Free admission and free activities, which with three kids is not a small thing. Dinosaurs, a reptile zone from Scales and Tails, a dog costume contest, food trucks, and trick-or-treating at the businesses around the plaza. Pumpkin decorating is limited supplies, so that one you go early for.

Same night as the Howl, one town over. Run the 5K along the Jordan River Parkway and you can still catch the back half in Herriman. Costumes are the entire point.

The city picks the best decorated houses, marks them with yard signs and puts them on a map, so you drive a route instead of hunting. If your house belongs on it, entries are open October 1 through the 11th at midnight.

Built for kids 15 and under, mild to moderate. It gets spookier as it gets darker, so bring the little ones at 4:30 and save the late slots for the brave ones. Every person needs a ticket, adults included.

The witch displays and the scavenger hunt cost nothing. Witchapalooza, Breakfast with a Witch and the escape room are ticketed and they do sell out. One thing people get caught by: parking is $10 a vehicle on Thursdays through Saturdays in October.

Last two of the season, and October runs an hour shorter than summer did. The 13th is the final one until July.

Lit up rather than scary, which is the right call for most families. Give it ninety minutes and buy online, because the gate line is the slow part. It runs rain or shine and tickets are not refundable for weather.

Daytime, in the village, and genuinely not scary. Costumes, trick-or-treating, a storytelling witch, creature encounters, train and pony rides. If you have anyone under eight, this is your one.

Utah's giant pumpkin weigh-off, and the winner gets two thousand dollars and an orange jacket. There is also a zombie walk, a costume contest, a pie eating contest and a pumpkin drop. Strangest free afternoon downtown all year.

Evenings on the 23rd, 24th, 28th, 29th and 30th, matinees on the 24th and the 31st. Flying effects and pyrotechnics, recommended for ages 8 and up, about two and a half hours with two intermissions. A Halloween night ballet is a better date than it sounds.

This is the actual reason October is the best month here, and nobody puts it on an events list. The high country turns first, up around Guardsman from mid-September, and the color works down the canyons through the first couple of weeks of October. So go high now and lower later. Weekday morning if you can swing it. By eleven on a Saturday the Alpine Loop pullouts are full and people start parking in places they should not.

Grand Tastings Friday and Saturday, wine dinners and lunches at restaurants around town all weekend. Every event is ticketed separately and several sell out well ahead, so check what is left before you plan the drive up.

Forty minutes on the train, a pumpkin cookie on board, and every kid picks a pumpkin out of the patch to take home. Seats are assigned, so if you are going with another family on a separate order, call at least a day ahead or you will not be sitting together.

Park City's own Halloween, in costume, dogs very much included. China Bridge garage is a $15 flat rate from 2:00 to 6:00, which beats circling Main and losing the afternoon to it.

Dozens of scarecrows and carved pumpkins built by families around the valley, spread across fifty acres of garden. The festival market runs the 15th through the 17th at the Waterfall Amphitheater. You can enter your own scarecrow if your kids are the competitive type.

The one that catches people out: admission closes a full hour before the gates do, and the hours are not the same every day. Pull up the calendar for the night you actually want before you buy.

Pumpkin patch, hayrides, petting farm, corn pit, slides. The pumpkin drop on the 24th runs noon to about dusk and is exactly what it sounds like, pumpkins let go from fourteen stories up. My kids would watch that all afternoon.

If you only do one thing on this list, do this one. Riders start pushing the herd north from Fielding Garr Ranch at 9:00, and the final drive into the corrals usually lands somewhere between noon and 3:00, because they are wild animals and they do not read schedules. No registration to watch. Bring camp chairs, and know that the east side road is restricted that day. Miss it and the free bison working tours run the 27th through the 29th.

The Ogden Astronomical Society brings the telescopes. It opens on the sun and moves to planets and deep sky once it is properly dark. Dress a layer warmer than you think you need, the causeway wind does not care what the valley is doing.

Included with regular park admission, no separate ticket. Nine haunted attractions plus four that are not scary at all for the little ones. Thursdays and Sundays are the calm nights. Saturdays in late October are the opposite of calm.

Free to walk through. If you have a project you keep putting off, this is a decent way to stand in front of three contractors in one afternoon and get a feel for who you would actually want in your house.