Halloween 2022: 12 Activities in Quebec and Ontario

Halloween is still a very popular holiday in North America. Here come the costumes, the decorations we make at school and at home, the fancy dress parties, preferably outdoors, the sites we visit and, of course, the candy collection.

Take the time to check your libraries or community centres for any surprises. Here are a few of them to complete the party.

Note that most of these activities require online reservations.

The Village québécois d’Antan in Drummondville is transformed, as it is every year, into a Haunted Village.

Tours are already sold out for the evenings of October 28 and 29, 2022, however, you could face the escape game Le dernier sablier (20 minutes), presented by L’Issue.

For the family version, head to L’Aventure des petits monstres on October 29 and 30, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

On the menu: inflatable games, hay bale maze, farm visit, face painting and candy distribution for all the children.

In Coteau-du Lac, the Domaine Maudit awaits us with its labyrinth in a haunted cornfield, a tour of its gloomy ancestral sheds and a small wooded area where sinister characters live.

This event takes place on Friday and Saturday nights, October 14-29, plus October 30-31, 2022.

The company “La Belle de Coteau-du-lac“also offers an alternative in the afternoon for the youngest and those who are less fond of strong emotions with a pumpkin picking and daytime labyrinth. Last possible visit on October 29, 2022.

• For music lovers, go to Candlelight Halloween: Haunted Compositions on October 31 at the beautiful Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs Church in Verdun. The Listeso String Quartet will perform classic horror themes . And all this with only candlelight as a source of light! Be ready on October 31 for tunes like Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Stranger Things, Halloween, Ghostbusters and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre.
• The Botanical Garden reinvents itself every October. Here it is this year with the“Parcours des pas Sorciers”, an animation booth on squash, the youth show “KOWAI! Scary stories…” inspired by Japanese folklore.

• Fright Fest, starting at 5:30 p.m., every weekend in October at La Ronde! Say hello to haunted houses, scare zones, and rides where characters invite themselves. Don’t be surprised to see zombies and ghouls in the evening! Not recommended for children under 12 years old.

The last four weekends of October, the Granby Zoo invites you to celebrate Halloween (in costume!) with its 1,500 animals of 225 different species and its amusement park. Mascots, activities and candy will also be on the program.

What if you extended the festivities with a virtual reality game? Amédaka Evasion offers House of Fear: Cursed Souls, a 60-minute adventure for ages 16 and up, where you will dare to enter a haunted house that is more real than real.

Decorations and surprises, costumed staff, photo zone for costumed children and rides will be available every weekend until October 31.

The Capitale-Nationale is organizing activities for all ages until mid-November! City Hall, Joan of Arc Garden and Petit Champlain are already brilliantly decorated.

Until November 12, the Plains of Abraham will be host to:

• Autumn Gardens
• Tales to wake the dead
• Abracadabra: a Halloween scavenger hunt
• Eagle talons: a demonstration of birds of prey
• Horrors of the good old days: historical anecdotes told inside the mysterious Martello Tower 4.

Visit Old Quebec and listen to crime legends? The Ghost Walks and Ghost Tours of Quebec City are perfect for the “fearless” teenager.

And for a more family style :

• U-pick pumpkins and squash on Île d’Orléans, Beauport, Cap-Santé and Château-Richer.
• A visit to the Aquarium de Québec and its witches’ laboratory, punctuated by a Halloween tale. Halloween activities are included in the daily ticket price and are offered on Saturdays and Sundays through October 30 and October 31, 2022.

In the MRC Des Moulins, more activities for all ages, thrills guaranteed!

In Mascouche, stroll through the cemeteries and places of worship guided by the podcast “Sur la trace des trépassés”. Discover eight points of interest and meet characters who wake up from a very long sleep to tell you stories and anecdotes about the Mascouche of their time. Free of charge, duration about 2 hours.

In Terrebonne, take part in the theatrical tour “Les morts nous ont conté… la possession” (The dead have told us… possession), recounting disturbing moments in the city. They are even ghosts who tell you their stories! Reserve your seat for one of the tours from October 29 to 31 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

La Pocatière will offer many activities from October 26 to 30, 2022. Nothing less than a night of cinematic horror, a haunted house, shows, a parade and inflatable games for the little ones.

The whole thing will culminate in fireworks!

Pumkpinferno, 90 minutes from Montreal, is held annually at Upper Canada Village.

No horror here, but masterpieces of pumpkin sculptures designed by artists.

The outdoor exhibition extends over a kilometre. Illuminated in the evening, the show becomes spellbinding alongside historic sites, animals, water creatures, fairy tale characters and more. An experience for everyone that touches our capacity for wonder. To be visited on the evenings of October 26 to 30, 2022.

Finally, I leave you with the Ottawa region’s highly original programming. Zip line, scare fest, wagon rides, escape rooms…

Where will you be celebrating Halloween this year?

Are you taking advantage of the weekend to go on a getaway (with a hotel stay!) to a region other than your own?

Tell us about your discoveries on the Facebook group.

And… Thanks to Caroline Tremblay and Jessica Lebbe who played a key role as researchers for this article.