Things to do in downtown Detroit this weekend: Cider in the City and a Beacon Park night out

DETROIT — Beacon Park on Grand River Avenue wraps up its fall cider weekends Saturday and Sunday, and on Saturday the downtown park stays open into the night with live music and games.

Cider in the City runs 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 and 18 at Beacon Park, 1901 Grand River Ave., and admission is free, according to event listings. Blake’s Farms brings hot cider, pumpkins and caramel apples, food trucks are scheduled to be on site, and Lumen Detroit, the park’s restaurant, is serving fall cocktails, craft beer and cider. Visitors can pre-order items for pickup; pre-orders close at noon on the Friday before each event day.

Fall After Dark picks up at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs until 10, according to the Downtown Detroit Partnership. The schedule opens with line dancing and first-come cornhole at 6. Dusty Mixtape featuring Gavin Flynn plays a country and rock set on the Grand River stage at 7, and an old fashioned contest with Elijah Craig bourbon follows at 7:30. Sports will be on the park’s large LED screen. The event is listed as free with an Eventbrite registration; a 6:30 p.m. Champaint painting session requires a separate paid ticket.

Motor City Massacre, an outdoor “scavenger haunt” through downtown streets, starts and ends at MIX Bricktown, 641 Beaubien St. Groups head out at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m. on Oct. 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and 31, and the route takes 1 to 1.5 hours, rain or shine, according to the organizer’s Eventbrite listing. Tickets include one cocktail or mocktail per guest, and the experience features live character encounters. That listing was no longer online Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, and The Mitten Daily could not confirm the schedule anywhere else, so check with the organizer or MIX Bricktown before you go.

For families, the Detroit Zoo’s Zoo Boo has two weekends left, Oct. 16–18 and Oct. 23–25, from 3 to 8:30 p.m. at the zoo in Royal Oak. Advance tickets start at $21, and a separate Zoo Boo ticket is required, according to the zoo.

Updated Oct. 14, 2026: The organizer’s Eventbrite listing for Motor City Massacre has been taken offline and has no archived copy. It is now cited without a link, and the story suggests confirming those dates before going. Nothing else in the story changed.

Sources:
Downtown Detroit Partnership, “Beacon Park Fall After Dark,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://downtowndetroit.org/event/beacon-park-fall-after-dark/
LittleGuide Detroit, “Cider in the City,” Oct. 17, 2026 listing, https://littleguidedetroit.com/event/cider-in-the-city/2026-10-17/
Cider in the City, https://www.ciderinthecity.com/
Eventbrite, “Motor City Massacre: An Outdoor Scavenger Haunt in Downtown Detroit” (listing no longer online as of Oct. 14, 2026; no archived copy available)
Detroit Zoo, “Zoo Boo 2026,” https://detroitzoo.org/events/zoo-boo/
Image: AI-generated illustration by The Mitten Daily.

Detroit

Tags: Detroit · Michigan Travel · Parks and Recreation · Food and Drink · Things To Do