If you’re looking for the ultimate Halloween-time destination, look no further than here in Ypsilanti! Spend some time visiting this October and discover what makes Ypsilanti unique for visitors and residents alike. Whether you crave spine-chilling thrills from creepy ghost stories, haunted houses that make your heart race, exciting nightlife celebrations, or maybe filling your pillowcase with candy at family-friendly events, there are plenty of activities for you to choose from in Ypsilanti!
Kick-off the Halloween season by attending the inaugural Holy Bones Festival. This area’s first-of-its-kind Halloween market & creative bizarre will feature a variety of local and traveling vendors selling unique items and all things spooky! Food trucks will be on-site and ready to serve you some ghoulish goodies – you will surely be hungry after shopping for your spooky swag! This is the perfect opportunity to visit Ypsilanti’s newest event venue, Ypsilanti Performance Space (The YPSI) where the festival takes place. Drag performances, live music and entertainment, and spooky surprises will occur throughout this exciting event.
Pumpkin bowling, carnival games with candy prizes, cakewalks, an outdoor movie, and many more activities are planned for the first-ever Treat Street: Depot Town Block Party! Spend time decorating a luminary or carving a pumpkin for All Hallows Illumination of Frog Island Park and enjoy trunk-or-treating from decorated car displays and businesses along Cross Street. This party features continuous entertainment and fun for all ages! Wear your favorite costumes and enjoy the afternoon as you celebrate Halloween in Depot Town.
Looking for a true otherworldly adventure? The Eastern Michigan University Planetarium will present Halloween: Celestial Origins which leads you on a journey into space where you will learn about how Halloween is recognized as an astronomical holiday. View and learn information about which constellations and planets will be out on Halloween night. How many will you be able to identify?
Nightlife/After Dark
If the nightlife scene is your style, you’ll want to attend the vibrant happenings around Ypsi after dark. Get ready for the biggest glowing party to come to Ypsilanti! Returning for its third year, ypsiGLOW will bring a night of dancing, performances, and glowing displays to the Ypsilanti area. Join a procession and head towards downtown Ypsilanti where participants, attendees, streets, and business windows will be illuminated by one-of-a-kind creations constructed by all ages and abilities. If you’re interested in creating your own luminary, tune into your imaginative side and attend GLOWorkshops leading up to ypsiGLOW. Created to celebrate diversity and connect people through creative expression, this family-friendly and all-inclusive event is going to be LIT!
For the fearless, the horror lovers, and the thrill-seekers, visit Wiard’s Orchard’s Night Terrors. Voted one of the Top 31 Haunted Attractions in the United States for 2018, you’ll go home wanting to sleep with the lights on! With six haunted attractions including Zombie Paintball, and grisly goblins hiding behind cornstalks ready to scare you, this is a Halloween must-see for Ypsilanti!
Take a walking Evening Lantern Tour of Ypsilanti’s historic, rural-style Highland Cemetery, where you will explore paths of the cemetery while carrying a gas lantern and listening to true stories (and a few jokes) from local historian James Mann about some of Ypsilanti’s most infamous residents who have lived here before.
Spend an evening with your local Ypsilanti drag performers at the Boylesque Drag Halloween & 8th Year Anniversary Party for their biggest bash yet! Enjoy exceptional performances by both local favorites and very special guests. Put your best costume together for the Boylesque costume contest for a chance to win some incredible prizes!
Ghost stories gathered from all over Michigan come together in a unique, captivating, and intimate theatrical experience at Ypsilanti Experimental Space (YES). Haunted: The Great Lakes Ghost Project tells the story of a person’s journey to answer a question so many of us have been asked before: Do you believe in ghosts? Throughout the journey, you’ll hear tales and stories of the supernatural and encounters with the afterlife here in Michigan, not to mention a ghost story that took place right here in Ypsilanti!
The Party Continues
With so many exciting activities taking place in the area leading up to October 31, the fun must continue after Halloween. On November 1, bring your jack-o'-lanterns to Frog Island Park for All Hallows Illumination and light up the night! Join families, friends, and community members in illuminating the park with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of creatively carved jack-o'-lanterns. Costumes are encouraged! Later on, head to Stick’s for their Annual Halloween Bash. Arrive dressed in your best for the ultimate costume contest! With prizes, giveaways, great food and drink specials, there’s no doubt you’ll have a wicked time!
Halloween-Time Shopping
While exploring the area, visit Ypsilanti’s locally owned and unique shops in the Downtown and Depot Town districts. When Downtown, visit Twisted Things, featuring organic apothecary items and curious goods, including specialty jewelry crafted from ethically sourced animal bones created by Poking Dead Things (learn more about their jewelry-making process here). Stop in next door at Evenstar's Chalice for Halloween candles and similar home goods. Unicorn Feed & Supply also has a variety of cute and cuddly creatures, including adorable Halloween-time stuffed animals and seasonal fairy garden pieces!
For Ypsilanti specialty gifts and souvenirs designed and crafted by local artists, visit Depot Town and head to Brick and Mortar Modern General Store, a gift shop inspired by an old-time general store and uniquely tailored to present day in Ypsilanti. When finished, take a very short walk to The Eyrie and explore Ypsilanti’s art and gift shop featuring over 220 Michigan artisans’ work (but don’t worry, there’s nothing eerie about The Eyrie! …too much?) for authentic Ypsilanti merchandise!
With over a dozen Halloween-time events happening this October and beyond, and with a variety of unique and specialty shops to visit, you’ll enjoy your time exploring the Ypsilanti area. Which Halloween-time activities are you looking forward to?
Halloween Happenings in Ypsilanti:
Various Dates
Haunted: The Great Lakes Ghost Project
Ypsilanti Experimental Space (YES)
Night Terrors
Wiard’s Orchard
Evening Lantern Tours
Highland Cemetery
Workshop: Halloween LED Scary Eyes
TinkerTech
October 5
Holy Bones Festival
Ypsilanti Performance Space
October 12
Run Scream Run: 1 Mile, 5K, 10K
Wiard’s Orchard
Monster Mash
Rolling Hills County Park
October 20
Halloween Canine 5K
Riverside Park
October 21
Trunk-or-Treat
Ceuter Chrysler
October 24
Frog Island Movie Night: Hocus Pocus
Frog Island Park
October 25
Halloween Downtown
Ypsilanti District Library – Downtown
YpsiGLOW
Downtown Area
Family Friendly Drag Queen Story Time/Karaoke
Tap Room
October 26
Halloween: One Wicked Party
Cultivate Coffee & TapHouse
Treat Street: Depot Town Block Party
Depot Town area
Workshop: Felted Wool Skullpture Portraits
TinkerTech
Trunk-or-Treat
Gene Butman Ford
Trunk-or-Treat
St. Joseph Catholic Church
Trunk-or-Treat
Ypsilanti Township Community Center
Annual Halloween Spooktacular
Yankee Air Museum
Tag & Treat Costume Party
Zap Zone
October 28
Halloween Beer-Cocktail Dinner
Ollie Food + Spirits
October 29
Halloween: Celestial Origins
Eastern Michigan University – Planetarium
October 30
The Freakshow – Surreal Thrill
Ypsilanti Freighthouse
October 31
MAIZ 3rd Annual Halloween Fiesta
MAIZ Mexican Cantina
Halloween Party
Ypsi Alehouse
November 1
Hullaween Day of the Dead
Ziggy’s
All Hallows Illumination of Frog Island
Frog Island Park
Annual Halloween Bash
Stick's
