Halloween Events at Ontario Parks – For Families!
Halloween is a feast for the senses at Ontario Parks. Kids love it!
Twelve Ontario Parks plan Halloween events this year. Take a guided night hike. Howl for coyotes and hoot for owls. Meet park “bone experts” (naturalists). Touch, feel and learn about pelts, skulls and bones of park creatures. Build a bat box and give bats a home to help them survive. Carve a pumpkin, make a mask or create a nature-inspired scarecrow. Naturalist-led activities are for day-use and overnight visitors to enjoy, and most are free with a valid park permit. Camper families are also invited to decorate their campsites, dress in costume and shell out candy to trick-or-treaters (some restrictions apply). Below is a sampling of what’s planned. You’ll find a roundup of all Halloween events on the Parks Blog, along with this “Creature of the Night” series by park naturalists which first published last fall.
Camper Halloween at Oakville’s Bronte Creek Provincial Park is so popular, it takes place on back-to-back weekends, October 14 to 15 and October 20 to 21. At Friday night’s All Hallows Eve Campfire, there will be storytelling, games and music for day and overnight visitors. On Saturday night, a special celebration for camper families is planned. Campsite decorating, costumes and trick-or-treating are encouraged. The evening ends with a fun night hike that focuses on Bronte Creek’s bats, owls and coyotes.
At The Pinery Provincial Park, experience autumn camping in Riverside Campground with a spooky theme! Join park naturalists throughout the weekend of October 21 to 22 for special Halloween-themed interpretive programming. Learn to differentiate between spooky myths and facts; decorate your campsite (no hay or straw and please respect the park environment); participate in campground trick-or-treating; or decorate a scarecrow using natural objects from your campsite to profile one of Pinery’s interpretive themes (prizes will be awarded for the best scarecrow!).
The fun continues at Algonquin Provincial Park! Join park staff at the Visitor Centre on Saturday, October 22, where a Park Naturalist will guide you through a collection of animal skeletons. On October 28 and 29, Mew Lake Campground will feature “pick of the patch” pumpkin carving, spookiest campsite and best costume contests. Everyone is invited to participate in trick-or-treating among the campsites on Saturday night, and later, for a howling good time at the nearby Old Airfield with a wolf howl. We will be roasting creepy crawly spider wieners and ghostly marshmallows.
