QCMM 2026: What We Know So Far
Queen City Mischeif & Magic's annual takeover of Beverley Street returns September 26-27, with a new medal series, confirmed ghost tours, and the usual beautiful chaos.
The Buckingham Branch train pulls into the station sometime Saturday morning, and whatever calm remains in downtown Staunton evaporates on the spot. It happens every September, and it will happen again on the 26th and 27th. The full 2026 schedule hasn’t been released yet; it typically posts at queencitymagic.com in the weeks before the festival, with updates hitting the QCMM Facebook page first. What is confirmed, though, is already worth paying attention to.
The Race Gets a Reset
The Firebolt 5K has operated on a three-year medal arc since 2023, with each year’s finishers earning one piece of a Deathly Hallows-inspired series. Last September’s runners closed out the third and final installment. That chapter is done.
For 2026, organizers went back to the community with a straightforward question: start a new multi-year series immediately, or take a year to do something singular? The answer came back clearly in favor of the latter. Per a post on QCMM’s social channels, this year’s race will offer a completely standalone one-off medal before any new series launches. The theme reveal is still pending, though organizers have dropped a cryptic hint: they’re encouraging runners to look at the world through “a completely different lens — perhaps one that is exceptionally colorful, slightly oversized, and excellent for spotting invisible creatures.” Make of that what you will.
The race, which includes the companion Race of 100 Harrys for children ten and under, takes place Saturday morning, September 26, at Gypsy Hill Park. The course is flat, paved, and a short walk from the festival footprint. Registration is benefiting Blue Ridge CASA for Children and opens in June. It sells out. Watch the QCMM Facebook page for the registration link.
Two Evenings of Ghost Tours
The Queen City Ghost Tour is back for QCMM weekend, and this year it marks the 19th anniversary of Black Raven Paranormal’s operations in Staunton. To mark the occasion, they’ve priced tickets at a discount from the original 2008 rates.
The tour combines stops from Black Raven’s Dark and Haunted History offerings into a single QCMM-specific route, covering the Western State Lunatic Asylum, the Charlotte Coffman House, the White Star Flour Mill, the American Hotel, and the Depot Station. It runs on both Friday and Saturday evenings, with departures every 30 minutes. Friday tours go from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday tours begin at 6:30 p.m. and run through 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for seniors 60 and older, military veterans, and children ages 6 to 12. Everyone assembles at the corner of Johnson and New Street, across from Mill Street Grill, near the city parking garage. Organizers are direct about this: arrive 15 minutes early, because these sell out.
For a festival that already leans into the theatrical, the ghost tours make a natural extension of the weekend. They give adults somewhere to go once the Dementor Dance Party winds down and the kids are in bed, and they put Staunton’s genuinely strange history to good use. The Western State Lunatic Asylum alone has enough documented history to fill an evening. The fact that you can walk to all of it from Beverley Street is one of the quietly remarkable things about this city.
The 2026 event schedule had not been released at publication time.