The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is teaming up with Sheriff Oscar Ugarte and the county Parks and Recreation Department to host a free Community Night Out at Ascarate Park on Saturday, Oct. 24, kicking off at 5:30 p.m. with fall festival activities, trunk-or-treating, live entertainment, food and displays from local law enforcement and first responder agencies.
The evening's centerpiece is the Sheriff's Zombie Run, which kicks off at 6 p.m. and is capped at the first 500 registered participants, according to KTSM 9 News. Registration is open now through RunSignUp, with pricing that climbs as the date approaches: $25 per person through Sept. 30, $35 from Oct. 1 through Oct. 23, and $45 on race day itself. A haunted house will also open its doors at 6 p.m. for $5 admission per person, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office.
Costume contests round out the night starting at 9 p.m., broken into four age brackets: Tiny Tots for ages 0-5, Little Kiddos for ages 6-12, Teens for ages 13-17, and Adults for those 18 and older. Each category is limited to 10 contestants, with winners receiving prizes, and registration happens in person at the park the day of the event, per the KTSM report. Vendors and food trucks are also invited to set up shop, with product vendor spots priced at $100 and food truck spots at $200; interested businesses can reach out to [email protected] to secure a spot.
Sheriff Says Event Builds Trust With Community Servants
Sheriff Ugarte said the event gives residents a chance to meet the law enforcement and first responder partners who serve them and to learn firsthand about their work, per KTSM's report. He added that Community Night Out creates a safe and welcoming space for families, and that organizers hope the family-friendly programming strengthens public trust and encourages ongoing community engagement. The sheriff's office echoed that message, saying the event lets families enjoy Halloween fun alongside genuine community engagement.
Ugarte took office as El Paso County Sheriff on Jan. 1, 2025, after winning the November 2024 general election with more than 59% of the vote, succeeding 16-year incumbent Sheriff Richard Wiles, according to Wikipedia. He has emphasized community engagement, a theme that has carried through his administration's string of public events at Ascarate Park, including the 6th Annual Deputy Peter J. Herrera Memorial 5K held there in March.
A Park Built by New Deal Labor, Now Getting a Modern Overhaul
Ascarate Park has hosted the Zombie Run and Fall Festival combination before; the inaugural version in October 2024 drew approximately 2,000 attendees, establishing a popular seasonal baseline for local families, according to a community post on Facebook. The 400-plus-acre park is the largest public-use recreational site in El Paso County, featuring a 48-surface-acre lake, an aquatic center, and a 27-hole golf facility split between an 18-hole main course and a 9-hole short course, per El Paso County Parks and Recreation.
The park was built under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal by more than 200 Civilian Conservation Corps laborers, who excavated more than 1 million cubic yards of sand to form its lake before it officially opened in December 1940, according to El Paso County Parks and Recreation. That project stood as the Civilian Conservation Corps' largest undertaking anywhere in Texas. Today the park is set to receive roughly $31 million in capital improvements as the primary beneficiary of El Paso County's $95 million parks bond package, which voters approved in November 2024, according to a video posted by El Paso Matters.
Ascarate Park is also home to the County of El Paso Healing Garden, a memorial space honoring the victims and survivors of the Aug. 3, 2019, El Paso Walmart shooting, developed through county funds and public donations, according to the El Paso Community Foundation. Beyond the haunted house's Explorer Post beneficiaries, the sheriff's office also draws broader support from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Community Foundation, a nonprofit that funds crime prevention programs, officer mental health initiatives and community engagement outreach through donations and corporate partnerships.
