The Ankeny Brief
Every October the same questions land in our inbox: what night is trick-or-treat, where are the good decorated houses, and which haunted house is actually worth the drive? Here is Halloween in Ankeny for 2026, every date checked against the organizer, in one place. We update it as new events post through the month.
Trick-or-treat is Saturday, Oct. 31, 6 to 8 p.m. The big family event is Halloween in Uptown on Thursday, Oct. 8, 4 to 8 p.m., free, with four blocks of trunk-or-treating. Fright Lights glow in Uptown every evening all month. For real scares, Linn's and The Slaughterhouse are 15 to 20 minutes south in Des Moines.
The biggest list is FrightMaps, where homeowners register their own displays. It shows around 40 Ankeny homes, from yard graveyards to full garage haunts, with a map (FrightMaps: Ankeny). The catch: listings don't say whether a house is decorating this year, and some carry over from past seasons. So treat it as a route to try, not a promise, and look for the lit-up yards as you go. The best nights are the last weekend of October, when most displays are fully up.
Two more lists fill in through the month. The Des Moines Register is taking nominations for the best-decorated Halloween homes in central Iowa, your own or one you've spotted (the Register's call for nominations). Des Moines Parent keeps a reader-submitted list of metro yard displays (desmoinesparent.com; check the year at the top).
Decorating in Ankeny this year? Email your address and a line about the display to [email protected]. We'll add confirmed 2026 houses to this page and share the best ones in the Monday email. We only list a home with the owner's OK.
Start with Halloween in Uptown on Oct. 8 and a stroll through Fright Lights. For a bigger day, Adventureland's Phantom Fall Fest in Altoona (about 20 minutes) runs weekends Sept. 26 through Oct. 31, with a daytime trick-or-treat trail, bubble dance parties and pumpkin painting from noon to 6 p.m. before the haunts open at night (Adventureland). And the pumpkin patches and corn mazes are at their best right now.
These are genuinely scary and built for teens and adults. Nights and prices below are for 2026; most sell tickets online, and buying ahead shortens the line.
Leave the driving to someone else: The Haunted Trolley Tour by Charters on Vine picks up at Whiskey River in Ankeny and runs 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. on Oct 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 29 and 30. It's 21+ only, $80 a person, and drinks are allowed on board (Charters on Vine).
The Ankeny Brief is a free weekly email. Every October we run the confirmed trick-or-treat hours, and every December the lights are on the list. Local, useful, no spam.
Saturday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. Ankeny moved trick-or-treating from Beggars' Night (Oct. 30) to Halloween night starting in 2025. Turn your porch light on if trick-or-treaters are welcome.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, from 4 to 8 p.m. It is free: four blocks of trunk-or-treating on SW 3rd Street, a DJ, rides on the Uptown Express, and a costume contest with check-in from 4 to 6 p.m.
Yes. Linn's Haunted House and The Slaughterhouse in Des Moines are about 15 to 20 minutes away, with Sleepy Hollow Scream Park, Adventureland's Phantom Fall Fest in Altoona, and Haunted Woods in Carlisle a little farther. Most run Friday and Saturday nights in October.
Uptown Ankeny's Fright Lights light up the historic district every evening Oct. 1 to 31, free. For decorated homes, FrightMaps lists about 40 Ankeny houses registered by their owners, though listings don't confirm the current year; the Des Moines Register and Des Moines Parent also collect nominations each October.
Halloween in Uptown on Oct. 8 is built for kids, and Fright Lights is spooky but not scary. Adventureland's Phantom Fall Fest runs a daytime trick-or-treat trail from noon to 6 p.m. on fall weekends before the haunts open at night.
More for the season: pumpkin patches & corn mazes · Ankeny holidays & the joke-for-candy tradition · what's on this week · events calendar
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