Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is bringing back its after-hours Halloween tradition, with Boo at the Zoo set to run Thursdays through Sundays, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., between October 1 and October 25. The event folds trick-or-treating, spooky displays, and costumed character meet-and-greets into an evening stroll through the zoo's grounds, giving families a nighttime alternative to typical daytime pumpkin-patch outings.
Kelly Manderfield, Cleveland Metroparks' chief marketing officer, said families have eagerly awaited Boo at the Zoo's return, according to WKYC. The comment underscores just how anticipated this comeback is: the after-hours format took a multi-year hiatus following 2019, with the zoo relying on daytime programming like its Trick-or-Treat Fest to serve families during the gap, a shift Hoodline covered in coverage of that daytime fest. Cleveland Metroparks revived the evening tradition in 2025 and is now running it for a second consecutive fall.
What's New for Trick-or-Treaters This Year
New this year is a VIP tent, offering a place to relax, refuel, and take in a playful Halloween atmosphere, complete with food and candy games. Children under 2 get in free, and the event encourages guests of all ages to show up in costume. Beyond the trick-or-treating itself, the evenings include a hay maze, music and magic performances, and the Monster Mash dance party.
Corporate sponsors are underwriting several of the perks. Meijer is providing complimentary trick-or-treat bags for the first 1,000 guests each night, trick-or-treating stretches along Wayside Furniture Way, and MetroHealth is sponsoring free rides on the Boomerang train. Live entertainment lined up for the run includes Cleveland-based card-throwing magician Rick Smith Jr., along with the Kooky Cellists and Rockin' Robots, the sort of novelty acts meant to widen the event's appeal beyond younger trick-or-treaters.
Ticket Prices and the Halloween 5K
Advance tickets run $20 per person for zoo members or $69 for a four-pack, while non-members pay $22 per person or $77 for a four-pack. A limited number of same-day tickets will be available online or at the box office, which closes at 8 p.m., though same-day prices run higher than advance rates.
Runners looking for a costumed twist on the season can join the Halloween 5K, which winds through the zoo on the morning of October 24 and is part of the annual Cleveland Metroparks race series. Organizers invite both runners and walkers to attend in costume for the race.
A Bigger Halloween Push Across the Zoo
Boo at the Zoo is only part of a broader autumn lineup that now includes Howl-O-Ween Bash, a separate 21-and-older after-hours event with costumes and adult entertainment that Cleveland Metroparks introduced alongside last year's revival. Pairing a family-friendly event with an adults-only counterpart mirrors a growing trend among regional zoos looking to diversify their seasonal revenue.
The Halloween programming adds to an already busy year of after-hours events at the 183-acre Old Brooklyn campus, following the zoo's Asian Lantern Festival, which added its first-ever drone finale this summer, according to Hoodline's report on the drone finale. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo remains the region's most-visited year-round attraction, drawing roughly 1.32 million visitors in 2023 across grounds that house more than 3,000 animals representing over 600 species, according to Wikipedia.
According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, after-hours events are staples across the zoo and aquarium community because they extend educational, recreational and revenue opportunities beyond the regular schedule. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums says its accredited zoos and aquariums served more than 209 million annual visitors worldwide.
The evening events also feed into longer-term plans for the park system. Cleveland Metroparks leadership has been studying developer interest in a proposed 135-room themed hotel on or near zoo grounds in Brookside Reservation, aiming to convert single-night event traffic into overnight stays, Hoodline reported in its earlier piece on the zoo's hotel proposal. That effort is backed in part by the Cleveland Zoological Society, an independent nonprofit that provides the zoo more than $4 million annually in operating support and over $3.2 million for capital projects, drawing on a membership base of more than 41,000 households.
