Michigan Travel · Mid-Michigan
A craft show with goats, an author night at the Ideal Theater and a hay-wagon haunt fill Clare County’s October
CLARE, Mich. — Clare County’s October calendar opened with a Saturday craft show with goats to cuddle and a Sunday gun-and-knife show, then turned to a ticketed author visit Tuesday night, with a nighttime hay-wagon ride through a haunted camp still to come later this month.
In Harrison, Mott’s Up North Venue, 452 N. Clare Ave., held a vendor and craft show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Admission was free, and the Clare County Cleaver’s community calendar promised a food truck, local vendors and goat snuggling.
The same morning, several local sellers held the Clare Fall Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 4708 E. Grass Lake Road in Clare. The event listing advertised antiques, vintage pieces, handmade goods, custom T-shirts and fall decor.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, the Harrison Sportsman’s Club, 3704 N. Harrison Ave., hosted a gun and knife show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission was $5, and children 12 and younger got in free, according to the Cleaver.
Author Craig Johnson was scheduled to visit the Ideal Theater, 607 N. McEwan St. in downtown Clare, on Tuesday, Oct. 13, for an evening hosted by area libraries. The Pere Marquette District Library, which sold the tickets, listed a 7 p.m. start with a book signing right after; the Cleaver’s calendar gave the time as 6 p.m.
Tickets were $10, the Cleaver reported, and the library said sales were non-refundable. Buyers could reserve up to four seats online or pick up tickets at the Pere Marquette and Harrison district libraries, the Gladwin County District Library, Surrey Township Public Library, Coleman Area Library, the Ideal Theater or Sleepy Dog Books.
The season’s biggest scare is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, when Camp Rotary, 3201 S. Clare Ave., stages the Clare Witch Project from 7 to 10:15 p.m. Guests ride a hay wagon through the woods on what the camp calls its “Trail of Horror,” stopping at a series of staged frights, then walk through a haunted house and finish with refreshments in the dining hall, according to the event listing from Scouting America’s Michigan Crossroads Council.
Admission is $9 a person at the camp, or $1 less when bought online ahead of time. Children under 5 are free. Visitors can arrive whenever they like during those hours; ticket sales end at 10:15 p.m.
For younger trick-or-treaters, Mid Michigan College holds a trunk-or-treat from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Poet Family Outdoor Education Center on its Harrison campus, 1375 S. Clare Ave., the Cleaver’s calendar says.
Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The Oct. 10 Mott’s craft show and Clare Fall Market, and the Oct. 11 Harrison Sportsman’s Club gun-and-knife show, have passed; those stops are now in the past tense. Author Craig Johnson at the Ideal Theater is still tonight (Oct. 13). Camp Rotary’s Clare Witch Project (Oct. 17) and Mid Michigan College’s trunk-or-treat (Oct. 22) are unchanged.
Updated Oct. 14, 2026: The Oct. 13 Craig Johnson author night at the Ideal Theater has passed, so that section is now in the past tense. Camp Rotary’s Clare Witch Project (Oct. 17) and Mid Michigan College’s trunk-or-treat (Oct. 22) are unchanged.
Sources:
Clare County Cleaver, community calendar, Oct. 1, 2026, edition, https://cdn2.creativecirclemedia.com/clarecounty/files/20261002-162422-acc-FULL%20SET%20PDFs%20-%20Week%2040.pdf
AllEvents, Clare Fall Market, Oct. 10, 2026, https://allevents.in/clare/clare-fall-market-vintage-%E2%80%A2-antiques-%E2%80%A2-handmade-and-more/200030548252716
Pere Marquette District Library, library events (Ideal Theater author event tickets), https://www.pmdl.org/library-events
HappeningNext, Clare Witch Project at Camp Rotary, Oct. 17, 2026, https://happeningnext.com/event/clare-witch-project-at-camp-rotary-eid3a0e07fa36
Photo: Notorious4life, “Clare, MI downtown 2022,” Sept. 4, 2022, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), cropped and color-corrected, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clare,_MI_downtown_2022.jpg
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