Socorro residents will have a chance to trade porch lights for a haunted house Friday, October 23, when the city's Fright Farm and National Night Out are scheduled at the Rio Vista Center with free admission, a costume contest and a lineup of police officers eager to meet their neighbors. The event is scheduled at 901 N. Rio Vista Road, with planned activities including a haunted house, a costume contest, local vendors and other events, according to KFOX14.
Socorro police invited the community to a free, family-friendly gathering. Admission was free, KFOX14 reported, and attendees could also meet police K-9s, learn about police vehicles and access safety resources, per KVIA. Event listings carried some disagreement over the exact hours: a city event page advertised the night running from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., while KVIA reported it would run 5 to 10 p.m., and a lower-confidence search listing from the El Paso Times put it at 5 to 9 p.m.
A Night Built Around Community Trust
The Socorro Police Department planned the Fright Farm as part of its National Night Out celebration, the same KVIA report noted, tying the Halloween-season festivities to the nationwide initiative meant to connect residents and local law enforcement for an evening focused on safety. Police Chief Robert Rojas framed the event as part of a broader department philosophy. “We want our officers interacting with the public far before an emergency,” Rojas told KFOX14.
Rojas added that the gathering was meant to deepen ties between police and the people they serve over time, not just for one night. “Rojas said the event will continue building trust with the community,” per the KVIA report. The approach echoes a now-familiar pattern for Socorro, which has leaned on family-friendly fall programming to put officers in casual, low-stakes settings alongside residents.
Costumes, Contests and a Spicy Twist
Beyond the police meet-and-greet, the event was set to include trunk-or-treating, a haunted house and a costume contest. A jalapeño-eating contest and chile contests were also listed among the evening's offerings.
For questions about the event, a 2024 event listing gave (915) 860-8615 as a contact number.
An Annual Tradition at Rio Vista
This year's gathering follows a similar format from 2024, when the city's Fright Farm and National Night Out ran October 25 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the same Rio Vista Road address. That event was billed as a free family fun night featuring trunk-or-treat, a haunted house, costume contests, food and vendors, according to a 2024 event listing on ToDoElPaso.com. A separate community calendar entry from Todo El Paso described residents collecting candy from creatively decorated vehicles during trunk-or-treat and competing for prizes in various costume categories.
Taken together, the two years of programming suggest Socorro has settled into an annual rhythm that blends spooky-season entertainment with the police department's community-outreach goals. Whether this year's edition will return with the same mix of haunted house thrills, costume contests and officer meet-and-greets next October remains to be seen, but the pattern set over the past two years points toward it becoming a lasting fixture on the city's fall calendar.
