Bay City’s fall Saturday offered HarvestFest downtown and trick-or-treat on Midland Street

BAY CITY, Mich. — Saturday, Oct. 10, was a good day to spend in Bay City without spending much money. A fall market filled a downtown parking lot in the morning, and West Side shops turned Midland Street into a trick-or-treat route by lunchtime.

Downtown, HarvestFest, in its second year, was set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pere Marquette Parking Plaza, 401 Fifth St., with free admission, according to the regional visitors bureau, Go Great Lakes Bay. Local farmers, growers, artists and small businesses were lined up for a market of produce, baked goods, pantry staples and handmade items. Organizers also listed live music, free face painting, pumpkin decorating and a pie contest.

Across the river, Midland Street Trick or Treat was scheduled from noon to 3 p.m., with more than 30 businesses planning to hand out treats, plus prizes and a pumpkin giveaway, Mid-Michigan NOW reported. This year local high schools decorated about 17 storefront windows in Halloween themes for a contest that lasts all month, a member of the Midland Street Management Board told the station. Because the contest runs through October, the windows should still be up for anyone who missed the walk.

Earlier risers had the Walk to End Alzheimer’s at Wenonah Park, 101 Center Ave. Registration was set to open at 9 a.m., with the opening ceremony at 10 a.m. leading straight into the walk, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Bay City State Park, north of town, scheduled a Mother Nature Trail that day in the day-use area near its visitor center. It was open to the public, but every vehicle needed a Recreation Passport, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said. The park’s Harvest Weekend trick-or-treating was limited to registered campers and their guests.

Still to see: The Midland Street window contest runs through October. For questions about state park programs, the DNR lists the Bay City State Park visitor center at 989-667-0717.

Updated Oct. 7, 2026: Replaced a Go Great Lakes Bay link that had moved.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: These Oct. 10 events have passed. This guide was published before them, and its schedule language has been changed to the past tense.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The headline and summary were changed to the past tense for events that have already taken place.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: Two event listings in Sources came down after Oct. 10. The DNR link now points to an Internet Archive copy of the state park page, which matches the details above. Go Great Lakes Bay’s Harvest Fest page is no longer online and has no archived copy, so it is now cited without a link.

Sources:
Go Great Lakes Bay, “Harvest Fest,” Oct. 10, 2026 (listing removed after the event; no archived copy available)
Mid-Michigan NOW, “Bay City hosting annual Midland Street Trick or Treat with pumpkins and prizes,” Sept. 30, 2026, https://midmichigannow.com/news/local/bay-city-hosting-annual-midland-street-trick-or-treat-with-pumpkins-and-prizes
Alzheimer’s Association, “2026 Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Bay City, MI”, https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2026/MI-GreaterMichigan?fr_id=19685&pg=entry
Michigan DNR, “Bay City State Park – Fall Harvest Festival,” Oct. 10, 2026 (Internet Archive copy; the DNR removed the listing after the event), https://web.archive.org/web/20260609095125/https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/calendar/2026/10/10/bay-city-state-park---fall-harvest-festival
Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture, “Midland Street Commercial District,” July 30, 2022, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Midland_Street_Commercial_District.jpg

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Tags: Bay City · Michigan Travel · Halloween · Parks and Recreation · Business · Pumpkins and Corn Mazes