There are many ways in which the holiday Halloween is celebrated in the American city of Portland, Oregon. Annual events during the Halloween season have included the witch paddle, a local iteration of Thrill the World, and previously the Doll Asylum. The city hosts many haunted attractions and other Halloween-themed activities and displays each year. Some businesses offer Halloween specials or feature Halloween decorations year-round. The city has also seen people wear Halloween costumes at demonstrations, such as during an "emergency" edition of the World Naked Bike Ride during the 2025 protests.
The annual witch paddle is held during the Halloween season. [1] The ice rink at the Lloyd Center has played Halloween music and allowed guests to wear Halloween costumes. [2] In 2020, the roller derby league Rose City Rollers held a Halloween weekend pop-up at the Lloyd Center's parking garage. [3]
The Portland Erotic Ball, described as the city's "biggest sexiest Halloween party", has been held at the Crystal Ballroom. [4] [5] The local performance company Night Flight has offered Halloween aerial shows for over a decade; [6] the event has been held at Alberta Rose Theatre and features aerialists and trapeze artists. [7] Phantom PDX has been called "one of Portland's wildest Halloween parties"; the 2014 event was held at White Owl Social Club. [8] A vegan Halloween market was held in 2023. [9] In 2025, "Blumenauer Witching Hour" was held on the Blumenauer Bridge in celebration of Day of the Dead and Halloween. [10] [11] In 2024 and 2025, the Portland Spirit offered "Ghostly Voyage" cruises to the Spirit of Halloweentown festival in St. Helens. [12] The Portland Spirit also hosts the annual "BOO Cruise", which features a costume contest and Halloween music. [13] [8]
Various theaters have screened horror films for the Halloween season, including Academy Theater, Clinton Street Theater, Hollywood Theatre, and Tomorrow Theatre. [14] Portland has also held Halloween balls, bar crawls, dance and roller skate parties, [5] drag brunches, [15] and poetry slams, [16] as well as "haunted" corn mazes, [17] events with dogs wearing costumes, [18] [19] and various other performances. [20] [21] Holocene has hosted "Bollywood Horror", described as a "Bollywood Horror costume and dance party", for over a decade. [8] In 2010, Oaks Amusement Park hosted a Halloween Bazaar. [22]
Formerly in Portland, the Halloween experience Doll Asylum had approximately 1,000 dolls. [23] [24]
Fear PDX claims to be Portland's largest haunted attraction. [25] [26] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fear PDX used more animatronics. [27] The 2021 iteration had a carnival funhouse, "killer" clowns, and an abandoned factory with a maze of underground tunnels. [28] ScareGrounds PDX is hosted at Oaks Amusement Park. [29] [30] [31] The park hosted a "haunted drive-thru" in 2020. [32] [33] In 2023, Willamette Week said of the event:
Oaks Park's Halloween attractions are never not scary. The lingering atmosphere of ramshackle whimsy, DIY mischief, and carny pride fully blossoms each autumn as the deceptively vast environs host three separate attractions: The Silver Scream warns of a demented projectionist run amok amid a crumbling movie palace; The Complex's medical maelstrom writ expressionist claymation threatens the genuinely terrifying specter of Laika-rendered Dr. Caligari fever dreams; and The Slayers' promotional art features an ax-wielding Abraham Lincoln, which neither offers nor requires further explanation. [34]
Underhill's Season of Screams has been held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. [25] [35] Mandy Ferreira included Underhill's experience in Sunset magazine's 2017 list of the ten scariest haunted houses on the West Coast. [36] FrightTown has been held at the Moda Center. [37] Fearlandia is in southwest Portland. [38] In 2020, Fearlandia partnered with Creators of the Night, Davis Graveyard, and Fear Factory to create a drive-thru attraction at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds because of the pandemic. In 2021, Fearlandia and Under Hill partnered on an event at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. [39]
The Lloyd Center hosted the haunted house experience "13 Days of Terror" in 2022. [40] [41]
The group Friends of Lone Fir has hosted the "Halloween Tour of Untimely Departures" at Lone Fir Cemetery; [42] approximately 2,000 and 1,600 people participated in 2010 and 2011, respectively. [43] [44] The group has also had volunteers spend Halloween night in the cemetery to deter the vandalism of gravestones. [45]
In 2025, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry had a "spooky season" edition of its "after dark" series. [10]
The Oregon Zoo hosts the annual event "Howloween", which includes costumed trick-or-treating. [46] [47] The 2021 event also had a scavenger hunt. [48] Animals at the zoo have been gifted pumpkins around Halloween. [49] In 2025, the zoo shared a "spooky" collection of x-rays of animals ahead of Halloween. [50]
The defunct Portland Children's Museum hosted a "costumed Halloween quest" with trick-or-treating, "spooky" art projects, and a "slimy sensory experience". [47]
Portland participates in the annual Thrill the World event ahead of Halloween, which sees people dress as zombies and dance to Michael Jackson's song "Thriller" (1983). [51] [52] The local branch of Thrill the World is called Thrill Portland. [53] According to KOIN, "The event aims to break down barriers by connecting people of all religions, race, gender identities and economic backgrounds through dance." [54] It has also served as a fundraiser; the 2014 event raised funds for Q Center's Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center. [53]
Thrill the World was held at Holocene in 2007 and in Old Town Chinatown in 2015. [55] [56] It was held at Irving Park in 2016, with a second performance planned at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. [57] Thrill the World was held at Irving Park again 2025. [54]
Various locations such as Kennedy School, Lan Su Chinese Garden, and Multnomah Village have hosted trick-or-treating. [2] [58] [59] Businesses along Alberta Street in northeast Portland have hosted "Trick or Treat Alberta Street". [47] Division Street, Fremont Street, and Parkrose have also hosted trick-or-treating. [60]
"Woodstock Spooktacular" is held in southeast Portland 's Woodstock neighborhood. [60] In 2022, writers for Portland Monthly said trick-or-treating in southeast Portland's Eastmoreland and Reed neighborhoods is "legendary". [61]
An annual display in northeast Portland's Alameda neighborhood attracts hundreds of people. [62] Crestfallen Manor in northeast Portland has displayed elaborate Halloween decorations for three decades. [63]
One house in southeast Portland has hosted a large display since 2020. Known for participating in PDX Sidewalk Joy, the house's Halloween display has approximately 100 skeletons, including one inspired by Post Malone called "Post Mabone", as well as 50 pumpkins. [64] The Day of the Dead and Halloween display at Mt. Tabor Creations has large skeletons and a spider, as well as an ofrenda for people to leave photographs of deceased family members and pets. The cornfield-themed display at Shadows on Center Street has fog and sound effects. In 2025, Pumpkin Acres in southeast Portland had a Halloween wedding theme, with approximately 280 pumpkins, lighting and sound effects, and a tribute to The Nightmare Before Christmas . [65]
One house in southwest Portland, near Tigard, has a pirate-themed display with an animatronic skeleton pirate, a jail with a skeleton dog holding a key, and holograms projected onto windows. Neighbors on the block have expanded the display. [65]
Local artist Mike Bennett installed Crypto Zoo ahead of Halloween in 2020 and 2021. [66] [67] According to Willamette Week , "his main objective [was] to keep the spirit of monster season alive" during a year when trick-or-treating was impacted by the pandemic. [68] Bennett released a series of Halloween decorations in 2023. [69]
One Portland school banned Halloween costumes in 2011. [70] [71]
In 2018, several Portland Trail Blazers players wore Halloween costumes before a game. Damian Lillard and Maurice Harkless dressed as Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Chappelle's Show character Tyrone Biggums, respectively. [72] [73]
In 2022, KOIN said the top five most popular Halloween costumes in the Portland metropolitan area were fairies, dinosaurs, characters from Stranger Things and Star Wars , and devils, based on Google search engine analysis. [74] The most popular costumes in the metropolitan area in 2025 were the characters Rumi, Zoey, Mira, and Derpy from the animated film KPop Demon Hunters , as well as labubus. [75]
Some participants of the "emergency" edition of the World Naked Bike Ride during the 2025 protests in Portland wore Halloween costumes. [76]
Spirit Halloween operated a location on 82nd Avenue in 2009. [77] There were eleven temporary locations in the Portland metropolitan area in 2012. [78] There were no Spirit Halloween stores in the city in 2024 or 2025. [79] [80]
In 2022, Hey Love hosted a Halloween pop-up Black Lagoon. [81] The bar The Uncanny hosted a Halloween pop-up called House of Unholy in 2023 and 2024. [82] [83] Among notable bars that have served Halloween-themed cocktails are Creepy's, Raven's Manor, and The Uncanny. [84] According to Axios Portland , "It's Halloween year-round at Raven's Manor, but October is an especially eerie time to head to the downtown bar." [85] Coffee shops and restaurants like Cheese & Crack Snack Shop and Memento Mori Cafe, which displays Halloween decorations all year, [86] have also offered Halloween-themed food and drink options. [87] Portland-based ice cream company Salt & Straw has offered a Halloween series with seasonal flavors. [88]