Lunada Bay's Pumpkin Race Adds a Grown-Up Division, and the Plaza Hosting It Has New Neighbors

"Introducing the first ever MASTERS division for those adults who are young at heart."

That line sits in the middle of the Lunada Bay Homeowners Association's registration form for this year's Harvest Festival. The festival is on Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Lunada Bay Plaza, at Yarmouth Road and Via Anacapa. This year the form offers two divisions, Youth and Masters (18+), and the LBHOA calls the adult bracket its first ever.

A new bracket wouldn't mean much if the festival happened in a park somewhere. This festival, though, has always been built from the businesses on the plaza around it. The hardware store supplies the wheels, the market has supplied the food, and the local shops fill the vendor tables. The plaza has gained two of those businesses since the 2024 festival, so this October both the race and the plaza look different.

How the Masters bracket actually works

The rules are short, and the LBHOA lays them out on the event page. Entry is free for current LBHOA members and $30 per entry for everyone else. Registration closes Saturday, October 17, at 10 p.m., the night before the race. Because the deadline falls the night before, you'll want your pumpkin ready before you register.

From pumpkin to start line, the steps are:

1. Choose a pumpkin that can take an axle.
2. Take it to Lunada Bay Hardware, which offers wheel kits and installation.
3. Register on the LBHOA form and pick a division. The form asks for a parent name, the number of racers and the participants' names, so one household can enter several pumpkins on a single registration.
4. Bring the finished racer to the plaza on the 18th.

The hardware store has been part of the race for years. The 2023 festival listing told racers they had to register and that wheel kits were sold at Lunada Hardware. In 2014, kits cost $15. The 2026 page lists a price for entry but not for the kit, so check the kit price at the store counter.

Every year, the plaza supplies the festival

Older coverage shows the same pattern year after year. The festival's activities change, and the plaza's businesses keep showing up.

• 2013. Palos Verdes Source previewed a family festival with entertainment, rides, a pumpkin patch, and food and drink vendors. It's the earliest festival coverage the research turned up.
• 2014. The festival was paired with an Oktoberfest, with beer and sausages sold after 4 p.m.
• 2016. The city's event permit packet listed pumpkin races, a petting zoo, live music, a balloon artist and children's activities, and expected about 500 attendees.
• 2019. Easy Reader described the festival as annual, with pumpkin races, a petting zoo, face painting, balloon artists, live music, games and food from Lunada Market.
• 2023. The listing named Tenn West, a bungee jumper and food, wine and beer from local establishments.
• 2024. Bumper cars joined live music, crafts and the pumpkin race, again with food, wine and beer from local businesses.

The 2016 packet doesn't agree with itself on the festival's age. The city's staff background calls that year the fifteenth, and the attached HOA letter calls it the sixteenth annual event. By either count, the festival had been running for a decade and a half by 2016, which puts its first years in the early 2000s.

The setting hasn't changed either. In its 2023 minutes, the city recorded the venue as Lunada Bay Park and the adjacent stretch of Via Anacapa. The festival fills the plaza's own blocks and doesn't move anywhere else.

Two storefronts the 2024 festival didn't have

The plaza's own lineup has grown since the 2024 festival. At its September 23, 2025 meeting, the Palos Verdes Estates City Council heard the City Manager welcome Java Wave and Lunada Creamery as new businesses in Lunada Bay Plaza.

Java Wave opened in the former St. Honore space. Owner Beth Parwar is a former local art teacher. Palos Verdes Pulse described the shop as a modern take on the old-school coffee shop, with handwritten daily specials and an outdoor area where neighborhood dogs are welcome. She told the Pulse where the idea came from:

"After my Dad passed I went to the little village in Greece where my Dad grew up and visited the coffee shop that is the hub of community life, where everyone goes to play cards, everyone has political conversations, and everyone is talking about what the kids are doing. That was my inspiration."

Parwar also told the Pulse that her espresso beans come from one vendor that imports them from Italy, and that the vendor came out to train her and calibrate her machine.

Lunada Creamery took over an even smaller space, a 380-square-foot former Bank of America ATM spot. Julie and Jason Anthony, who have lived in Palos Verdes Estates for nine years, spent 15 months turning it into a soft-serve shop. Southbay magazine reported that the couple wanted a frozen-treat shop within walking distance of their house. The soft-serve and topping flavors change every week. The shop makes one flavor in-house each week and aims to always have at least one vegan option. According to the same Southbay story, the Peninsula hadn't had a family-owned frozen-dessert shop like it since Yummy Yogurt in Rolling Hills Estates closed in 2018 after more than three decades.

The two newcomers join a list of plaza businesses that the LBHOA promotes in its "Buy the Bay" roster. The list includes Black Bamboo Sushi, Salsa Verdes, Lunada Kitchen, Raphaellos, Lunada Bay Liquor, Triton Surf, PV Drug Store, Annie's Boutique, The Greenhouse, Lunada Bay Barbers and Lunada Bay Hardware. Lunada Market, at 2201 Palos Verdes Drive West, runs a deli that's open every day and a restaurant that's open Wednesday through Sunday. October 18 is a Sunday, so the restaurant will be open. The roster isn't dated and doesn't include Lunada Creamery, so it's a promotional list rather than a current count of who's open.

What the 2026 listing confirms, and what it leaves open

Palos Verdes Source lists this year's activities as a pumpkin patch, face painting, games, a balloon artist, live music, the pumpkin race, inflatables, crafts, performers, and food and drink vendors. That fits the festival's history: a lineup of kids' activities, with the plaza's own businesses handling the food and drinks.

Two things aren't published yet. The LBHOA page lists a price for race entry but not for general admission. No 2026 parking or street-closure notice turned up either. Older city records describe closures and parking along Palos Verdes Drive West, but the 2016 packet's own staff narrative and the HOA letter attached to it disagree about which streets closed. Don't plan around them. If you live within walking distance of Via Anacapa, walking is the simplest option.

Malaga Cove's October weekend comes first

The city's other village center has its own October weekend a week earlier. The Palos Verdes Art Center lists its last Malaga Cove Art on the Lawn show of the season for October 10 and 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission. The show features paintings, jewelry, ceramics, photography and prints from the center's seven affiliated artist groups. The same listing's description gives September 10 and 11 instead, so confirm the date with the art center before you go. On Friday, October 23, Malaga Cove Library is hosting an ACOTAR-themed crafts-and-trivia evening from 6 to 8 p.m. with mocktails and a pop-up shop from Ember & Ink A Romance Bookshop. No registration is required. Earlier this year we wrote about the two storefronts that opened at Malaga Cove Plaza. For more on both village centers, see our Palos Verdes Estates neighborhood guide.

Over the past year, Lunada Bay Plaza has added a coffee shop and a soft-serve shop, and the pumpkin race has added an adult bracket. Racers have until 10 p.m. on October 17 to register, and Lunada Bay Hardware will put the wheels on.

Being able to walk to the plaza is part of daily life on these streets, and it's part of what a nearby home is worth. If you live near Lunada Bay and wonder how much that walk to the plaza adds to your home's value, Randazzo Real Estate can help you find out. Request Your Free Home Valuation, and we'll give you an honest number for your home.