Whether you’re looking for an adrenaline rush (haunted attractions) or a chill-out (fall leaves), there’s lots to do in Salt Lake County in October.
Drive around Salt Lake, and you’ll see visual evidence of how much this town loves October.
We have multiple large-scale haunted houses, dozens of pumpkin patches, and a busy calendar of events on Oct. 31 proper.
Last year, Consumer Affairs ranked us among the Top 10 of best states to celebrate Halloween, so our obsession has now been officially recognized. If Halloween isn’t your jam, though, plenty of other seasonal pleasures are waiting.
1. Visit a local corn maze or pumpkin patch, including one that may not be here next year
Utah is crazy for corn mazes and U-Pick pumpkin patches. You’ll find them in every corner of the state. Cornbelly’s is the oldest and largest; it now has two locations and almost 100 attractions, including a haunted corn maze, Frightbelly’s.
But if you visit one corn maze/pumpkin patch attraction this year, you may want to go to Cross E Ranch. First, it’s unusual in that it’s actually located within the Salt Lake city limits—which may be why it’s currently struggling. In late September, the ranch reportedly asked the city to rezone it so it could sell 65 acres of land for housing development. But that’s going to mean some huge changes during the next fall season.
Cross-E is known for its cider donuts—it even has a dedicated Donut Barn. That’s the tempting treat porcine racers bolt toward during the Fall Festival pig races, one of the ranch’s most fun attractions. Sections of the crowd are sectioned into red, blue, and green teams, and then they cheer for the pig with the corresponding colored ribbon around its neck. Races happen twice a day on weekdays (at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.) and four times a day on weekends (11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 8 p.m.), though as the website notes, “Schedule subject to change without notice—sometimes the animals run the show.” The ranch is open through Oct. 31.
Cross E Ranch is located at 3500 N. 2200 W., Salt Lake City, UT 84116; tickets are $16.95–$49.95.
2. Get your scare on at a haunted attraction that’s allegedly actually haunted
Perhaps the only haunted attraction in Salt Lake to have been visited by the paranormal team behind the reality TV series “Ghost Adventures,” Fear Factory sits on the site of the former Portland Cement Factory. Like many industrial environments in the 19th and 20th centuries, the cement factory wasn’t a safe place to clock your 9-to-5, and during its years of operation between 1890 and 1988, there were multiple accidents and at least 11 on-site deaths.
Fear Factory’s management bought the building in 2010, and soon felt that some of the old workers were still hanging around; they reported hearing odd noises, disembodied voices, and feeling watched. The site includes six giant connected buildings, some as high as six stories tall, as well as two creepy underground tunnels. They put it all to good use. In addition to traditional jump-scare actors, Fear Factory offers blackout nights, zip lines, and even a Halloween-themed pop-up bar called Dark Spirits, where you can tip back glow-in-the-dark drinks with some of the live scare actors.
Fear Factory is located at 666 W. 800 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, and costs $25–$35.
Salt Lake County offers many other haunted attractions, including Nightmare on 13th in Salt Lake, Castle of Chaos in Midvale, Night Stalkers Haunted Trail in West Jordan, Asylum 49 in Tooele, and the Haunted Forest in American Fork.
3. Get your pumpkin spice on at one of our (many, many) independent coffee shops
For a state that once eschewed coffee for religious reasons, it’s as eye-opening as a shot of espresso that we are now (according to WalletHub) tied for the title of most coffee shops per capita—as many as Spokane, Wash., located in the home state of Starbucks, creator of the pumpkin spice latte.
Though “pumpkin spice” has become a pejorative shorthand for “basic,” Salt Lake’s coffee shops put their creative spin on it, like Old Cuss’s “smashed pumpkin latte.” You can hit up that old mainstay, Salt Lake Roasting Co. (820 E 400 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84102), which was the city’s first true coffee roaster and serious coffee shop, or get your fix at several brand-new coffee shops that’ve opened just in the the past few months, including Gramercy House (569 E 2nd Ave, Bldg. B, Salt Lake City, 84103), Trolley Coffee Company (602 E. 500 S., Salt Lake City, 84111), and The Wall Cafe (915 Washington St., Salt Lake City, Utah, 84101).
4. Visit “The Pumpkin House” in Central City
On Oct. 1, Salt Lake suddenly gets all Halloween-y: people suddenly break out the giant skeletons, pumpkins, fake cobwebs, and orange fairy lights.
One family in Salt Lake goes beyond that—in fact, they had their decor up in the middle of September. The Archibald family’s “Pumpkin House” has only been a thing for four years, but it’s already attracting not just local, but national media attention.
The house, located in Salt Lake’s Central City neighborhood at the corner of 800 E. and 300 S., was formerly known as the George Roper House and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Neoclassical foursquare was designed by architect Bernard O. Mecklenburg and built in 1909. Its many ledges and surfaces offer the perfect way to display nearly 300 pumpkins—mostly real, though about 100 are also hand-carved from craft foam. The Archibalds welcome people to stop by and take a photo of the house or snap a selfie, as long as they are polite and respectful.
You can read more about The Pumpkin House in Houseworthy and at Better Homes and Gardens.
5. Peep fall leaves in Big or Little Cottonwood Canyons
You can enjoy leaf-peeping season in any corner of the state, but if you’re looking for an option close to Salt Lake, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons are the way to go.
According to the Utah Dept. of Transportation, early October offers the best colors—but it all depends on the weather. Because higher-elevation spots (like Guardsman Pass in Big Cottonwood Canyon) are cooler, those leaves change first; then the color ripples down through lower elevation spots in the canyon. But UDOT notes that the weather can change everything on a dime: “A cold snap, rain or snow can end the leaf peeping season quickly,” it writes.
The canyons get crowded on weekends year-round, but that’s especially true during leaf-peeping season. Visit earlier in the day on weekdays, and you’ll avoid the crowds and actually find a place to park. If you haven’t visited the canyon this year, note that recreation fees went up earlier this summer (a three-day pass costs $10).
You can track the weather, traffic volume in the canyon, and even the color of the leaves via the traffic cameras on UDOT’s traffic dashboard.
Big Cottonwood Canyon is accessible via State Route 152/S. Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd, Salt Lake City, UT 84121; Little Cottonwood Canyon is accessible via State Route 210 (Little Cottonwood Canyon Road).
6. Hit up a Halloween Bar Crawl
A Salt Lake City Halloween bar crawl plays against stereotypes people have about Utah, but there are two: Boos Fest and the SLC Halloween Bar Crawl.
Boos Fest happens on Oct. 24, starting at 6 p.m. Tickets range from $25-$60 and include stops around downtown Salt Lake City, including SLC Pub, Bodega and The Rest, Boomerang’s Down Under, Tavernacle, SKY SLC and Quarters Arcade Bar.
The SLC Halloween Bar Crawl happens over two days, Oct. 30 and 31, with tickets ranging from $20–$40 (both nights included). The crawl starts at Shades on State at 4 p.m., and makes stops at Why Kiki, Boomerang’s, The Green Pig Pub, International Bar SLC, Quarters Arcade Bar, Soundwell, and Varley, with an after-party at SKY SLC.
7. Strut your Halloween stuff at the HalloQueen Ball
One of the Utah Pride Center’s biggest fundraisers of the year, the HalloQueen Ball is also one of Utah’s biggest Halloween events. This 21+ event hosts multiple live DJs spinning turntables across multiple floors, food, drinks, and drag bingo.
There’s also, of course, a costume contest—categories include sexiest, funniest, scariest, campiest, best Utah-themed, best couple, best throuple, and best group costumes. The contest is free to enter, with a $1500 grand prize.
The ball takes place at the Salt Lake Masonic Temple (650 E. South Temple) on October 31 from 8 p.m. to 1. a.m. General admission tickets cost $31. Funds raised will support UPC’s year-round programming, including LGBTQ+ youth programs, elder peer support groups, and substance abuse recovery groups.
