4 Fun Ways to Celebrate Halloween Around the Sacramento Region This Year
The Leland Stanford Mansion turns into a haunted Victorian mansion for Halloween (Photo © California State Parks, all rights reserved)
Leland Stanford Mansion Halloween Tours
Welcome, foolish mortals. For just the fourth time ever, the Leland Stanford Mansion will serve as your host—your ghost host, of course—this Halloween. Draped in cobwebs, aglow with candlelight and blanketed by fog, the 19th-century landmark will offer 30-minute guided tours Oct. 22-31 packed with chilling tales from the Victorian era. Are the 44 rooms in this downtown building actually stretching? Or is it your newly spooked imagination? Hmmmm. Free. bit.ly/castateparks for reservations. —Elyssa Lee
Evangeline’s Costume Mansion
Dress-up devotees lined up a full five hours early when the half-century-old Evangeline’s Costume Mansion reopened in June, nearly a year after a fire closed down the beloved Old Sacramento emporium. The walls may bear a fresh coat of paint, but from the Renaissance Room and the Gothic Chamber to Storybook Land and The Circus, all is thankfully there again just like a feverish dream: hundreds of floor-to-ceiling masks, wigs, costumes and props to conjure forth every flight of fantasy imaginable, whether you want to channel a gothic demon or a K-pop demon hunter. Fans of Evangeline’s ground-floor novelty shop also rejoice: Owner Deborah Chaussé (pictured below) says that a renovated version is set to reopen on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28. That’s music to our bunny ears. evangelinescostumemansion.com —Sean Timm
Photo by Max Whittaker
Witches on the Lake
Every fall, a black-clad coven descends upon Black Miners Bar in Lake Natoma for what will surely become your favorite October fest. Don your pointiest hat and flowiest cape, but be prepared to trade in your broomstick for a kayak or paddleboard paddle at Witches on the Lake, an annual Halloween-themed community fundraiser for pediatric cancer organized by local real estate agent Janay Taua, which will take place on Oct. 17 this year. At the inaugural event in 2021, around 75 paddlers showed up, but by 2025, the ranks had burgeoned to over 1,000, most in full spooktacular regalia, including many cancer patients, survivors and their families. Participation is free, but donations are encouraged and go directly to Keaton’s Child Cancer Alliance in Roseville—and yes, there will be trick-or-treating on the water. Eye of newt has nothing on candy corn and M&M’s. witchesonthelake.com —S.T.
Oak Park’s Diagon Alley
If your wee ones are under the spell of all things Hogwarts, we’ve got the spot that will transport them to The Wizarding World this fall. Every Halloween, the aptly named Diagon Alley in North Oak Park between 33rd and 34th streets (about a block down from the Guild Theater) is home to a magical trunk-or-treat tailgating event, where little Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers can score sweet somethings against a backdrop of murals and installations depicting everything from Platform 9 3⁄4 and the Hogwarts Express to Dobby’s private residence and Eeylops Owl Emporium. The themed passageway is the handiwork of area artists like Thomas Sumpter and Aimee “Phoenix” Phelps, who help host this neighborhood holiday bash, also featuring an illuminated haunted maze in Sumpter’s yard (33rd Street and Diagon Alley) and Phelps’ immersive “Oak Park Halloween House” attraction (33rd Street and 4th Avenue) boo-tified with fire dancers, a skull arch, a wall of jack-o-lanterns and a cauldron of candy. Consider us enchanted. —S.T.
READ MORE: Pick up our Best of the City 2026 issue now for the full list of our favorite local people, places and things this year
