The witching hour: Trick-or-treating times, Halloween events across Northern Michigan

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — While carved pumpkins line front porches and fake gravestones cover lawns, children and adults alike will be taking to the streets of Northern Michigan to celebrate some Halloween fun.

Whether you want to trick-or-treat or find a costume party, here’s what Northern Michigan has to offer as October nears its end.

More:Trunk-or-treat: Taking a look at the alternative Halloween trend

Alanson

Trunk-or-treat from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Alanson Public School. The village is also holding trick-or-treating from 5-7 p.m.

The Friday before Halloween, Oct. 28, the village will be hosting a home decorating contest. The event is hosted by the village’s DDA. The top decorated homes will receive gift cards to their favorite village business, with first place getting a $300 gift card, second getting a $200 gift card and third getting a $100 gift card.

Judging will begin at 5 p.m. Those interested in participating should email dda@villageofalanson.com with an address, name and phone number. The winners will be announced the night of Oct. 31.

Boyne City

Children will have a few options for filling their pillowcases this Halloween. Candy will be handed out from 1-5 p.m. Oct. 31 at the Boyne District Library. The library is also hosting a Teen Fright Night from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 28 at the library's Community Tomb. A PG movie will be played, and there will be games and snacks as well.

Hours for residential trick-or-treating are from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 31.

Charlevoix

To kick off the weekend, an adult-only costume party will be held from 6:30-11 p.m. on Oct. 28 at Castle Farms. The event is catered and comes with an open bar. Tickets are $75 and the proceeds go to Charlevoix Children's House Montessori School.

In Charlevoix, trick-or-treating begins at 6 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

Cheboygan

In Cheboygan, the day of Halloween starts early with a downtown trick-or-treating event from 3-5 p.m. Downtown businesses will be participating with candy and decorations, and performances by the Twisted Sisters.

Normal neighborhood trick-or-treating will be celebrated from 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Gaylord

House-to-house trick-or-treating in Gaylord begins at 5 p.m. and goes until 7:30 p.m. There will also be trunk-or-treating from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Trinity Lutheran Church.

The weekend leading up to Halloween, people can visit the Alpine Bluffs haunted house at 254 Little League Dr. in Gaylord. The haunted house is operational from 8 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Oct. 27, through Saturday, Oct. 29, and from 6-10 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30. Admission is $20 a person.

Harbor Springs

In Harbor Springs, children can trick-or-treat house-to-house from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Halloween night.

Earlier in the day, children will be walking the streets of Harbor Springs for the annual Halloween Parade. After that, they’ll be able to trick-or-treat from 2-3:30 p.m. at the local businesses on Main Street — a tradition being brought back after taking a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the whole month, skeletons have been set up throughout the city to celebrate the spooky season. For $125 — or $100 if they’ve sponsored before — residents and businesses were able to purchase a skeleton to display in the chamber of commerce contest. The map of where to find the skeletons can be found on the chamber’s website.

Mackinaw City

In Mackinaw City, people will be able to trunk-or-treat from 5–7 p.m. on Oct. 31 at Old School Park on East Jamet and Henry streets.

Hours to walk through neighborhood's trick-or-treating are the same.

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Petoskey 

In Petoskey, the trick-or-treating hours in the neighborhoods are from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 31. East Mitchell Street will be closed from Kalamazoo to Woodland streets during those hours as well.

Throughout the weekend, City Park Grill will be hosting its own weekend of spooky fun, chock-full with costumes, dancing and more. The bar will be holding karaoke beginning 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28 and the Boogie Boogie Halloween Bash starts at 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29. The ClarkAfterDark and DJ Franck will be playing music and filling the bar with good beats for those 21 and older. There will be $250 in cash costume prizes up for grabs as well.

Sault Ste. Marie

In the Soo, the weekend will kick off with a Halloween parade and costume contest from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 28. From 5-7 p.m. the same day, there will also be trick-or-treating at the businesses on Portage Avenue and Ashman Street, along with a Trunk-or-Treat event at the farmer’s market.

The day of Halloween, trick-or-treating hours are typically from 5-8 p.m.

— Contact education reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com or on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN. 

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Trick-or-treating times, Halloween events across Northern Michigan