Ridgefield's Busiest October Weekend: Art in Ballard Park, Runners on Main Street

Who has downtown Ridgefield at 9 a.m. on Sunday, October 18? Until about 10:30, it's mostly runners. After that it goes back to everyone else, including the 100 artists in Ballard Park. Most of the weekend of October 16 through 18 depends on that changeover, so the plans that hold up are the ones that work around it.

The roads stay open, which changes the math

The Ridgefield Road Fest isn't a closed-course race. The organizer's race-day FAQ says the course stays open to traffic and police will pause cars as runners come through. Runners are told to stay on the right side along the West Lane and Main Street sections. At Mile 12 they move onto a coned-off right shoulder, and the FAQ warns that cars may still yield through.

For anyone driving through town that morning, this means you won't hit a barricade or a detour sign. You'll be stopped at intervals, and on the stretches that carry the most foot traffic there will be runners on the same side of the road as your car.

The course starts on East Ridge Road just above the Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield at 41 Governor Street. It loops twice through southern Ridgefield on what the event listing calls some of the flattest miles in town, then comes downhill into downtown and back to the club.

The Sunday clock

This is the published race-day schedule, from the Road Fest FAQ:

Runners and spectators have been sent to specific lots, which affects where everyone else can park on Sunday morning. The FAQ lists these lots, all within a quarter mile of Race Central:

• East Ridge Middle School
• Veterans Park Elementary School
• The Ridgefield Playhouse
• The Bissell Pharmacy lot area
• Anywhere on Main Street

Parking isn't allowed at the Boys & Girls Club, the Governor Street lot or RVNA. Since race traffic is being sent to Main Street, a quick coffee run downtown before 10:30 may take longer to park than usual.

A race older than most of the calendar around it

The organizers bill this year as the 50th running of the Road Fest, presented by CT Run Co. It began in the mid-1970s as a full 26.2-mile Ridgefield Marathon. It later became a half marathon, and for years the Wolfpit Running Club hosted it as Pamby's Ridgefield Half Marathon. Different sources count the years differently. A Daily Voice piece in 2016 called that year the 40th anniversary, which fits a 50th in 2026, but last year's local listing described 2025 as the race's 48th year. The safest way to put it is that the organizers are calling this their 50th running.

The beneficiaries are local too. The race's primary beneficiary is the Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield. The 5K supports the Iris Fund, founded in memory of Iris Crystal Aleman, which funds research into the triggers of labor and supports families facing high-risk pregnancies and loss.

Race prep also brings people downtown before Sunday. Packet pickup is at Ridgefield Running Co., 423 Main Street, on Friday, October 16 from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday, October 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. That puts runners on Main Street the same Saturday the arts festival opens in Ballard Park.

The newest tradition, one year in

The Ridgefield Fall Arts Festival is only in its second year, and it's growing quickly. Its 2025 debut in Ballard Park ran October 18 and 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, with more than 75 artists' booths. For October 17 and 18 this year, Gordon Fine Arts says it's planning 100 juried artists setting up mini galleries in the park. Its partners are the Ridgefield Arts Council and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists. The producer timed the dates to foliage season, a week after the Bruce Museum's art festival.

The organizer hasn't posted this year's public hours yet. If the festival opens at 10 a.m. Sunday again, the first half hour would overlap with the end of the race morning, before the 10:30 reopening. That's an assumption until Gordon Fine Arts confirms its schedule. Saturday is the less complicated day for the festival, since nothing is running on the roads.

Saturday is the fullest day

Saturday, October 17 is also the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum's free Community Day, one of its Third Saturday programs. Starting at 10:30 a.m., the museum offers free activities for all ages across its campus, built around its current exhibition, The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me. The exhibition is a survey of new art made in Connecticut, on view from June 7, 2026 through January 10, 2027, so anyone who can't make Saturday still has time to see it.

Two Community Day details matter for planning. The 10:30 a.m. children's story time with the Ridgefield Library, built around All About Patterns by Elizabeth Rusch, is already listed as at capacity. At 2 p.m. the artist Anindita Dutta presents a new performance, The Dream of Being, also free.

The Ridgefield Herald calendar also lists a children's pumpkin activity at the Ridgefield Library that Saturday for ages 4 to 11. On Friday night before all this, The Blind Boys of Alabama play The Ridgefield Playhouse at 8 p.m. on October 16, with a program tied to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life.

Sunday after the runners

With the roads reopened at 10:30, the rest of Sunday has three things worth planning around:

1. The Battle of Ridgefield bus tour runs from 10 to 11:30 a.m. It's a 90-minute ride from the Ridgefield Historical Society's Scott House, narrated by historian and battlefield archaeologist David Naumec. It departs while the race course is still active, so allow extra time to get to Scott House.
2. The Ridgefield Guild of Artists' 49th Annual Juried Exhibition closes on October 18 after opening September 19. With the Guild also a partner in the Ballard Park festival, Guild artists are part of two shows in town that weekend.
3. The second day of the arts festival in Ballard Park, once its hours are posted.

What the rest of October holds

The pace drops after the 18th, but the calendar doesn't empty out, and most of what's left is in the last two weekends:

• Keeler Tavern Museum, "Ghosts of Ridgefield": October 23 to 25, 5 to 7 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children.
• A.C.T. of Connecticut, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical: October 22 through November 22, with a sensory-friendly performance on October 31 at 2 p.m.
• The Ridgefield Playhouse: 123 Andrés' Halloween concert on October 25 at 2 p.m., and Toad the Wet Sprocket on October 29 at 8 p.m.
• Downtown Scarecrow Competition: on display all month.
• Halloween, Saturday, October 31: the Town of Ridgefield's Halloween Walk runs 10 a.m. to noon, with trick-or-treating in costume at downtown Main Street shops. Halloween on the Terrace and a trunk-or-treat at Lounsbury House both start at 5 p.m. that day.

For a post-festival dinner, there's a newer option outside downtown. Riko's Pizza held its grand-opening ribbon cutting at 955 Ethan Allen Highway on July 30. It serves tavern-style thin-crust pies and has a full-service bar and a patio. Event schedules and ticket availability can change before the weekend, so check The Aldrich, the Playhouse, Keeler Tavern and the race organizer's page before you go.

If the third weekend of October has you wondering how the rest of Ridgefield's year runs, from the weekends Main Street is busiest to how the town's calendar lines up with its seasons, Marcie Nolletti follows that calendar closely and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.