Organisers say an exceptionally dry summer and unprecedented visitor numbers in 2025 forced Dalston Curve Garden to pause the family-focused event for one year while they restore the garden and redesign the festival.
Organisers cited prolonged extreme temperatures, drought, a hosepipe ban and plant stress as reasons for diverting resources to garden restoration.
Visitor management problems in 2025 — more than 20,000 attendees across the week and long queues — meant the festival lost some of its family atmosphere.
# What happened
Dalston Pumpkin Lantern Festival, a long-running family Halloween event at Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, has been cancelled for 2026. The garden's organisers announced the decision on Instagram, describing it as a temporary pause rather than a permanent end.
# Why organisers paused the festival
Second, the 2025 festival attracted far more visitors than the garden could handle. Organisers say more than 20,000 people attended over the week. Long queues meant many families couldn't get in. The team also reported that groups of adults who had not carved pumpkins accounted for a significant portion of the crowd, which reduced the family-centred atmosphere the festival aims to create.
# What the garden will do during the break
The garden is reallocating staff time and volunteer capacity to plant care and repairs. They explicitly named restoring the Garden and planning for "future challenging environmental conditions" as priorities. Alongside ecological recovery, organisers say they are reviewing how the festival is run to make sure future events preserve the community and family focus.
# How the festival experience changed in 2025
For roughly 15 years the festival featured hundreds of carved pumpkins lit with candles and placed around the garden for a week each October. In 2025, the combination of extreme weather and an unprecedented turnout led to overcrowding and long lines. Organisers said that, at times, the event "no longer felt like the magical experience" volunteers and staff work to create.
# What visitors should expect next
# Practical takeaways for families and local visitors
# Bottom line
Dalston Curve Garden put the festival on hold for 2026 to restore plant health after an extreme summer and to rethink how the event is managed after more than 20,000 visitors in 2025 eroded the intended family atmosphere. The organisers say the break is temporary and that they are planning changes to protect both the garden and the community feel of the Lantern Festival.
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