Calgary Weekend Edition

ScreamFest opens its 2026 season at GMC Stadium with six outdoor walk-through haunted houses, including the Dollhouse, Clown Town and the Bates Motel, plus rides and midway games paid for with an onsite currency called Killer Cash. The add-on Zombie House is a contact house, where zombies can grab and chase you once you've signed a waiver. It's rated PG-13 and recommended for ages 12 and up.

The Calgary Folk Music Festival turns Festival Hall into an art party, with dancers, improvising musicians and visual-art surprises built around a release show for Laura Hickli. She's a Calgary pianist who writes dark, experimental art pop, and her debut full-length album, Stranger To Myself, works through the aftermath of a 2023 tour-van crash.

The GRAND puts the 1993 Halloween comedy Hocus Pocus back on a big screen, the one where Max Dennison accidentally brings the three Sanderson sisters, a trio of witches, back to life on Halloween night. The lobby bar opens at 5:30 with Uncle Fatih's pizza and a themed cocktail, and costumes are encouraged.

Blue Grass Garden Centre's 23rd annual Pumpkin Fest builds to one big moment, when a giant pumpkin is hoisted into the air and dropped onto a car. Around it are pony and hay rides, a straw maze, pie- and hot-pepper-eating contests, Canadian military vehicles kids can climb on and 37 local vendors, with proceeds going to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.

The zoo's last Polar Bear Breakfast of 2026 gets you into Wild Canada at 8 AM, before the gates open to everyone else, to watch the polar bears start their day while conservation educators talk about them. Then it's a pancake-and-fruit buffet at Kitamba Cafe and the rest of the day at the zoo. Book online by the end of Thursday, Oct. 8, when sales close.

Saturday-night NHL hockey on Thanksgiving weekend, as the Flames host the Anaheim Ducks in their third home game of a season that's also their last at the Saddledome before Scotia Place. It's also the Calgary Humane Society's takeover night. Bags larger than 14 x 14 x 6 inches are refused at the door, and there's no re-entry.

The zoo cooks Thanksgiving dinner: four courses in the Safari Lodge, from roasted spiced pumpkin soup to a duo of turkey, herb-roasted breast and a thigh roulade with stone-fruit sage stuffing, finished with pumpkin spice brûlée. The ticket also covers a full day at the zoo, and web sales stop at 10:59 PM Thursday, after which it's a call to Guest Relations.

WinSport's Halloween trail winds about a kilometre past more than 10,000 hand-carved jack-o'-lanterns, and you walk it at your own pace. Monday isn't on the schedule, so Sunday is the holiday weekend's last night, and it's cheaper than Friday or Saturday. The path is stroller-friendly.

Calgary Farmyard's fall season packs more than 40 attractions onto one farm just outside the city, from a corn maze, tractor rides and pumpkin picking to zip lines, speeder karts, jumbo bouncers and a rideable train. Sunday is a daytime visit, and gemstone mining, the paintball shooting gallery and the Construction Zone cost extra.

Thanksgiving Monday is the last day of Calaway Park's 2026 season, and it closes on Halloweekends, with unlimited rides plus Hallotown, a Halloween area the park promises is friendly rather than scary. Character meet-and-greets run 11:30 AM to 3:15 PM, and the park asks visitors to bring a non-perishable food item for the Community Kitchen Program of Calgary.

Monday is the final day of 2026 for Heritage Park's Historical Village. Admission covers the Antique Midway and its Big Eli Ferris wheel, steam train rides and the Gasoline Alley Museum of vintage vehicles, though the S.S. Moyie paddlewheeler is already closed for the season.

A free 5 km community walk from Eau Claire Plaza along the Bow River pathway, then thePOWER hour, an outdoor dance party back at the plaza with DJ Jason from Dance! Shout!. It's a walk, not a race, and organizers ask everyone to bring non-perishable food for the Calgary Food Bank.