How to Celebrate Halloween in Minnesota
Minnesota’s spookiest season is back. Whether you’re looking for frightful fun or not-so-scary tricks and treats, keep reading to discover how Minnesotans are celebrating Halloween this year.
Haunted Ships, Houses & Hayrides
ValleyScare is back at Valleyfair with more frightful fun at the largest Halloween event in the Twin Cities. Open select nights from Sept. 19 through Oct. 31, the separately ticketed event features haunted mazes, scare zones, live shows and specialty food and drinks.
Twin Cities Fear Fest returns to the Mall of America on select nights this fall. Guests can brave two haunted experiences: Jason Universe: Survive the Night! and Dead City Uprising, featuring live scare actors, detailed sets and special effects. The attraction also includes a carnival-style Dead Shot Alley game and the Sanctum Secret Bar.
If venturing into a creepy forest at night sounds like your idea of a good time, check out the Dead End Hayride in Wyoming, where you’ll be carted into haunted woodlands before making your way back on foot, with terrifying twists and turns around every dark corner. Or experience Minnesota’s longest-running haunted hayride at The Haunting Experience in Cottage Grove.
At Molitor's Haunted Acres in Sauk Rapids, guests become the intruders during a haunted walk-through featuring multiple haunted houses and encounters with the undead. Find more thrills in Duluth aboard the William A. Irvin Haunted Ship. The self-guided tour winds through the dark, eerie hallways of the historic ore ship, with mysterious sightings and scares around every turn. This year’s theme is Captain’s Curse.
For Little Witches & Ghouls
Halloween is one of the best holidays for kids, and Minnesota offers plenty of not-so-scary ways for little ones to get in on the fun.
The ever-popular Sever’s Fall Festival in Shakopee returns with more than 30 attractions, including its corn maze, animal encounters, pig races and live entertainment. Stoney Brook Farms in Foley boasts what it calls the World’s Largest Corn Maze, with easy and challenging routes spread across 110 acres and 32 miles of pathways, along with a pick-your-own pumpkin patch.
New for 2026, North Star Pumpkin Town in Chaska features a lantern-lit pumpkin village, thousands of jack-o’-lanterns, animated singing witches, a pumpkin patch and other family-friendly attractions.
Known as the “Halloween Capital of the World,” Anoka goes all out throughout October with events including outdoor movies, a scavenger hunt and the Light Up the Night Parade. Visitors 21 and older can also purchase drinks from participating businesses and sip and stroll through the city’s year-round social district, except during designated parade closures.
Boo at the Zoo returns to the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, where little ones can celebrate Halloween with some real party animals. Festivities include trick-or-treating, a mini pumpkin hunt and a magic show. Also in Duluth, Scarium at the Great Lakes Aquarium features spooky decorations, trick-or-treating among the exhibits, crafts, games and more. The aquarium participates in the Teal Pumpkin Project and does not distribute edible treats during trick-or-treating.
The Minnesota Zoo’s popular Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular is set to draw big crowds from Sept. 25 through Nov. 1. Stroll along a trail illuminated by more than 5,000 artistically carved pumpkins and glowing displays.
Over at the Mall of America, Nickelodeon Booniverse brings Halloween fun to Nickelodeon Universe with costumed characters and activities such as DIY slime and weekend dance parties.
Spooky Dining
Travail and the horrifically talented Haunted Basement team have joined forces for another rendition of Haunted Basement Bar. This time, they’re throwing a dinner party with some unexpected hosts. Expect a gruesome multicourse tasting menu with cocktails to match, plus plenty of mayhem, scares and surprises along the way.
Creekside Supper Club in South Minneapolis transforms into “Creepside Supper Club” for spooky season, complete with over-the-top Halloween decorations. Guests who arrive in costume can also enter a weekly raffle for a chance to win prizes.
More Seasonal Celebrations
For fewer scares and more celebrations, head to Old Town Mankato’s Day of the Dead community cultural festival, featuring local vendors, food, live entertainment and more.
You can also dance the night away at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis during its Annual Halloween Party & Costume Contest, where local DJs provide the soundtrack for a night of costumes and Halloween revelry.
For more fall fun, visit a pumpkin patch, get lost in a corn maze, pick all the apples, or discover more seasonal festivals and events throughout Minnesota.
