Amesbury's Halloween Movie Nights Moved Uphill This Year
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Tomorrow night is the last Friday Night Frights of 2026. If you've been to past seasons, don't go back to the old spot. For years the Amesbury Chamber of Commerce held its free October movie nights at Heritage Park, 27 Water Street, down in the Lower Millyard. The Chamber's listing put the series there in October 2021, and it was still there for the opening night on October 3, 2025. This October the films moved up the hill. The 2026 listing on the Newburyport.com events calendar says it plainly: "This year movies are in the Upper Millyard."
The move matters because of where the new spot sits. The amphitheater is part of Market Square, the same block where the Chamber's scarecrows have clustered on the light posts in past years. The Chamber has also used this stage for its summer concerts and for last fall's Oktoberfest. Now the Halloween films are there too, so most of Amesbury's late October happens within a short walk of Market Square.
The last film of the four-week run is Toy Story of Terror. Here's the full 2026 lineup, which the Chamber hosted with sponsors Newburyport Bank and Coastal Connections:
Friday | Film | Status |
|---|---|---|
October 2 | Hocus Pocus | Screened |
October 9 | Halloweentown | Screened |
October 16 | Frankenweenie | Screened |
October 23 | Toy Story of Terror | Tomorrow night |
The Chamber's event page lists the location as the Upper Millyard Amphitheater, 5 Market Square, starting at 6 p.m. The two listings disagree on the end time. The Chamber's page says 8 p.m. and the Newburyport.com calendar says 9 p.m. The Newburyport.com calendar adds that the movie itself starts at dusk and that start and end times are approximate. Plan on getting there around 6 and staying until the credits roll.
The bigger change is the seating. Heritage Park is a flat lawn where you could set up a camp chair. The Upper Millyard has amphitheater steps, and the 2026 listing is direct about what that means:
The restroom note shows how the night is set up. Since the venue has no facilities of its own, families use the shops and restaurants around Market Square during the evening. That brings people downtown after dark, the kind of foot traffic the Chamber has said it wants from its October events.
The amphitheater is also known as the Al Capp Amphitheater. It isn't new, but over the past few years the Chamber's outdoor calendar has kept moving toward it. In its spring 2024 newsletter, the Chamber announced free Thursday live music there from June through August, along with monthly pop-up markets in the Upper Millyard. The City of Amesbury's calendar put the Chamber's Summer Music Series there again in 2025, and the city also listed a June 2025 Pride Celebration at the amphitheater. According to the Chamber's summer 2025 newsletter, Amesbury Oktoberfest opened on that stage on September 19, 2025, with the TubaFrau Hofbrau Band and a 21+ beer garden.
The space has had attention from the city too. The Boston Globe reported that about 20 students at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School designed and built six bike racks shaped like water wheels. They were part of a city project to bring new life to the Al Capp Amphitheater and Market Square next to it. If you ride in tomorrow night, those racks are your parking.
So the October films are the latest Chamber event to move to a stage it already uses most of the year. Families who came for Thursday concerts in July are now heading to the same steps for Halloween movies.
The movie night is only part of the reason to walk around Market Square this week. The Chamber's Amesbury Scarecrow Contest runs from October 18 through November 1, 2026, and the Chamber posted a flyer and a map with the listing.
The Newburyport Daily News covered the contest in its sixth year. Chamber Executive Director Sheila Beach told the paper where the scarecrows go:
"So there's a huge hub of them in Market Square. And then they'll go up Front Street, up Main Street. They go down around by the fire department, School Street, and some will even end up down Water Street."
That route runs from the amphitheater all the way down to Heritage Park on Water Street. So the walk between this year's movie venue and the old one passes the scarecrows the whole way.
That year, entrants paid a $20 donation to the Chamber. Voters picked up paper ballots at the Chamber office or at participating businesses and chose winners in three categories: Most Amesbury Pride, People's Choice and Best Incorporates the Theme. The Institution for Savings gave a $50 Amesbury Chamber of Commerce gift card to each category winner, and the paper reported more than 50 entries the year before. The 2026 rules are on the Chamber's flyer, so check that before you go looking for a ballot.
Some entrants show up every year. Beach named the Amesbury Council on Aging and Coastal Connections as regular highlights. Council on Aging Program Director Andrew Suggs told the Daily News that the group's Cthulhu scarecrow won People's Choice in 2022. Coastal Connections is also the business selling concessions at tomorrow's movie, so the same name turns up on the light posts and at the snack table.
Tomorrow's screening is the busiest night in Market Square, but there's more before and after it. Here's what's left on the calendar, in order:
After the scarecrows come down, the next Chamber-listed event is the Holiday Craft Fair on Saturday, November 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Costello Transportation Center, 68 Elm Street. Later in the month, Cider Hill Farm hosts Small Business Saturday: Meet the Makers on November 28. The farm's own page lists 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the Chamber calendar lists 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For tomorrow, bring a blanket for the steps, park your bike at the water-wheel racks, and give yourself a few minutes before dusk to look at the scarecrows around Market Square.
Cheryl follows downtown Amesbury closely, from which corners fill up on a Friday night to which streets get the most foot traffic. If you're curious how that walkability shows up in what your own home is worth, Cheryl Grant can help. Get Your Instant Home Valuation and see where your home stands this fall.
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