Things to do in Battle Creek for Halloween week: Bruin Boo at KCC, a Marshall firefighters’ costume parade and a police trunk-or-treat

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kellogg Community College opens its halls to trick-or-treaters on Thursday, Oct. 22, for Bruin Boo, the first of several free family Halloween events in and around Battle Creek that run up to a police-hosted trunk-or-treat the night before Halloween.

Now in its ninth year, Bruin Boo runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m., rain or shine, on KCC’s main campus at 450 North Ave. Costumed students, employees and community partners will hand out candy at dozens of stations inside campus buildings, the college said. KCC student athletes will lead Halloween games, and the night also offers face painting and Halloween coloring pages designed by the college’s graphic design students.

The event is free and open to the public. Families with questions can call KCC’s Bruin Youth Programming Office at 269-965-4134.

Two days later, on Saturday, Oct. 24, Marshall firefighters lead the city’s annual Halloween costume parade downtown. Children and parents meet at Marshall City Hall, 323 W. Michigan Ave., at 11 a.m. and follow the firefighters and a fire truck, with trick-or-treating afterward at participating businesses, according to Choose Marshall, the city’s visitor site, which lists the event until 12:30 p.m.

Binder Park Zoo, 7400 Division Drive, is in the last weeks of its season. The zoo’s 2026 map lists October hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, with last admission 30 minutes before closing. Its online store also sells a lion training session, held at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 21 through Oct. 31, as an add-on to admission. Parking is $4 per vehicle. The zoo says it closes early on some special-event days and asks visitors to call ahead or check its website.

On Friday, Oct. 30, the Battle Creek Police Department hosts a trunk-or-treat from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bailey Park, 1350 Capital Ave. NE, according to the city’s events calendar.

Battle Creek does not set official trick-or-treat hours for Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31, according to a roundup of area municipal schedules by the family site KZOOKIDS. Families should check with their own neighborhoods.

Sources:
Kellogg Community College, “Bruin Boo!,” event listing, accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://kellogg.edu/events/bruin-boo-4/
Choose Marshall, “Firefighters Costume Parade,” event listing, accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://choosemarshall.com/events/firefighter-costume-parade/
City of Marshall, “Special Events,” 2026 schedule, accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://cityofmarshall.com/342/Special-Events
Binder Park Zoo, “2026 Zoo Map,” accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://binderparkzoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-Zoo-Map-Outside.pdf
Binder Park Zoo eStore, “Events,” accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://shop.binderparkzoo.org/Events.aspx
City of Battle Creek, events calendar, Oct. 30, 2026, accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://www.battlecreekmi.gov/calendar.aspx?day=30&month=10&view=list&year=2026
KZOOKIDS, “2026 Trick-or-Treat Times,” accessed Oct. 18, 2026, https://kzookids.com/trick-or-treat-times/
Photo: Simonvii, “Kellogg Community College building.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kellogg_Community_College_building.jpg

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Tags: Battle Creek · Marshall · Halloween · Bruin Boo · Kellogg Community College · Trunk-or-Treat · Binder Park Zoo · Battle Creek Police Department · Things to Do