This Saturday, October 31, the Halloween Stroll starts at the Clock Tower at 11 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. Across the street, Maugus Cafe serves until 5 p.m. A few doors down, the Hills Church Pumpkin Patch closes for the season at 6 p.m. By dark, the busiest morning of the fall in Wellesley Hills will be over.
That timing is the most important thing to know about the square around Clock Tower Park right now. The village has always been built around daylight. Earlier this month the Select Board approved the change that would let it run later, and that evening is permitted but not yet scheduled.
Saturday, From the Clock Tower Outward
The Halloween Stroll is run by the Wellesley Recreation Department and the Wellesley Hills Merchants. The town's calendar describes it as an annual event for children ages 0 to 8. Families walk at their own pace, trick-or-treat at stops along the way, and play games. It begins at the Clock Tower in Clock Tower Park, 291 Washington Street, and the town lists it for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on October 31.
Saturday is also the last day of the Hills Church Pumpkin Patch at Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, 207 Washington Street, open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The town calendar says it raises money for the church's Youth Service Trip and the Wellesley Food Pantry. The Swellesley Report counts this as the patch's 23rd year.
Between them, there is a three-hour window from the first pumpkin sale at 10 a.m. to the end of the stroll at 1 p.m. Maugus Cafe sits right in the middle of it. Since the 1930s it has been on the side of Washington Street facing Clock Tower Park.
What Changed at Maugus This Month
The restaurant changed hands in 2025. A year later it reopened under a new name, Maugus Cafe, with Kostas Saranteas as owner. In its July profile, The Swellesley Report described a renovation that kept the counter stools, the booths, and the back room for larger groups. It added a counter with stools looking out on Washington Street and a few outdoor tables. The red carpet is gone.
The menu leans Mediterranean. Coffee comes from Atomic Coffee Roasters, and dishes include a Spanakopita Style Omelette and a Souvlaki Bowl, alongside standards like steel-cut oatmeal and pancakes. After a soft opening over the summer, Maugus held its grand reopening on Friday, October 9.
The license matters more than the renovation. The same week as the reopening, The Swellesley Report reported that the Select Board approved amendments to Maugus's common victualler and all-alcohol licenses. The amendments cover dinner service and special events after 5 p.m. The item appears on the board's October 6, 2026 agenda.
Here is what that looks like in hours:
- Before: Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. That comes to 69 hours a week.
- Now allowed: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. That comes to 105 hours a week.
That is 36 more hours a week than Maugus used before, and almost all of them fall after 5 p.m. These are hours the restaurant may now use, not hours it has posted. The Swellesley Report described dinner on select days as planned "in the coming months." The menu on the Maugus website still lists breakfast and lunch only.
On Halloween, Maugus will most likely close at 5 p.m. as it always has. What has changed is that a sit-down dinner with a drink at a restaurant facing the Clock Tower, which wasn't permitted before, now is.
The Evenings That Already Exist Here
The Hills is already busy on some evenings. Those evenings belong to the institutions on the block, and they run on season calendars, not nightly hours.
The Wellesley Theatre Project performs at its Studio Theatre, 219 Washington Street. Peter and the Starcatcher closed there on October 25. Next up is Honk KIDS, November 18 through 22, with 7 p.m. shows on the 18th, 19th, and 20th and shows at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. on the weekend. The company's December production, The Big One-Oh JR., moves to Babson College, so the 7 p.m. curtains in the Hills stop after November. The full schedule is on the Wellesley Theatre Project's shows page.
Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, at 207 Washington Street, has two late-afternoon concerts on its events calendar: Mission Ammonia on November 14 and New England Baroque on November 21, both at 4 p.m. The calendar also lists a memoir writers' circle there on October 29 from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Those events show the demand. A 7 p.m. school-night show at 219 Washington Street and a 4 p.m. Saturday concert at 207 bring people to the square around dinnertime. At the moment, the restaurant across the park has already closed when they arrive.
The Block, Address by Address
The Hills square is small enough to walk end to end in a few minutes. Here is what each address is doing this fall, in street-number order:
- 207 Washington Street, Wellesley Hills Congregational Church. Pumpkin Patch through October 31, then the November concerts.
- 210 Washington Street, Hills Branch Library. Its calendar includes an adult Book Chat on Saturday, December 19, from 11 a.m. to noon, listed on the Wellesley Free Library's event page.
- 219 Washington Street, Wellesley Theatre Project Studio Theatre. Honk KIDS, November 18 to 22.
- 251 Washington Street, future Pvolve studio. The studio's own page still says "Coming Soon."
- 291 Washington Street, Clock Tower Park. Start of the Halloween Stroll.
- 300 Washington Street, Maugus Cafe. Open for breakfast and lunch, with later hours approved.
- 316 Washington Street, Stepping Stone Studios for Yoga, Fitness and Being Well. Opened October 1, 2025, with instructors that included teachers from Laughing Dog Yoga on Linden Street. Its grand opening followed on October 25, 2025, so this fall marks its first full year here.
Since fall 2025, the changes along this walk are a renovated diner and two movement studios, one open and one coming. Those are the kinds of places people return to on a weekly routine, not just once.
What Comes Next, and When
Pvolve is the next definite change. In August, What Now Boston reported that the studio at 251 Washington Street will be run by local franchisee Amanda Reiss, who lives in Needham. It will be the brand's first location in Massachusetts, with an expected opening in early 2027. As of that report, the site was in pre-construction, construction was expected to start in October, and a presale period with pop-ups was planned for this fall. The report also said Reiss chose the space partly because it sits on the Boston Marathon course.
An earlier Swellesley item said Pvolve was aiming for a winter opening. Early 2027 is the more recent target, and the studio's page has no class schedule yet.
Maugus dinner has no date yet. The license and the hours are approved, the menu is still breakfast and lunch, and the restaurant has said dinner will come on select days. If you want to know before it is announced, the posted hours at 300 Washington Street will show it first. Today those hours still end at 5 p.m.
For this Saturday, the plan is set by the clock. Get to the Clock Tower before 11 a.m. if you have small children in costume. Have lunch at Maugus before it closes at 5. Pick up a pumpkin at 207 Washington Street before the patch closes for the year at 6 p.m.
If you live near Clock Tower Park and want to talk about how changes like Maugus's new hours or the studios moving onto Washington Street fit into your own plans, Peridot Properties is glad to help. Let's connect.
