Top Halloween Destinations and Events in the Pacific Northwest
Trick-or-treating and in-person Halloween celebrations are back on the calendar this year in Washington and the Pacific Northwest, but with COVID-19 precautions in place.
Yes, Halloween is back. So, bring out the costumes, don’t forget your mask and get ready for haunted venues, pumpkin patches, corn mazes and, of course, Halloween candy and chocolate — among other seasonal activities.
Please remember that Washington’s COVID-19 advisories and mandates may affect some openings and activities. It is always a good idea to check an attraction’s website and/or call ahead before setting out for an adventure. Check out the CDC guidelines on holiday celebrations and Halloween activities.
Haunted Attractions
Seattle’s popular Georgetown Morgue Haunted House is open on select days through Nov. 6, with ghouls and monsters back on site. The first two hours of each evening are devoted to a timed, self-guided scary walk through the haunted house with no actors. The experience with live actors begins at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. Costumes are allowed, but nose and mouth face coverings are required.
During weekends in October, Stalker Farms in Snohomish is hosting several outdoor Halloween attractions with hordes of ghouls, clown paintball, a semi-sentient scarecrow, creepy clowns, campfires and a midway. In addition to a non-haunted nighttime corn maze, two haunted attractions (Slasher Family Homestead and Pogo’s Funny Farm) welcome small groups to move through cornfield paths encountering scary scenes along the way.
Farm Frights
In Spokane, the Beck’s Harvest House Fall Harvest Festival in Green Bluff (weekends through Oct. 31) invites visitors to get lost in the corn maze, eat pumpkin donuts and traipse through a pumpkin patch. Evening Fright Flights through the haunted woods of the Dark Canyons section of Mica Moon Zip Tours & Aerial Park are offered through October.
Pick-your-own pumpkin patches, day and night corn mazes, hay rides and other family-friendly activities run through Halloween at many family farms in the Olympia region, including Rutledge Family Farm, Hunter Family Farm and Schilter Family Farm.
At Maris Farms in Buckley, Washington, the October Fall Festival activities include a corn maze, ziplines, live pig and duck races, wagon rides, kiddie cow train, and, on select evenings, a haunted woods.
In Puyallup, the Spooner Farms Harvest Festival runs through October, with a pumpkin patch and pumpkin sling shot, a corn maze, farm animals and more, while Picha Farms is celebrating the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in the 5-acre corn maze. Guests who hit their target with the pumpkin slingshot get $5 off their pumpkin purchase.
Scream for Horror Movies
Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) has an online list of 100 Horror Films to Watch Before You Die. Inside the museum, seasonally appropriate exhibitions include Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film and Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume. Each Saturday in October, guests are invited to join staff members in wearing themed Halloween costumes.
And in Liberty Lake, about 20 minutes from downtown Spokane, the Hub Sports Center is hosting Halloween drive-in movies: on Oct. 16, Monsters, Inc. and A Nightmare on Elm Street; on Oct. 23, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Scream; andonOct. 30, Hocus Pocus and Carrie.
Taste Candy and Chocolate
What’s Halloween without candy? Instead of snacking on the bagged candy for trick-or-treaters, tour area candy factories in person or join a virtual chocolate tasting.
The Seattle Chocolate Company flagship store in Tukwila has brought back its Haunted Factory Tour for 2021, with tour dates on two weekends: Oct. 17–20 and Oct. 24–27. This often sells out, so purchase tickets in advance. And on Halloween, the Theo Chocolate flagship store in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood will hand out small samples of their double chocolate and snickerdoodle cookie bites. Theo is also still offering its popular virtual chocolate tasting classes which were created during COVID-19.
Halloween in Idaho
In northern Idaho, Silverwood Theme Park in Athol becomes Scarywood, with haunted attractions and roaming monsters. In Boise, the Scarecrow Stroll at the Idaho Botanical Garden features various themed scarecrows placed throughout the garden.
The Old Idaho Penitentiary is hosting multiple Halloween events this year, including Sweet Escape on Oct. 27 (a family-friendly event with treat-bags) and Haunting History on Oct. 28 (presentations on haunted history of the Old Pen and Boise true crimes).
And in Idaho Falls, Boo at the Zoo on Oct. 28 includes over 500,000 lights,1,000 pumpkins, light sculptures, decorations and trick-or-treat stations throughout the zoo, with costume contests each night for all ages.
–Written by Harriet Baskas
–Top Image by Seattle Chocolate Company.