Halloween Celebrations Boost Spooky Shoulder-Season Spending in the Flathead Valley
Business leaders promote Halloween during a traditionally slow tourism month as the demand for haunted festivities rises with events like themed hayrides, paintball, live music and costume contests
By Maggie DresserEvery October when the last of the tourists leave the Flathead Valley for the season, local business leaders continue to brainstorm creative ways to boost consumer spending before the snow starts to fly on Big Mountain during the stillness of the shoulder season.
While tourism bureau directors have helped launch events like the Great Northwest Oktoberfest in Whitefish during the fall, business owners are embracing Halloween celebrations across the valley to spur spending before ski season tourism trickles into town.
In addition to traditional trick-or-treating on Oct. 31, Halloween celebrations now last all month long with a growing paranormal events calendar that includes haunted hayrides, mazes and houses, zombie paintball, costume contests, a costumed skate, and live music. As the demand for Halloween festivities grows in the Flathead, local business owners are responding with increasingly extravagant events designed to spook all demographics of Halloween lovers.
At Clydesdale Outpost in Whitefish, co-owner Matt Arnold-Ladensack just wrapped up the third annual Haunted Hayride event, which he said continues to grow in popularity. The 2024 circus-themed festivities included a Levitation Nation aerial show, a magic show by local magician Dan Zimmerman, face painting, photos with the Clydesdales horses, live music and a digital production show.
“We try to make it bigger and better with different fun activities,” Arnold-Ladensack said.
Last Halloween, Clydesdale Outpost hosted 2,200 hay riders at $20 per ride and generated $60,000 in revenue over six nights of haunted hayrides after investing close to $20,000 in decorations and extra staff.
“There’s definitely a growth in popularity and it attracts crowds,” Arnold-Ladensack said. “We have a schedule of events that people line up for and the magic show is popular with the kids.”
Halloween festivities have expanded across the valley, like the haunted trail at Fritz Corn Maze in Evergreen, the Conrad Mansion Ghost Tours in Kalispell, a haunted circus at the Rendezvous in Columbia Falls, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show hosted by Alpine Theatre Project in Whitefish.
But the saturation of Halloween activities has also caused a dip in spending at some businesses like Montana Action Paintball, which hosts an annual Zombie Trail west of Kalispell.
Owner Nick Lynn said the Zombie Trail attendance dropped from 150 participants per event in previous years to an average of 30 people this year, which he attributes to the flooded market.
“It’s the lowest attendance we’ve ever had,” Lynn said.
Explore Whitefish Executive Director Julie Mullins says the tourism bureau is working to actively promote Halloween and she encourages businesses to ramp up festivities during the shoulder season.
“We’re trying to build interest not only in getting people to travel and stay the night, but also building pedestrian traffic in the valley to keep our businesses going,” Mullins said. “We really do fall off of a cliff in the beginning of October when recreation slows, so we need to have other experiences.”
Even as a recent University of Montana Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITTR) report revealed that tourists spent more money in Flathead County than anywhere else in the state in recent years, Mullins said the shoulder season economy remains important.
According to the report, nonresidents spent $1 billion between 2022 and 2023 while spending in the Glacier Country travel region totaled nearly $2 billion.
In Whitefish, spending during the fall has declined in recent years, causing the tourism bureau to invest in spooky events aimed at boosting the economy during the slow season.
According to VDI/Visa Destinations Insights, credit card purchases in Whitefish last October totaled $10,862,962 compared to $11,746,729 during the same month in 2022.
Hotel occupancy in Whitefish has also hovered around 45% in October in recent years, but it’s unclear if Halloween is a factor in nonresident travel.
To further promote Halloween, Whitefish business leaders resurrected the city’s annual costume contest and pub crawl for the first time since the pandemic shut it down in 2020. The contest costs groups $20 to enter while single costumes cost $5; each contestant must visit the seven participating bars, ending at Thirty Eight at 10 p.m. with cash prizes on Oct. 31.
“The Halloween costume party in Whitefish was quite famous and there was some community and business chatter about how we could bring it back,” Mullins said.
In addition to the costume party, local bars and venues are hosting live music at their annual Halloween parties, including a performance by 20 Grand at the Great Northern Bar and Grill. The Remington Bar will host two separate musical groups, The Gray Goo and Schticky, for a joint album release party, which also includes a costume contest.
“We’re really trying to build awareness that we’re a town of thrills in chills in Whitefish,” Mullins said.