. On that Thursday evening, a family could visit the library and then follow the contest map home.
Then the Friends of the Library book sale fills the Meeting Room on Friday, November 20, from noon to 6 p.m., and Saturday, November 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Saturday session ends two hours before the tree lighting starts. A morning of browsing books and an evening at Trailhead Golf Course can fit on the same day.
With the main park gates closed, the backcountry trails depend on which entry point you use.
The Liberty Lake Loop, which WTA lists at 8.4 miles roundtrip, runs through Liberty Lake Regional Park and the adjacent conservation area. County materials list hiking as an allowed use in the conservation area. The Washington Trails Association's description traces the route. It starts on the Liberty Creek Trail past the campground, then splits onto either the Split Creek Trail along the water or the Liberty Creek Trail in the trees. The two rejoin at a cedar grove. From there, a dozen switchbacks climb Sam Hill, followed by Liberty Falls, the Camp Hughes Cabin and a descent on the Edith Hansen Trail.
The usual entry is through the main park, where Spokane County Parks charges a $10 vehicle parking fee in summer. WTA lists two other ways in that don't require that fee. One is the Idaho Road equestrian trailhead inside Liberty Lake Regional Park. The other is Mackenzie Reserve, which connects by the Zephyr Connector trail and has a small parking lot. When the main gates are closed, these alternate entries matter more.
None of the sources we reviewed confirm 2026 off-season parking or foot access at each entry point. WTA posted a hiker's October 2025 report that the campground road was closed and the walk started from the lake. That is one person's account from a year ago, not a policy. Spokane County Parks is the place to confirm current access before a late-fall hike. In the Cedar Grove Conservation Area east of the park, county rules require dogs on leash and prohibit motorized vehicles, hunting, shooting and campfires.
The six weeks end on one Saturday, and the public spaces come back all at once.
Light Up Liberty Lake, the city's tree-lighting ceremony, runs from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Trailhead Golf Course parking lot and clubhouse. That same day, Hearth & Holly lights come on at Pavillion Park, 727 N. Molter Road, and stay lit through January 3, 2027. Winter Wonderland, a free attraction at Orchard Park, 20298 E. Indiana Ave., opens the same day and runs through January 3.
The golf clubhouse, Pavillion Park and Orchard Park on Indiana Avenue all open on the same evening. The city's calendar entries don't give nightly hours or describe the displays at Pavillion Park or Orchard Park. The city's Hearth & Holly and Winter Wonderland pages are where those details will be posted.
The Pavillion Park lights will still be on for all three Deck The Homes judging nights on December 5, 12 and 19.
Today is October 12, and the Deck The Homes registration window opens today. Haunted Hometown entries close Friday at 5 p.m. That leaves four days for a household to enter both contests before the first deadline passes. The library's Bluegrass Jam is nine days away and the Halloween Party is seventeen days away. The book sale and the lights are forty days out.
If you plan to list a Liberty Lake home this winter or early next year, it helps to know when your street will draw extra eyes. Contest maps, judging nights and lit parks all bring more people past homes in late fall. Patricia O'Callaghan and the SpokaneREAL team can walk you through how that timing fits with your listing plans and how a home shows in December light. Schedule a private market consultation whenever it suits you.
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