Michigan Travel · Bay City
‘Thriller’ under the dome: Delta College Planetarium’s Monster Light Show runs Saturdays in October
BAY CITY, Mich. — For one month a year, the Delta College Planetarium trades the night sky for “Monster Mash.”
The planetarium is showing “The Monster Light Show” at 2 and 7 p.m. each Saturday this month in its Dome360 Theatre, 100 Center Ave., in downtown Bay City, according to the college. Three Saturdays remain: Oct. 17, 24 and 31.
The show sets Halloween standards to 3D animation and light effects across the dome. The playlist includes “Bad Moon Rising,” “Somebody’s Watching Me,” “This Is Halloween,” “Spirit in the Sky” and “Thriller.” Planetarium manager Mike Murray said in the college’s announcement that some effects are performed live, so no two shows are quite the same.
Admission is $7 for adults; students, children 3 to 18, seniors and military members pay $5. The college recommends buying in advance because the show is popular. It also cautions that the sound and lights are intense and does not recommend the show for children under 6.
Families with younger children have another option downtown on Saturday, Oct. 17. The Dow Bay Area Family YMCA, 225 Washington Ave., holds its free Halloween Spooktacular from 6 to 8 p.m. inside the Y and at its Uptown Park, with trunk-or-treat, games, crafts, balloon animals and what the Y calls haunted locker rooms. Children must be pre-registered, and the Y asks visitors to bring a personal care item for its Care Closet.
Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The Oct. 10 shows have passed, so the list of remaining Saturdays has been updated.
Sources:
Delta College, “Halloween Music Light Show at the Delta Planetarium,” Sept. 24, 2026, https://www.delta.edu/news/2026-monster-lights-planetrium-pr.html
Dow Bay Area Family YMCA, “Halloween Spooktacular,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://www.ymcabaycity.org/spooktacular/
Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture, “Delta College Planetarium,” 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:Delta_College_Planetarium.jpg
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