Four Counties, Two Weekends

Where the next fourteen days are busiest.

Top Picks

If you only make a few plans in the next two weeks, start here.

New London County, Connecticut

The corn maze, the ghost ship and a parade down Water Street.

Preston Farms Corn Maze

Through Oct. 31 · Preston

Hours: Monday–Thursday 2–6:30 p.m.; Friday 2–9:30 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–9:30 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.–sunset.
Flashlight nights: Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m.
Location: 92 Route 2, Preston.
Admission: $13 ages 10+, $7 ages 4–9, free 3 and under. Tickets are season passes.
Note: No dogs except service animals.

Eight acres cut to an “America 250” theme, with 16 stamping stations. Plan on an hour and a half to three hours, and bring a real flashlight if you are going at night.

Hours & Tickets

What Lurks Beneath: Ghost Ship

Oct. 23–25 and 28–30 · Mystic

Remaining nights: October 23, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30.
Hours: 6–9 p.m.; last tickets 7:30 p.m.
Location: Mystic Seaport Museum, 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic.
Ages: Recommended for 8+; approximately 90 minutes.

The ghost crew of the whaleship Grampus, lost after an 1826 mutiny, turns up at the docks. Staged across the historic waterfront, these are the last six nights.

Tickets & Details

Wee Faerie Village: Gemstone Station

Closes Nov. 1 · Old Lyme

Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Location: Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme.
Admission: $23 adult, $22 senior 62+, $21 student 13+, free under 13.

The last weekend of a walking trail of faerie-sized installations built from gemstones, minerals and shining metals by local artists.

Pumpkin Passage at The Dinosaur Place

Through Nov. 1 · Oakdale

Location: Nature’s Art Village, 1650 Hartford–New London Turnpike, Oakdale.

An illuminated night trail with glowing dinosaurs, a singing animatronic pumpkin family, inflatables and a petting zoo. Built deliberately for small children — there are no scares.

Connecticut Renaissance Faire: Merry Macabre

Oct. 24–25 · Lebanon

Hours: 10:30 a.m.–6 p.m.
Location: Lebanon Country Fairgrounds, 122 Mack Road.
Admission: $18 general, $10 youth, children free.

The closing weekend of the 28th season, with darker Halloween programming across 13 stages, 212 vendors and seven taverns.

Mystic Halloween Parade & Trunk-or-Treat

Saturday, Oct. 31 · Mystic

Time: 1–3 p.m.
Location: Water Street, downtown Mystic.
Admission: Free.

Downtown Mystic hands Water Street over to costumed children on Halloween afternoon, with a trunk-or-treat festival alongside the parade.

At the Garde Arts Center

Oct. 20, 24 & 25 · New London

Oct. 20: Peter King in conversation with Jeff Benedict, 7 p.m.
Oct. 24: Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 25: A.J. Croce, Croce Plays Croce, 7 p.m.
Location: 325 State St., New London.

Middlesex County, Connecticut

A haunted train, a maze that ends in a beer tasting and an opening night at The Goodspeed.

Tracks of Terror: Bloodlines

Oct. 22–24 and 29–30 · Essex

Departures: 6:30, 7:45 and 9 p.m.
Location: Essex Steam Train & Riverboat, 1 Railroad Ave., Essex.
Ages: 16+.
Tickets: $49.99.
Warning: Strobes and flashing lights throughout.

It starts in the dark of the train yard with a short film and a maze, then puts you aboard vintage railcars for about 50 minutes. The age limit is real — this is the one genuinely frightening attraction in this issue.

Lyman Orchards Corn Maze

Through Nov. 1 · Middlefield

Hours: Monday–Friday 1–5:30 p.m.; weekends and holidays 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Location: 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield.
Admission: $12 ages 13+, $7 ages 4–12, free 3 and under.
2026 design: “250 Years of the U.S.A.”

Four acres and better than a mile of pathway, cut to a semiquincentennial theme. Pair it with the orchard market on the way out.

Halloween Brew Maze

Saturday, Oct. 31 · Middlefield

Time: 6:30–8:30 p.m.; last full-maze entry 7:30 p.m.
Admission: $40, ages 21+.
Included: Six four-ounce tastings from Connecticut breweries, a pop-up bar and yard games.

The grown-up send-off for maze season: the same four acres, in the dark, with a tasting glass.

Annie — 50th Anniversary Production

Opens Friday, Oct. 30 · East Haddam

Run: October 30 through December 27.
Location: The Goodspeed, 6 Main St., East Haddam.
Box office: 860-873-8668.

Annie premiered on this stage in 1976 before it went to Broadway, so the 50th-anniversary production is a homecoming. Opening night lands on Halloween weekend.

At The Kate

Oct. 19–Nov. 1 · Old Saybrook

Oct. 19: Blind Boys of Alabama, Songs in the Key of Life, 7 p.m.
Oct. 20: Gaelic Storm, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 26: Asleep at the Wheel, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27: Suzanne Vega, Flying With Angels, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 31: Sister’s Back to School Catechism: The Holy Ghost and Other Terrifying Tales, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Location: 300 Main St., Old Saybrook.

A Piece of My Heart

Closes Oct. 25 · Ivoryton

Location: Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St.
Tickets: $60 adult, $55 senior, plus fees.

Shirley Lauro’s play about six women who served in Vietnam, in its closing week.

Washington County, Rhode Island

Westerly throws the party; Wakefield stages the zombies.

HallUween & Trunk or Treat on High Street

Saturday, Oct. 31 · Westerly

Time: From 5 p.m.; costume parade at 6 p.m.
Location: The UNITED, 5 Canal St., Westerly, plus the downtown municipal and post office parking lot.
Admission: Free.

Anne Cubberly’s giant puppets, a drum corps parade with acrobats and hoopers, costume awards, a Halloween movie and crafts in the Black Box, and a trunk-or-treat. Downtown Westerly closes the street and throws the largest free Halloween-night party in either state.

Night of the Living Dead Live

Opens Oct. 23 · Wakefield

Performances: Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31 at 7 p.m.
Location: Contemporary Theater Company, 327 Main St., Wakefield.

A stage parody of the Romero zombie classic, opening the weekend before Halloween at South County’s year-round company.

Succulent-Topped Heirloom Pumpkin Class

Oct. 31 & Nov. 1 · South Kingstown

Sessions: Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Location: The Farmer’s Daughter, 716 Mooresfield Rd., South Kingstown.
Registration: Required.

Plant succulents into an heirloom pumpkin and take the whole arrangement home. It outlasts a carved pumpkin by months, which is the point.

Newport County, Rhode Island

A mansion, a fort and a bird sanctuary, all handed over to Halloween.

Halloween Trick or Treat at The Breakers

Oct. 23–24 · Newport

Friday: Sensory-friendly 5:30–6 p.m.; additional sessions through 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: 5:30–6:30 and 6:30–7:30 p.m.
Location: The Breakers, 44 Ochre Point Ave., Newport.
Admission: $10 per person ages 2–17 and adults; free under 2 and for Preservation Society members.
Note: Advance tickets required.

Trick-or-treating through Newport’s largest Gilded Age mansion, in costume, with treats and prizes. The Friday sensory-friendly session has no music or strobes.

Jamestown Fright Night VI

Saturday, Oct. 24 · Jamestown

Time: 4–8 p.m.; rain date Oct. 25.
Location: Fort Getty Park, 1050 Fort Getty Rd.
Admission: Free.

Live music from Purple Honey, food trucks, carnival games, a bonfire and a “Halloween Town” haunted RV park. More than 1,800 people attended last year.

Haunted Haywagon Tour

Oct. 23 and 30 · Middletown

Time: 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Location: Norman Bird Sanctuary, 583 Third Beach Rd.
Admission: $15 members, $20 non-members.
Ages: Recommended for 8+.

A 45-minute hay wagon ride through 300 acres of sanctuary after sunset, with staged surprises along the way.

Tiverton Trunk or Treat

Saturday, Oct. 24 · Tiverton

Special-needs hour: 6–6:30 p.m.
General public: 6:30–8 p.m.
Location: Ranger School, 278 North Brayton Rd., Tiverton.

A town-run trunk-or-treat with a dedicated quiet session for children with special needs before the general crowd arrives.

A Rough Point Halloween

Friday, Oct. 30 · Newport

Time: 5–7 p.m. per the museum calendar; confirm before attending.
Location: Rough Point Museum, 680 Bellevue Ave.

A Halloween treasure hunt through Doris Duke’s mansion, with macabre objects on view and seasonal drinks at the Bow Bar.

Trick-or-Treat at BOOwen’s Wharf

Sunday, Oct. 25 · Newport

Location: Bowen’s Wharf, 13 Bowen’s Wharf.
Admission: Free.

Costumed trick-or-treating at the shops and restaurants along the wharf. A tidy Sunday-afternoon option.

Also Worth Knowing

• Scarecrows in the Village at Olde Mistick Village, through Oct. 31 — merchant-built displays with QR-code public voting. Free.
• Trinity Church Pumpkin Patch, Queen Anne Square, Newport, through Oct. 31 — more than a thousand pumpkins, plus cider and baked goods.
• “Revolution Reimagined” and America’s 250 at the Newport Mansions both close Nov. 1 at Rosecliff.
• Keep On Laughing at the Newport Playhouse runs through Nov. 1.
• Halloween movies at the Jane Pickens Theater — Oct. 27 and 28, including Rocky Horror and The Omen.
• Live from the Boathouse at the Connecticut River Museum, Essex, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m.

Looking Ahead

The First Half of November

• Newport Restaurant Week, Nov. 6–15.
• Tarzan Brown Mystic River Run, Nov. 7 — the 51st running of the five-mile race along the river.
• Chorus of Westerly performs Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, Nov. 14–15.
• Preston Farms’ final flashlight nights run Nov. 6 and 7, after the daytime maze season closes.
• Holidays at the Newport Mansions and Sparkling Lights at The Breakers begin Nov. 21.
• North Pole Express out of Essex starts Nov. 20.

Event dates, times, locations, admission prices and ticket availability can change, and outdoor events may be affected by weather. Several town Halloween schedules had not been published at the time of writing and are listed under Watch For rather than given a date. Please use the official event sources to confirm details with each organizer before attending.