7 Best Towns in the West to Celebrate Halloween

Trick-or-treating may be the traditional standard in many towns come Halloween, but there are some places in the West that pull out all the stops for the season. We’re talking over-the-top decorations, dozens of carved pumpkins, and haunted houses galore. From watching the annual great pumpkin weigh-off in California’s Half Moon Bay to partaking in a Sleepy Hollow-themed hayride in Billings, Montana, here are seven of the best towns in the West to celebrate Halloween.

St. Helens, Oregon

Each October, this small town transforms into an alternate version of itself: one brimming with dancing witches, carved pumpkin displays, some family friendly pirates, and a haunted house. The month-long Spirit of Halloweentown celebration pays homage to Halloweentown, a 1998 comedy-adventure film about a young girl who finds out she comes from a lineage of witches and that was mostly filmed onsite. An annual lighting of the Great Pumpkin takes place in the city plaza on the first Saturday in October, followed by everything from costume contests to a haunted hot rod car show leading up to Halloween day. Take a picture with a replica of the vintage taxi driven by Benny, the skeleton cab driver in the original movie, and visit filming sights like the town’s nearly 100-year-old theater. 

Prescott, Arizona

With its genesis as a frontier gold and silver mining town, Prescott’s history is brimming murder, mayhem, and ghosts. The city’s Spooky Food Tour (October 25) highlights several of them, along with servings of Halloween-themed treats and hearty fall samplings. That same evening, the Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters is hosting a kid-friendly haunted house and some trunk-or-treating, while Prescott’s annual 5k fun run (costumes for kids are encouraged) takes place the following day, along with a Halloween festival. Come October 31, all eyes are on the Victorian mansions of Mount Vernon Avenue, which transform into a haunted village with over-the-top decorations ranging from giant skeletons to cardboard headstones and plenty of candy to boot.

Half Moon Bay, California

This quiet coastal town is known as the “Pumpkin Capital of the World” for good reason. Each year, Half Moon Bay grows more than 3,000 tons of pumpkins, and many of them are on display and ready to take home at the numerous pumpkin patches around town. To see some of the largest pumpkins in the world, visit the annual Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, which takes place along the town’s Main Street in mid-October. Now in its 52st year, this signature event is kicked off with a world championships pumpkin weigh-off (last year’s record-breaking winner weighed in at 2,749 pounds). Later in the week, the main festival springs to life with costume and pie eating contests, and 275 artists and craft makers selling everything from glass gourds to hanging flower baskets made out of reclaimed crab pot rope. Pick-your-own pumpkin patches like those at Andreotti Family Farms and Arara’s Pumpkin Farm—which also offers hayrides—invite visitors throughout the season. 

Billings, Montana 

From family appropriate haunted wagon rides that channel “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” to ghost tours and murder mystery cocktail experiences in the 1903 Moss Mansion, Billings offers a multitude of ways to ring in Halloween. ZooMontana’s annual Boo at the Zoo event, complete with trick-or-treating and bounce houses (kids’ costumes encouraged), takes place on Saturday, October 26, while dancing, mystic readings, and costume contests ranging from “most art inspired” to “best theme interpretation” (this year’s theme is The Sixties) are the norm at the Yellowstone Art Museum’s Masquerade at the YAM that same evening. 

Lehi, Utah 

Lehi’s long-running Baird Manor (located at 348 W 1560 N) puts on what many have called “one of the best Halloween displays” statewide. Each evening, its residents project scenes from Halloween movies over the entire house, transforming it into a one-of-a-kind experience. The city’s Ashton Gardens hosts its annual Scarecrow Festival, October 14-19, complete with food and drink, autumn blooms, and dozens of community-created scarecrows displayed throughout. On October 25, the Lehi Legacy Center puts on Halloween Comes to Life, an all-ages night of games, trick-or-treating, and a Halloween-themed movie.

Virginia City, Nevada

Celebrate the month of Hauntober in Nevada’s living ghost town, a place that revels in its haunted history all year long. Although spirit-centric tours of prominent spots like the Washoe Club and Bats in the Belfry Guided Ghost tours take place April through October, October turns Virginia City’s eerie past up a notch, with a haunted weekend at the Victorian-style Mackay Mansion Museum, living history shows at the old Silver Terrace Cemetery in which costumed actors portray real 19th century Comstockers who lived (and died) here, and of course, a Hauntober costume contest and parade. The local V&T Railroad runs express trains from town to the Gold Hill Pumpkin Patch—where you can pick out your favorite gourd to paint, carve, or cook—as well as a spooky train of lights to the city’s Gold Hill Graveyard. 

Chico, California

Halloween’s big event is the Chico State Pumpkin Drop, now in its 35th year. Put on by the university’s Department of Physics and Society of Physics Students, this entertaining display of plummeting pumpkins tests how and why things fall. Attended by hundreds of elementary students, the gravity based experiment is open to the public as well. Later that day, kids ages 12 and under flock to Treat Street, downtown Chico’s annual trick-or-treating extravaganza featuring nearly 100 participating businesses. Along with plenty of candy, expect costume contests in categories that include toddlers, families, and even canines. Earlier in the month, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District hosts its signature Great Pumpkin Splash, a floating pumpkin patch that takes place at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center on Saturday, October 5.