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Halloween in Boulder

Here’s where to go in Boulder to get your thrills and chills this October. Halloween falls on a Monday this year, so consider staying overnight to make a weekend of it with the following activities.

Gala Concert: A Haunted Masquerade

Saturday, October 15, 2022, 7pm
Boulder Opera invites you to a haunted masquerade concert featuring selections from Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, Die Fledermaus, Manon and more at the Dairy Arts Center.

Boulder High Haunted House

Fridays and Saturdays, October 21, 22, 28 and 29, 2022, 7-9pm
Enjoy a night of screams for all at Boulder High's annual terrifying haunted house. Admission is $8 for students/children and $15 for adults.

Rocky Mountain Ringers: Nightmare on Handbells

Sunday, October 23, 2022, 3pm
Join the Rocky Mountain Ringers for an afternoon of spooks and sounds at the Dairy Arts Center. Spooky musical selections to include Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom of the Opera, the Addams Family and more.

The Blood Bath Bash

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 8pm-2am
Calling all vampires, demons and ghouls! Celebrate seven years of "deviant" behavior at DV8 Distillery's Halloween and anniversary bash featuring a live DJ, photo booth, fortune telling and more. Get your tickets early.

Día de Muertos

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 4-7pm
Celebrate “Day of the Dead” at the Dairy Arts Center! Enjoy live music from Trio Talismán, an altar exhibition, raffles, pan de muerto, lotería, a catrina contest, face painting, Folklórico dance, a food truck and much more. Admission is free.

Open-Play Haunted Junkyard

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 3-5pm
A great option for the kiddos, Junkyard Social Club's typical Open Play gets a Halloween makeover with art created by local artists designed for spooky-fun, rather than gross or scary.

Haunted Junkyard (Adult-Swim Edition)

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 8pm-midnight
Calling all ghosts! Come haunt the halls of the Junkyard Social Club, enhanced with immersive and interactive Halloween art. This is an adult-only ghosting event. Tickets start at $15.

Motown Halloween Prom

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 8-10pm
Journey back in time to prom night in the '60s with Roots Music Project's Motown Halloween Prom. Dress up, dance and sing to all the classics, including a live performance by Ain’t No Mountain High Enough band.

Swing Dance Halloween Party

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 7-11pm
Dance to live music from The Flatirons Jazz Orchestra featuring Deborah Stafford at The Avalon Ballroom. After taking a swing dance class (included with $20 admission) you'll be ready to dance the night away. Dress for a Halloween extravaganza!

Omar Apollo, The Prototype Tour with Ravyn Lenae

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 7:45pm
Head to the Boulder Theater for a night of inventive, experimental music from 24-year-old Latin GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter, Omar Apollo.

Halloween Party at R Gallery + Wine Bar

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 6-10pm
Get your costume ready for R Gallery + Wine Bar's Halloween Party! Live music from Mojo Nightclub. Awards for "Best Costume," "Most Unusual Costume," and "Best Couple or Group Costume" will be awarded.

Boulder Farmers Market

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 8am-2pm
The Boulder Farmers Market has been rated the No. 1 farmers' market in the country by readers of USA Today. Come sample, shop, meet local farmers, enjoy pumpkin-flavored treats, hear live music and eat great food in the harvest season.

gogoLab celebrates Samhain

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 8-9:30pm
gogoLab is an improvisational group that creates live soundscapes to go with eclectic visuals. Rather than fall back on Halloween as a theme, this event will observe the old holiday of Samhain, a one-of-a-kind collaboration for the eyes and ears. Tickets start at $17.

Frankenstein Theater Hike

Saturday and Sunday, October 29-30, 2022, 3pm
Arts in the Open is a group that combines hiking and theater, fusing nature with live performance. Their fall production of the classic, "Frankenstein" by R.N. Sandberg, will take place in the historic Chautauqua Park. 

Fall Festival of Choirs

Sunday, October 30, 2022, 7:30pm
The University of Colorado's College of Music presents the Fall Festival of Choirs in the historic Macky Auditorium.

Downtown's Munchkin Masquerade

Monday, October 31, 2022, 3-6pm
For scary amounts of cuteness, head to downtown Boulder on Halloween for Munchkin Masquerade. Unicorns, stormtroopers, Batman (er, Batmen?), princesses, monsters, butterflies…they all converge upon Pearl Street for the best trick-or-treating in town, with many businesses filling kiddos' buckets to the brim with candy. Parents tend to go all out, too, and you’ll see some amazing costumes. Free.

Munchkin Masquerade

Exotica Erotica Ball

October 31, 2022, 9pm-2am
This adult masquerade ball at The Riverside is a night of dancing, debauchery, burlesque shows, fantasy costume contest, DJs and fire performers. Must be 21 or older. Tickets available here.

Halloween Drive-In Movie

TBD 2022
The City of Boulder will show four movies (two children’s themed movies and two adult-themed movies) for a couple of spooky drive-in movie nights at Flatirons Golf Course.

Tour a Historic Cemetery

Located on Ninth Street between College and Pleasant streets, Columbia Cemetery is Boulder's first permanent cemetery and dates back to 1870. It contains the graves of prominent Boulder pioneers and notable figures such as Mary Rippon, one of the first women professors in Western America. Take some time to simply walk among the granite and sandstone gravestones in the shadow of the Flatirons, and read fascinating gravestones commemorating those who died in mining accidents or of more unusual means, such as "a broken heart." Click here for the City of Boulder's guide to some of the more notable cemetery residents. On October 9, 2022, head to Columbia Cemetery for Historic Boulder's "Meet the Spirits" enactments of the pioneering people who are buried in this historic cemetery.

Columbia Cemetery with fall foliage

Photo: Courtesy of City of Boulder

Go on a Paranormal Walking Tour of Pearl Street

Explore Boulder's haunted past on a paranormal walking tour ​of downtown Boulder. Join a historian and a psychic on a spirited journey through Pearl Street's past as they resurrect the stories and lives of the dead who reportedly still wander the streets.

Pick a Pumpkin and Walk a Hay Bale Maze

It’s a straight shot on South Boulder Road to 7th Generation Farm in nearby Louisville, about a 25-minute drive. You’ll find rows of pre-picked pumpkins stacked among vintage farm trucks, or you can stroll out into the field to pick your own. A farm store is stocked with all kinds of produce and goodies. Check their site for the latest. Entrance is $5 per person (under 2 is free), but it can be put toward a pumpkin purchase.

 

Young kid walking through the pumpkin patch at Cottonwood Farm

Go for a Haunted Hike

After traipsing the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail in the rock-climbing mecca of Eldorado Canyon State Park for a bit, you’ll encounter a strange sight in the middle of the wilderness: The ruins of an old stone oven, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. These are the final remains of the Crags Hotel, once a popular mountain retreat that visitors could access via an inclined funicular railway. The hotel inexplicably burned to the ground in 1912. Today, the eerie remnants evoke early 20th-century scenes of hotel staff going about their work, preparing meals for their guests — before the hotel's operations screeched to an abrupt halt as a result of the fire. Here's a map to get to this moderate-level hiking trail. State Park entrance fees will apply.

Rattlesnake Gulch Eldorado Canyon at Sunset/Sunrise In Boulder, COPhoto: Flickr Creative Commons/Max and Dee Bernt