Fall and Halloween paraphernalia crept into big box stores in July, and Spirit Halloweens started haunting empty stores in August; the beginning of September gives permission to officially celebrate the start of fall. Through the next two months, cities, parks and community organizations around the Tri-City Area will hold events for upcoming holidays and the season.
Tickets for the Haunted Train at Ardenwood go on sale early, starting Sept. 15, and usually sell out quickly. This train ride through carved pumpkins and Halloween displays with actors in costume takes place after nightfall but offers a playfully spooky approach appropriate for young children. The train has been chugging for 30 years, and this year rides take place on Oct. 17–19 and 24–26.
Jacque Burgess, a volunteer at the Railroad Museum at Ardenwood, recalls how the event got started when she complained to a friend about having nowhere to take her four-year-old granddaughter for Halloween. The friend suggested creating an event that would also be a fundraiser for the railroad museum.
“The first year we took plastic shopping bags, stuffed [them] with paper, drew eyes on them, and hung them in the grove of Eucalyptus trees,” says Burgess. “This friend also had some inflatable Halloween ghosts, pumpkins, and a silly Frankenstein which we placed in between the trees. It got more elaborate as the years went by.
“Coordinating this event is a lot of work,” Burgess continues. “But when I look at all of the happy faces of the kids and adults when they return from their journey into the Haunted Woods, it makes it all worthwhile.” Plus, proceeds go toward the preservation of narrow gauge railroad cars made by local builders. “These cars are all over 100 years old, and we are one of very few museums who actually let people ride in these historic cars at Ardenwood Historic Farm.”
Halloween isn’t the only fall holiday. The Mexican holiday for remembering departed loved ones, Dia de los Muertos, takes place just after Halloween, on Nov. 1–2, and local ballet folklorico companies are readying special shows earlier in October. Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno will put on a Dia de los Muertos themed show on Oct. 4 in Oakland and Hayward’s Douglas Morrison Theater will have a performance from Mexico Danza on Oct. 11–12.
As the nights get longer, it’s also the season to celebrate Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights. Alameda County Fairgrounds is holding a Diwali festival on Oct. 11 with arts and craft vendors, food booths, cultural programs and a fireworks display.
Pirates of Emerson will sail back into the fairgrounds starting Sept. 26, with discounted $35 tickets to mark the haunted house’s 35th year on Sept. 26–27. Live bands will add to the spooky vibes, and this year’s tickets include four haunted attractions plus games. In Newark, Fear Overload returns to NewPark Mall on Sept. 20. Tickets include two ultra scary experiences in either a creepy sanatorium or steampunk maze.
Less scary but equally beloved is the Fremont Ghost House, put on by local nonprofit Candle Lighters at the Chadbourne Carriage House at the Fremont Hub. This year’s theme, “This is Halloween,” celebrates spooky movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas. The haunted house runs Oct. 11–30, and ticket sales from the spooky tour and the carnival games support local organizations.
Various holidays and themes gather around the fall season, but Ardenwood’s Harvest Festival has roots in the land and the crops that can be grown in the Bay Area. The weekend of Oct. 11 and 12 focuses on corn, letting guests help bring in the farm’s eight acres of popcorn and flint corn (and take a few ears home!). There will also be cider pressing, historical crafts and rides on the farm’s narrow gauge train. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and sales end Oct. 10.
Starting the same weekend, Dig Deep Farms will have a pumpkin patch at Ardenwood, with crafts and games as well as pumpkins for purchase.
Haunted train tickets
Great list, thank you!