Visitors to Nightfall Halloween Park in West Jordan can shave $3 off their admission this season just by bringing a can or box of non-perishable food through the gate. The 26-year-old haunted attraction has joined the Scare Away Hunger campaign, a seasonal partnership designed to turn Halloween foot traffic into emergency food donations for families across Utah.
The park, located on an agricultural site at 8800 South 4000 West, is teaming up with FOX 13, Rancho Markets and Granite Credit Union for the drive, according to FOX 13 News Utah. Every donation collected at the gate benefits the Utah Food Bank, the station reports, with the discount applying regardless of how spooky — or how family-friendly — guests want their night to be.
Nightfall Halloween Park offers three main attractions this season, per the same account. There's the Crazy Corn Maze, a 10-acre field billed as family-friendly and stroller-accessible; the Night Stalker Haunted Trail, aimed at older kids and adults and featuring scary clowns, chainsaws and other creatures; and Fright Lights, an interactive area with music and dancing. The park also offers treats, meals, drinks and games for younger visitors, the report notes.
Why the Food Drive Matters Right Now
The timing lines up with a grim statewide picture. As of January 2026, roughly 445,000 Utahns — including 1 in 5 children — face food insecurity, an increase of nearly 100,000 people over the prior year, according to the Utah Food Bank. Rising housing and grocery costs have squeezed working families across the state, pushing more households toward charitable food networks than in previous years.
The pressure isn't just economic. In September 2025, Utah Food Bank officials warned of a potential “Hunger Cliff” as federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program policy shifts threatened to affect about 5% of Utah's population, according to the organization, driving even more families toward local pantries. The food bank distributes food to more than 300 pantries statewide without charging partner agencies.
A Multi-Year Partnership With Deep Local Roots
Scare Away Hunger is a seasonal food-drive campaign. This fall, Nightfall Halloween Park is participating alongside campaign partners including FOX 13, Rancho Markets and Granite Credit Union.
Rancho Markets is among the partners in the Scare Away Hunger campaign.
Why Cash Still Beats Canned Goods
Food banks have long made the case that financial gifts stretch further than physical donations, and the numbers back it up. Every $1 in financial donations allows the Utah Food Bank to leverage bulk purchasing to distribute $7.23 worth of goods and services statewide, the organization reports — a multiplier that canned-goods drives alone can't match, even as they remain valuable for events like Nightfall Halloween Park's gate discount.
The food bank has also gotten creative on the procurement side. In October 2026, it received its first shipment of 1.512 million eggs secured through a multistate antitrust settlement with major egg producers accused of price-fixing, according to KSL TV. State officials opted to take Utah's settlement share directly in physical eggs rather than cash, a move aimed at helping struggling consumers facing high grocery prices.
West Jordan's Place on the Local Haunt Map
Utah's haunted-attraction scene includes Nightfall Halloween Park, Nightmare on 13th, which has operated in Salt Lake City since 1990, and Fear Factory, according to Mix 105.1. Visitors looking to combine seasonal fun with charitable giving can find more details at thecrazycornmaze.com and fox13now.com/scarehunger.
The food insecurity challenges driving this year's campaign aren't new to Utah, and Hoodline has previously reported on how rising rents shuttered a pantry in Washington City earlier this year, underscoring how fragile the state's charitable food network can be even as demand climbs. Seasonal partnerships like Nightfall Halloween Park's food drive offer one more avenue for Utahns to help close that gap, one canned good — or $3 discount — at a time.
