I have lived here long enough to have opinions about which streets are worth walking after dark, and I will tell you now that walking Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Queen Street in October is the one.
There is something about this region in the last few weeks of the month. The light goes early, the crowds have thinned, and a place that spends all summer being cheerful gets a little atmospheric. We lean into it here, probably harder than we should.
Here is how I would spend it.
Start with a ghost walk
Niagara-on-the-Lake calls itself Canada’s most haunted town and does not appear to be joking about it. The walks leave from 127 Queen Street and take you past the Olde Angel Inn, the courthouse and the Prince of Wales, with a guide who has clearly done this a few hundred times and still enjoys it.
It is an hour or so on foot, it runs through Halloween, and it works whether or not you believe a word of it. Take a coffee. Wear proper shoes.
Then go to the fort
Fort George runs its own Halloween tours, and they are a different thing entirely. Two hours, by candlelight, and the Friends of Fort George are plain about it: these include stories too frightening for the summer tours.
They run on the weekends of October 16th to 18th, 23rd to 25th and 30th to 31st, plus November 1st. Tickets are $25 and, this is the part people get caught by, every Halloween ticket must be bought in advance. You cannot turn up and pay at the gate.
If you want it loud instead
Frightmare in the Falls is the opposite of a candlelit walk. Three days at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre, twenty-five horror guests announced, and a building full of people who have put more effort into their costumes than I’ve put into most weddings.
October 23rd to 25th, and the Sunday is the calmest of the three if you would rather talk to somebody than queue.
For the children, and the rest of us
Boo at the Zoo at Safari Niagara runs October 3rd and 4th, then the 9th, 10th and 11th, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trick-or-treating with more than a hundred vendors handing out sweets, costume competitions through the late morning, and the run of the park. Children twelve and under in costume are $5, adults $19.95, members free. Last entry is 4 p.m., and they are closed on Thanksgiving Monday, so the 11th is your last day.
Warner Ranch and Pumpkin Farm in Welland is open daily until October 31st, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and getting in costs nothing at all. The corn maze is $3, hayrides are $4, pony rides are $6. There are also unicorn rides, and I have decided not to ask.
Howell’s in Fonthill is the other one, and worth a look for the pumpkin patch. Check their own pages for this season’s hours.
And then it is Halloween night
This is the part I actually love. The region goes all in on the night itself, with displays on ordinary streets that people have clearly been building since August, and every small ghoul and goblin out in force.
You do not need a ticket for that one. Just pick a busy neighbourhood and wander.
Planning around it? This Month in Niagara → or build the trip →
