Michigan Travel · Detroit
Detroit Halloween weekend: free Hocus Pocus, trunk-or-treat and Día de los Muertos at Michigan Central Station Oct. 31 and Nov. 1
DETROIT — Michigan Central Station is throwing open its doors for Halloween weekend, and both days are free.
The restored Corktown train station will host Halloween at The Station on Saturday, Oct. 31, and a Día de los Muertos celebration on Sunday, Nov. 1, Michigan Central said in a notice to neighbors. WXYZ reported the weekend is put on by Michigan Central and Ford Philanthropy. No registration is required.
The station is at 2001 15th St. Concessions will be sold inside from noon to 5 p.m. both days, and the shops in the building, The Shop, Neighbor x Folk and Yellow Light, will be open.
Saturday, Oct. 31: Halloween. Families are invited to come in costume. A free screening of “Hocus Pocus” starts at 10 a.m. The trunk-or-treat runs outside the station from noon to 2 p.m., and activities inside and outside run from noon to 4 p.m., including face painting by youth from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit and monster-mask making. “Hocus Pocus” plays again at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 1: Día de los Muertos. A free screening of “Coco” starts at 10 a.m. From noon to 4 p.m., the station offers sugar-skull crafts and other activities inside, plus a Detroit VOCES community ofrenda and a portrait and oral-history station. A Ballet Folklórico performance is at 1 p.m., and “Coco” plays again at 2:30 p.m.
An ofrenda is an altar families build to honor loved ones who have died, often with photos, candles and marigolds.
Streets that close. Michigan Central told neighbors that some streets around the station will be partly or fully closed from as early as 5 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, until 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. They are Lacombe and Vernor at 16th Street (half closed), 15th Street between Lacombe and Dalzelle (half closed), Dalzelle at 14th Street (fully closed with concrete barriers) and Marantette at 14th (half closed). Drivers coming for the trunk-or-treat should plan to park a few blocks away and walk.
More the same weekend. Axios Detroit noted two other free Día de Muertos options on Sunday: a riverfront celebration at Valade Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with mariachi music, folklórico dancing and a community ofrenda, and the last day of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ 14th annual “Ofrendas” exhibition, which is free for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county residents.
Sources:
Michigan Central, “Halloween/Día de los Muertos (Road Closures)” notice to neighbors, posted by the Train Station Neighbors Block Club (schedule, shops, concessions, no registration, road closures), https://www.trainstationneighborsblockclub.org/events/halloweendia-de-los-muertos-road-closures
WXYZ, “Michigan Central Station hosting Halloween & Día de los Muertos events this weekend,” Oct. 29, 2026 (Ford Philanthropy, schedule), https://www.wxyz.com/news/michigan-central-station-hosting-halloween-dia-de-los-muertos-events-this-weekend
The Metro Detroit News, “Michigan Central Hosting Free Halloween Event With Trunk or Treat & Movies,” Oct. 27, 2026 (address, free admission), https://themetrodetroitnews.com/michigan-central-hosting-free-halloween-event-with-trunk-or-treat-movies/
Axios Detroit, “Things to do on Halloween weekend in Metro Detroit: Oct. 30-Nov. 1,” Oct. 29, 2026 (Valade Park, DIA Ofrendas), https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2026/10/29/things-to-do-on-halloween-weekend-in-metro-detroit-oct-30-nov-1
Photo: Michael Barera, “Detroit August 2025 23 (Michigan Central Station).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detroit_August_2025_23_(Michigan_Central_Station).jpg
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