Michigan Travel · Ann Arbor
Things to do in Ann Arbor for Halloween: Animal Haunts, a downtown parade and a not-so-scary haunted house
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Halloween week in Ann Arbor stacks a candy-free nature-center night, a downtown costume parade and a library haunted house within two days, giving families a clear weekend circuit without leaving the city.
Leslie Science & Nature Center hosts Animal Haunts on Saturday, Oct. 24, with a daylight session from 4 to 6:30 p.m. and a twilight session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the center’s event page says. The candy-free event includes a Mystery Hike through Black Pond Woods, live animals at the Critter House, science activities, a harvest craft and a costume-friendly Harvest Carnival. Pre-registration is required. The center is at 1831 Traver Road, with free on-site parking.
Downtown’s costume parade lands Sunday, Oct. 25. Main Street Ann Arbor says families should line up at the Ann Arbor District Library at 11:30 a.m.; the parade steps off at noon and heads to Main Street. Candy stops with city police and participating shops run about 12:15 to 2 p.m., with games, dancing and sponsor activities along the route. Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger is listed as the presenting sponsor.
The same afternoon, the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown branch runs a Not-So-Scary Haunted House from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the lower-level program room. The walk-through is about 200 feet, wheelchair accessible and uses timed entry stickers from a lobby registration table tied to the library’s Halloween costume contest. A sensory-friendly window is earlier that day, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., the library says.
Sources:
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science & Nature Center, Animal Haunts 2026, https://discoverscienceandnature.org/animal-haunts
Main Street Ann Arbor, Halloween Downtown, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, https://mainstreetannarbor.org/halloween
Ann Arbor District Library, Not-So-Scary Haunted House, Oct. 25, 2026, https://aadl.org/node/669159
Photo: Chriswaco, “Downtown Ann Arbor, 2020-05-05.jpg,” May 5, 2020, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted; derivative under the same ShareAlike license. The photo shows downtown Ann Arbor and does not show the Halloween events, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Ann_Arbor,_2020-05-05.jpg
More from Ann Arbor
Sports · October 12, 2026
Dexter, third in the SEC Red, visits Ann Arbor Pioneer on Friday night
Both teams are 3-4 overall. Dexter is 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference Red; Pioneer is 2-3 after a loss at Monroe.
Sports · October 8, 2026
Monroe stays unbeaten at home, beating Ann Arbor Pioneer 49-35
Both teams are 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the SEC Red after Friday’s game.
Michigan Travel · October 8, 2026
Trick-or-treat by canoe, a park Boo Bash and a Main Street parade fill Ann Arbor’s Halloween month
Gallup Park’s river trick-or-treat was Oct. 11. Buhr Park hosts a free Boo Bash Oct. 18, and the downtown parade with Ann Arbor police is Oct. 25.
News · October 7, 2026
Ann Arbor hires a $787,000 consultant to turn its density plan into zoning law
The unanimous council vote starts a rewrite of the city’s development code and zoning map that could take three years, with mid-rise buildings and duplexes and triplexes in today’s single-family areas on the table.