SYV residents, visitors take in Halloween festivities

By Mike Chaldu · Mon Nov 09 2026

Haunted house at the theater, trips to pumpkin patch and scarecrows all over town illustrate the fun, scary atmosphere

Despite the weather going from very hot to rather rainy during the course of October, folks in the Santa Ynez Valley seemed to enjoy the Halloween season.

As residents and visitors started recovering from the unseasonable heat wave early in the month, rainy weather arrived just as people were getting their Halloween groove on.

Solvang's popular Haunted House, again staged at the Solvang Festival Theater the weekend before Halloween, Oct. 23 and 24. Now in its 32nd year, the 2026 version carried the theme "Nightmares ... and Beyond."

A visit to the attraction's final night saw people lined up to get in before its doors opened, and Solvang Parks and Rec Director Jenny McClurg expressed satisfaction at the turnout the night before.

"We drew over 1,100 people last night," McClurg said as workers got ready to open up the theater. "That's really good considering we were competing against the Santa Ynez High football game. We're looking for more tonight, although the weather might be a factor."

Saturday's turnout was reported to be about 500, so the intermittent rain might have had something to do with that, but it didn't take away from the fact going through the scares and chills of the haunted house was quite an experience.

This reporter got to take a trip through the attraction (admittedly in the first half-hour, when the features of the house were a little tamer) entering through the theater's garden area, which was turned into the "Hanging Stalk Chapel" and the "Shadows Pass Cemetery," with live actors lingering among the throngs ready to give a fright when someone would least expect it.

From there, as the crowds entered the theater, they came up something of an eerie Christmas-themed bazaar ("bizarre"?) of discarded baby dolls and broken toys, and then through dark hallways and numerous gothic scenes until the exit onto 2nd Avenue, where one more scary figure, who might or might not have been Fred Lageman of the Parks and Rec Department, who is responsible for the theme and set-up every year.

"Fred really outdoes himself each time," McClurg said after aforementioned reporter got out safely. "He works a year ahead of time and has the theme already decided, so we know what to keep in storage and what we need to get for next year."

McClurg said the theme for next year's Haunted House would by "Clowns and Cowboys," a flyer for which was already on the wall before people exited.

The attraction got good review from people coming through the exit.

"It thought it was really good," said Ed (no last name given), who said he came from Santa Barbara with his family and toured the Haunted House for the first time. "Me and my kids went early to the less-scary one; there were some things that were kind of scary, but mainly I thought it was a good set-up and great production value."

A week later, on Oct. 31, Halloween proper, a trip to the annual Solvang Pumpkin Patch on Alamo Pintado Road saw several people getting their last-minute pumpkins, or just enjoying the patch's corn maze and/or the several photogenic "stations" were people could take snapshots of themselves and their loved ones.

Like the Haunted House the week before, the enjoyment was curtailed somewhat by the rainy weather, but Pumpkin Patch owner Steve Jacobsen said it was better than when the Patch opened this year, during an unexpected heat wave at the beginning of October.

"We had the opposite of extremes," Jacobsen said. "But this [the rain] is not so bad, and it isn't bothering people. That heat at the start of the month, however, that was keeping people away."

The DeLuna family was one group the weather couldn't keep away from the patch.

"This is a place we go to every year," said Jayne DeLuna, who was dressed in a dinosaur costume just like her husband, Cody, and 1-year-old son, Owen. "It's a really nice place with a lot of room that Owen can run around in. It's a little wet, but we're having a great time."

Owen was exploring one of the shacks put on the grounds for photo opportunities, with his parents, grandparents, and aunt snapping away.

"This is his second Halloween, but first where he kind of understands what's going on," Jayne said. "It's just great seeing it through his eyes."

Her in-laws, Ken and Jan DeLuna, were also there and talking about their plans for the evening.

"We're going to Ballard so Owen can do some trick-or-treating," Ken said. "Ballard is a really good place to do that; they always have people willing to participate."

That Saturday also marked the last day to see scarecrows in the Valley: The SYV Scarecrow Fest, which started in 2010, encourages people to display scarecrow characters in front of their businesses, with members of the public voting for their favorites. The business with the most votes is awarded that year's Harvest Cup, which was won in 2025 by the Santa Ynez Community Services District.

This year's scarecrow lineup featured a numbers of themes, including a couple honoring the late Dolly Parton, in front of Valley Vintage & Marketplace on 1st and Mission Drive, as well as Craft and Create on Alisal; Solvang Theaterfest, with a scarecrow manning the ticket booth; Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton, with a pumpkin-headed bellboy; and Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society/D.A.W.G. with it usual display featuring dogs and cats.

The winner of the 2026 Harvest Cup will be announced during the Harvest Cup Mixer at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton on Thursday, Nov. 12. Voting is over, but to see this year's entries, go to https://syvscarecrows.com/years/2026/