Halloween 2026 in North Myrtle Beach: Trick-or-Treat Nights, Haunted Boulevards, and Where to Be This Week

The porch lights come on a little earlier now along Ocean Drive, and the jack-o’-lanterns show up on the steps of the beach houses one street back from the dunes. The wind has turned. It comes off the water with an edge the summer never had, and it carries the smell of woodsmoke from somebody’s backyard fire pit and the thin, sweet note of a fog machine running somewhere on Main Street. North Myrtle Beach does not do Halloween the way the inland towns do it. There are no maple trees shedding on the sidewalks here. There are palmettos wrapped in orange lights, a skeleton leaning on a surfboard in a front yard in Cherry Grove, and a line of costumed kids walking the boardwalk at Barefoot Landing with the Intracoastal Waterway going dark behind them.

Halloween lands on a Saturday in 2026, which the locals will tell you is the best possible luck. It means the whole week builds toward one long night, and it means families can drive in on Thursday or Friday, settle into an oceanfront condo, and spend three days moving between trick-or-treat events, haunted boulevards, costume contests, and a baseball field that gives itself over to kids in capes. The water is still warm enough for a brave swim in the afternoon. By evening the beach belongs to the sweatshirt crowd, and the sound of the surf makes a fine backdrop for ghost stories.

This guide walks through everything confirmed for Halloween week along the Grand Strand, starting with the events closest at hand and working through the big night itself, with dates, times, addresses, and links for each one. If you want the legends behind the season, the Gray Man and the Boo Hag and the rest, we gathered those in our guide to the ghost stories of the Grand Strand. This article is about the living: where to go, when to be there, and where to sleep when the candy is counted. It sits alongside our year-round complete guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach, which covers everything that does not involve a costume.

Halloween Week at a Glance

The table below pulls together the confirmed events for the final stretch of October 2026, in date order. Every one of them was verified against the organizer or local news coverage in the last two weeks of October, but event details do change, especially with weather on the coast, so confirm with the organizer before you load the car.

Thursday, October 29: Trick-or-Treat on the Field at Pelicans Ballpark

The baseball season has been over for weeks, but on Thursday evening Pelicans Ballpark fills up again, this time with pint-sized pirates and dinosaurs walking the warning track. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans hold their annual Trick-or-Treat from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, and the thing that makes it worth the drive is the field itself. Kids twelve and under are invited through the concourse and right out onto the grass, moving from table to table while the stadium lights throw long shadows across the infield. It is a safe, enclosed way to do the candy rounds, and for a lot of families along the Grand Strand it has become the unofficial opening night of Halloween weekend.

Admission is free, but a ticket is required, and the Pelicans are candid about how popular the event has become. Reserve early through the team’s Halloween page rather than hoping for walk-up availability. The ballpark sits at 1251 21st Avenue North in Myrtle Beach, roughly a half hour down Highway 17 from the Windy Hill section of North Myrtle Beach, which makes it an easy early-evening run before dinner back on the north end.

Trunk or Treat on the Little River Waterfront

Families who would rather not drive south have a closer option the same evening. Just north of town, the Little River Chamber of Commerce holds a free Trunk or Treat at Little River Landing from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, with decorated vehicles handing out candy and toys, photo spots, and marshmallows roasting by the water. It is the family centerpiece of Little River WaterFright Nights, the six-week Halloween season that has draped the old fishing village’s restaurant roofs with a giant red octopus, a pirate, a crab, and a great white shark rising out of the shoreline. The free Trail of Fear, a self-guided walk past sponsored graveyard displays from Little River Landing to Crab Catchers, is open every evening through October 31, and the ticketed Fright Nights Haunted House near Crab Catchers runs 7 to 11 p.m. on October 29, 30, and 31 with a final night on November 1, at $25 per person and best left to teens and adults. We walked the whole thing in our guide to Little River WaterFright Nights, including where to eat on the water between scares. From the Cherry Grove end of North Myrtle Beach it is a ten-minute drive, which makes Thursday the night to do the ballpark early and the waterfront after dark, or to skip the highway altogether and stay north.

Friday, October 30: Fright Nights, Jeepers Creepers, and a Haunted Revue

Friday night belongs to downtown Myrtle Beach. All month long the oceanfront has been running Fright Nights, a free series of entertainment in Plyler Park and along the Boardwalk beside the SkyWheel, and the Friday before Halloween brings live entertainment on the park stage with the ocean going black behind it and the Ferris wheel lights turning overhead. The crowd is a mix: families with strollers, teenagers daring each other toward the haunted houses on Ocean Boulevard, and couples who came for the boardwalk bars and stayed for the costumes. Admission is free and the whole thing is open to all ages. Details sit on Visit Myrtle Beach’s Halloween page.

Costumes and a Haunted House in Little River

On the north end, Friday is the grown-ups’ night on the Little River waterfront. Hurricane Juel’s, the family-run seafood house at 4499 Mineola Avenue that has been feeding the village since 1945 and is wearing the octopus this season, hosts a costume contest on Friday, October 30; the restaurant sets the start time, so call ahead at (843) 249-2211. The haunted house is open 7 to 11 p.m. the same night, the Trail of Fear voting closes with a winner announced on the chamber’s social pages that day, and the whole stretch of Mineola and Waterfront avenues glows under the air sculptures and porch lights. Last year the same waterfront put on a Dockside Spooktacular that drew families from across the north end, and WaterFright Nights is its much larger successor. Dinner on the water first, contest second, haunted house for whoever is still standing.

Jeepers Creepers at Myrtle Beach Jeep Jam

Halloween weekend also brings the Myrtle Beach Jeep Jam back to the old Myrtle Square Mall site, running October 30 through November 1 with an obstacle course, a mud pit, more than a hundred vendors, and the kind of lifted, light-barred Jeeps that make small boys stop in their tracks. The Friday-night piece of it, called Jeepers Creepers, is a trunk-or-treat with decorated Jeeps, candy, and a costume parade. If your crew runs on four-wheel drive, this is the Friday stop. Timing and entry details are through the Jeep Jam organizers.

Conway, the City of Halloween

Twenty-five minutes inland, Conway renames itself the City of Halloween every October, and it takes the title seriously. The Terrace at 110 Laurel Street shows Ghostbusters outdoors at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 30, free, bring your own chair. Theatre of the Republic is running Under a Broadway Spell, a revue of spooky Broadway showstoppers, at the Main Street Theatre from October 29 through November 1, with tickets through the theatre’s box office. And for the grown-ups only, the Serial Killer Speakeasy brings a 90-minute true-crime theater experience with a four-cocktail tasting to the Historic Peanut Warehouse on October 30 and 31. That one is strictly 21 and up, with tickets sold through Fever. Pair any of these with a walk under the live oaks on the Conway Riverwalk, where the Spanish moss does half the decorating for free.

Halloween Night in North Myrtle Beach: Barefoot Landing Trick-or-Treat

If you are staying on the north end, Halloween night has one anchor, and it is Barefoot Landing. From 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, the merchants throughout the complex at 4898 Highway 17 South open their doors to costumed children and hand out treats, and the whole waterfront village turns into the safest, prettiest trick-or-treat route on the coast. The boardwalk runs along the Intracoastal Waterway, the lake in the middle reflects the shop lights, and the restaurants around Dockside Village, LuLu’s, Greg Norman’s, Crooked Hammock, stay open and busy, so parents can finish the night with a table by the water once the buckets are full.

The trick-or-treat is free, no registration required, and it caps off Barefoot Landing’s WonderFall season of fall decorations and weekend entertainment. Parking fills fast at the Highway 17 entrances after 4:30, so arrive early or come from the Windy Hill side on 48th Avenue South and walk in. Barefoot Landing is a straight shot from the Windy Hill oceanfront, close enough that families in the condos along the south end of town can be back on the balcony before the little ones crash. Event details and merchant updates are at bflanding.com.

For the neighborhood version of Halloween, the streets between Ocean Boulevard and Highway 17 in the Ocean Drive and Crescent Beach sections are where the year-round residents live, and the porch lights follow the old rule: lit means welcome, dark means not tonight. North Myrtle Beach does not post official trick-or-treat hours, so the neighborhoods tend to run from dusk until around 8 p.m., and golf carts with glow sticks taped to the roll bars are a common sight on the side streets.

Halloween Night in Myrtle Beach: Broadway, The Market Common, and the Boardwalk Carnival

Myrtle Beach proper runs three free Halloween events almost on top of each other on Saturday evening, and a determined family could hit two of them. Broadway at the Beach goes first, with free trick-or-treating around the complex from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The route winds past the lake and through the shops and attractions, and the earlier start means it works for the youngest kids and for anyone who wants to be somewhere else by seven. The Patch, Broadway’s fall setup with a hay maze and photo spots, closes out its season the same day with Halloween characters and treats. Information lives on Broadway at the Beach’s site.

The Market Common’s Hometown Halloween runs 5 to 7 p.m., with participating storefronts along the tree-lined streets handing out candy. This is the most neighborhood-feeling of the big events, a walkable grid of brick sidewalks and street lamps that looks like it was built for a costume parade. It is free and open to the public, and the restaurants around Valor Park make an easy dinner afterward.

Down on the oceanfront, Fright Nights throws its Halloween Carnival in Plyler Park from 5 to 8 p.m., with a DJ, games, contests, and performances under the SkyWheel. This is the loudest of the three, and the best for older kids and teenagers who want something with an edge to it. The two haunted houses on Ocean Boulevard, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure and Nightmare Haunted House, sit a short walk away and run late, which is how a lot of families stage the night: carnival first, haunted house for whoever is brave enough, then a stretch of boardwalk with the waves rolling in under the lights.

Halloween Night South and West: The MarshWalk, Surfside, and the Farms

Halloween on the MarshWalk

The longest-running Halloween party on the coast is in Murrells Inlet, on the half-mile wooden walkway that runs behind the restaurants along the salt marsh. Halloween on the MarshWalk goes from 5 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, and it unfolds in stages. Trick-or-treating along the walk starts at 5, the children’s costume contest goes at 6, and at 7 the adult costume contest takes over with more than $4,000 in cash and prizes spread across categories like Best Duo, Best Group, Most Creative, Big and Bulky, and a Murrells Inlet-themed category that rewards anybody who shows up dressed as a shrimp boat. The restaurants run food and drink specials all night, the marsh goes silver under the lights, and by nine the place feels like a street party that happens to float. Full details are at marshwalk.com. From North Myrtle Beach it is about an hour’s drive south, so this one is a commitment, but it is the night most locals would choose if they could only pick one.

Surfside Halloween Charity Car Show

Surfside Beach starts its Halloween early. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Surfside Drive closes between Hollywood Drive and Ocean Boulevard for a charity car show that mixes decorated classics with pre-1959 iron and brand-new builds across five classes. More than sixty trophies are at stake, owners are encouraged to decorate their cars and bring candy, and there are activities for kids along the route. It is free to walk, and it makes a good late-morning stop on the way down to the MarshWalk.

Thompson Farm and Southern Palmetto Farms

Two farms close their fall season on Halloween with daytime festivals that suit families with young children better than anything after dark. Thompson Farm at Brickyard Plantation in Conway runs its Fall Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a helicopter candy drop scheduled for 2 p.m., the kind of thing kids talk about for the rest of the year. Admission is about $17 per person for ages three and up, and tickets are on the farm’s events page. Farther out in Aynor, Southern Palmetto Farms at 2601 Garner Road holds a not-so-scary Halloween Spooktacular from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with trick-or-treating, a costume contest for all ages, and play areas. It is the farm’s last open day of the season, and registration is through southernpalmettofarms.com.

Open All Week: Haunted Houses, Wicked Wonders, and the Pumpkin Patch

Not everything waits for the weekend. Wicked Wonders, illusionist Charles Bach’s darker Halloween production, runs through October 31 at Wonders Theatre in Broadway at the Beach. It is a separate show from his family magic act, about 85 minutes long and recommended for ages 13 and up, with mentalism, dark comedy, a blackout sequence modeled on the midcentury ghost shows, and a new escape staged as a tribute to Harry Houdini on the hundredth anniversary of his death, which falls on Halloween itself. Tickets are at WondersTickets.com, and the theatre is at 1320 Celebrity Circle.

The two Ocean Boulevard haunted houses are open year-round and simply get louder in October. Ripley’s Haunted Adventure at 913 North Ocean Boulevard is the big-budget one, with live actors and a storyline that changes every few seasons, and it does not admit children under eight. Nightmare Haunted House sits a few doors down and leans harder into zombies and clowns. Both are a short walk from the Plyler Park festivities, and both run Fright Nights specials during the month, so check Ripley’s before you go.

Closer to home, the pumpkin patch at Trinity United Methodist Church, 706 14th Avenue South in North Myrtle Beach, stays open through Halloween, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 on Sundays. It is a few blocks from the Crescent Beach oceanfront, the pumpkins this year are raising money for a new neighborhood playground, and there is something right about carving one on the balcony of a beach condo with the Atlantic in the background. Down in Murrells Inlet, the Visit Murrells Inlet Ghost Cruise runs an hour-long after-dark trip through the salt marsh aboard The Explorer on select nights, with tickets around $36 for adults and $18 for children, departing from 4079 Highway 17 Business. And on Wednesday, October 28, Hopsewee Plantation in Georgetown holds its last Hopsewee Hallows of the season, an hour of ghost stories from storyteller Elizabeth Robertson Huntsinger on the grounds of a 1740 rice plantation, with wine on the river beforehand.

Sunday, November 1: Day of the Dead on the Boardwalk

The season gets a proper send-off on Sunday afternoon. Fright Nights closes with a Day of the Dead celebration in Plyler Park from 1 to 4 p.m., with games, characters, face painting, and balloons, and the whole thing is free. It is a gentler, brighter event than Saturday night, marigold colors instead of fog, and it makes a good last stop before the drive home. Jeep Jam wraps up the same day across town, and up in Little River the Fright Nights Haunted House opens one last time from 7 to 11 p.m. for anyone who ran out of nerve on Saturday. For families who booked through Sunday, it is also a fine excuse for one more morning on the beach, because the first of November on the Grand Strand usually still feels like early fall anywhere else.

Where to Stay for Halloween Week

North Myrtle Beach is the right base for Halloween week for a simple reason: it sits in the middle of everything. Barefoot Landing and the Little River waterfront are in town. Broadway at the Beach, the Boardwalk, and Pelicans Ballpark are a half hour south. Conway is a half hour west. The MarshWalk is the one long haul, and even that is a single evening. The four beach sections each have a different feel, and for a late-October stay the differences matter more than they do in July.

Families with young children tend to do best in Cherry Grove, where the oceanfront homes on the channel-side streets have the yards, the porches, and the proximity to the sports complex that make a Halloween week feel like a week at home with a better view. Groups who want to be able to walk to a restaurant and a shag club after the kids are down look to Ocean Drive, where Main Street is steps from the sand. Crescent Beach is the quiet middle, close to the pumpkin patch and to the grocery stores on Highway 17, and Windy Hill is the closest beach to Barefoot Landing, which on Halloween night is the whole argument. The oceanfront condos in Windy Hill and Crescent Beach put a heated pool and an ocean-view balcony within ten minutes of the trick-or-treat route.

Late October is also one of the best-value weeks of the year on the north end. Summer rates are gone, the weather is reliably in the sixties and low seventies by day, and many homes and condos that book a year out for June have open nights for Halloween week. A four-night Thursday-to-Monday stay covers the Pelicans, Fright Nights, Barefoot Landing, and Day of the Dead without a single early checkout.

The days between events fill themselves. Our guide to the best kid-friendly things to do in North Myrtle Beach covers the daytime hours, the indoor and rainy-day guide is worth bookmarking because late October on the coast can turn gray without warning, and for the adults in the group, things to do in Myrtle Beach at night picks up where the trick-or-treat routes leave off. The concierge page gathers the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Halloween week on the Grand Strand is short, and it goes fast once the costume comes out of the suitcase. The ballpark on Thursday, the boardwalk on Friday, Barefoot Landing on Saturday, and the beach every morning in between. Thomas Beach Vacations has been helping families find the right oceanfront house or condo in North Myrtle Beach since 1962, and the office knows which streets in Cherry Grove light up the porches and which Windy Hill condos are closest to the candy. Browse available stays at northmyrtlebeachvacations.com or call (843) 273-3001 to talk with someone who lives here, and we will have the porch light on when you arrive.

Event dates, times, and prices verified in late October 2026 against the City of North Myrtle Beach Parks and Recreation Department, the Little River Chamber of Commerce, Barefoot Landing, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk, Visit Myrtle Beach, and local news coverage by WMBF News and WPDE. Details are subject to change; confirm with each organizer before attending.