What's Happening Now on the Wasatch Front: BooLights Begins Tonight, the Halloween Countdown & the November Turn

Just catching up? Our October 20 now guide covered the big harvest weekend and the festival previews, and the late-October through November guide has the holiday kickoff in detail. The 2026-27 Ski Season Preview covers passes and opening targets.

Ask Adam and Natalie what the last ten days before Halloween feel like along the Wasatch Front and they will describe the warmest, busiest stretch of the whole year. The festival previews are behind us, the pumpkin regatta has crowned another champion, and now every porch in the valley is glowing, the markets are taking their final bows, the arena calendar is packed, and the first snow stays just out of reach on the peaks. It is the week the calendar asks families to choose between a half dozen great nights out, and it is exactly the kind of week that makes a neighborhood feel like home.

Here is what is worth your time from today through mid-November, in the communities we serve from Daybreak and South Jordan to Sandy, Draper, Herriman, Lehi, and beyond.

The Week Just Wrapped: A Regatta, a Festival and the Harvest Peak

Before we look ahead, a quick salute to the weekend that just was. Daybreak's 15th annual Ginormous Pumpkin Regatta sent its giant hollowed pumpkins across Oquirrh Lake on Saturday, Oct 17 for the year's most delightfully silly race, pairing with the community's final farmers market of the season at SoDa Row and Bumble's Drone Spooktacular at the Bees ballpark. Downtown, REDWEST Fest wrapped its two-day country run at the Utah State Fairpark (Oct 16-17), the Salt Lake Book Festival filled The Gateway with authors and readers, Sandy's Trunk or Treat brought families to the Promenade, and the Scarecrow Festival at Ashton Gardens closed with the Scarecrow 5K. The Lehi Night Market (Oct 16), the Utah Renaissance Faire (Oct 16-18), and the Draper City Haunted Trail (Oct 15-17) all wrapped too, and the Jazz closed its preseason before the real games begin Friday.

If you missed any of it, most of the season's best traditions keep running to the 31st. And the pumpkins are not the only glow: Daybreak's decorated Halloween Homes Drive is a self-guided route of the community's best-decorated houses all month, worth an evening drive with the kids.

This Week: BooLights Opens Tonight, Murray's Trunk-or-Treat and the Last Golden Evenings

The midweek now belongs to the not-too-scary crowd. Hogle Zoo BooLights opens its nightly run tonight, Thursday, Oct 22 through Oct 30 (6:30-9:30 p.m.), with glowing pumpkins, immersive light displays, the Dr. Frankenstein puppet show, and the Witch's House, a wonderfully gentle Halloween glow-up for the whole family. The same Thursday, Murray's Trunk-or-Treat fills Murray Park from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. with a costume contest, candy, and games, a free, neighborly start to the holiday. And Wheeler Farm Pumpkin Days keeps its daytime maze and playland going with special maze hours on Oct 22 and 26 before its Halloween grand finale.

For the grown-ups, the Salt Lake Ski Super Pass (Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude) is still in its steepest discount window of the year, with Brighton's next price bump landing Nov 3, and the Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point ticket presale runs through Oct 31, the window to lock in the best evening slots for the 10-million-light walk that opens Nov 12. It is also the prime week for the last golden drives: the Alpine Loop above American Fork, Big Cottonwood Canyon, and the Bonneville Shoreline Trail are all near peak, and Sundance's Halloween lift rides offer the color from above on select evenings through Oct 31. Our Utah Fall Foliage guide tracks the timing week by week.

The Big Family Weekend: Pumpkin Promenade, the Jazz Home Opener and a Wall-to-Wall Sports Saturday

Friday, Oct 23 is the official start of the city's big weekend. The Utah Jazz regular-season home opener tips off at 7:30 p.m. against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Delta Center, opening a full home stand with the Lakers (Oct 25), Grizzlies (Oct 26), and Spurs (Oct 28), a perfect stretch for a downtown dinner-and-game date night. For families, Trick or Treat Street at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns runs 4:30-6:30 p.m. with indoor trick-or-treating from local sports clubs, a free and weather-proof pick, and Pumpkins in the Orchard at University Place in Orem hosts its bounce-house "Night of Fright" the same evening.

Then Saturday, Oct 24 stacks the whole valley. In the south valley, Pumpkin Promenade lights up Bingham Creek Regional Park on Oct 23-24 with hundreds of carved jack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treating, and live music, with an evening trick-or-treating stroll in Daybreak on the 24th. Downtown, the downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market holds its final Saturday at Pioneer Park (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Trolley Square's Halloween Festival brings its pumpkin drop and kid-friendly activities, and Dia de los Muertos at Thanksgiving Point celebrates the holiday in Lehi. Witches' Night Out at Gardner Village (6-9 p.m.) is free and not to be missed, and Sandy's South Town shops host a pet Halloween costume contest from 10 a.m. to noon.

And the sports calendar goes wall to wall: the Utah Utes host No. 14 Houston at Rice-Eccles Stadium at 8:15 p.m. in a huge Big 12 matchup, and the Utah Mammoth play their home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m. at the Delta Center, the new name on the NHL team formerly known as Utah Hockey Club. Fans of both are in for a rare same-night doubleheader in the same building district. Monday brings Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation's Trunk or Treat at Northwest Recreation Center (6-8 p.m.), and the Mammoth are back Tuesday, Oct 27 against Minnesota. Our Utah Mammoth franchise guide has the full story on the team's new era.

Halloween Weekend Proper: From Lehi's Extravaganza to the Aquarium

The final stretch turns warm and city-run. Thursday, Oct 29 brings Tricks & Treats at SCERA in Orem and the first of Provo Towne Centre's two trunk-or-treats (3-5 p.m.). Friday, Oct 30 is the south valley's big night: the Lehi Halloween Extravaganza ("Creatures of the Night!") runs 5-8 p.m. at the Lehi Legacy Center with trick-or-treating, games, and food trucks, the South Jordan City Hallowe'en Party warms up families from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the South Jordan Community Center, and Frightbelly's, Utah County's longest-running haunt at Thanksgiving Point, holds its final night.

Halloween itself, Saturday Oct 31, is the finale. For families, Halloween at the Aquarium ("Pirates and Scallywags") at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with costume-friendly, not-too-scary fun, an easy south-valley pick right near Draper. Provo Towne Centre hosts its second trunk-or-treat (3-5 p.m.). And it is the last call for Gardner Village WitchFest, Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point, Wheeler Farm Pumpkin Days (with special Halloween hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Kuwahara's Thriller Park in Draper, Mabey's Pumpkin Patch in South Jordan, and the pumpkin patches across the valley, plus the Luminaria presale (through Oct 31). The Halloween Cruise on the Provo River and Sundance's Halloween lift rides also close out Oct 31.

Last Chances: The Final Market Saturdays and the Last Farm Weekends

Farmers market season is down to its final Saturdays. The downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market at Pioneer Park holds its last day Saturday, Oct 24 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 200-plus vendors), the big one for stocking up on local honey, squash, and apples. In Utah County, the Provo Farmers Market keeps its Saturdays at Pioneer Park going through Oct 31 (opening at 10 a.m. now that the season has cooled), and the Orem Sunset Market continues Wednesday evenings at City Center Park through Oct 28. After that, it is the winter markets and the holiday pop-ups, so this is the window to get the season's last fresh-from-the-farm haul.

The farm fun runs just a little longer than the markets. Right in our service area, Kuwahara's Thriller Park in Draper and Mabey's Pumpkin Patch in South Jordan both run through Oct 31 with their corn mazes, play areas, and photo-ready pumpkin fields. The Crazy Corn Maze in West Jordan, a favorite for families from Herriman and Daybreak, keeps its maze and family-friendly daytime hours through Nov 2 even as the Night Stalkers haunted trail takes over the evenings. Cross E Ranch on the north edge of Salt Lake City runs through Nov 1, and Frightmares at Lagoon lasts through Nov 8 for older kids and teens. If you want one more farm weekend after the 31st, those are your spots.

The November Turn: Holiday Lights, Ice Skating and the Season's First Snow

The moment Halloween wraps, the holiday season takes over, and this year it starts closer to home than ever. Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point's Ashton Gardens in Lehi opens Thursday, Nov 12 and runs into early January, with 10 million lights across the 50-acre gardens, the towering Christmas tree, and the light-and-music show; the presale through Oct 31 is the window to lock in the best evening slots before the popular dates sell out.

New this year in South Jordan, the Daybreak Winter Village in Downtown Daybreak opens for its first full ice-skating and lights season in November, a family-friendly holiday destination right on the community's lakefront with skate rentals and thousands of lights. It pairs perfectly with the Daybreak Winter Market at the Daybreak Community Center (the first one lands Saturday, Dec 12) for a true small-town holiday outing without leaving the south valley. Adam and Natalie are especially excited about this one: it turns Daybreak's walkable downtown into a winter destination, which is exactly the kind of daily-life amenity that makes the community special.

Farther north, the crown-jewel displays return for the season: Christmas in Color brings its drive-through, radio-synced light show back to South Jordan at the USU Bastian Agricultural Center and American Fork at Mary & Art Dye Park, usually from mid-November into late December, with 2026 dates to be confirmed on the official site. ZooLights at Utah's Hogle Zoo, the Gallivan Center ice rink in downtown Salt Lake City, and Lights on Temple Square with its nightly concerts all return as the coziest weeks of the year get underway. And closer to our communities, Herriman's Night of Lights at Crane Plaza and City Hall (Sunday, Nov 30) brings Santa, music, games, crafts, and ice skating, with Festival of Trees at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy following Dec 2-5; tickets historically go on sale Nov 1, so it is a smart early-November to-do.

For family-friendly winter fun, the options stretch right up the canyons: sledding and tubing hills on Daybreak's community hills once the snow sticks, one of Utah's longest tubing lanes at Soldier Hollow in Midway (about an hour from Lehi or Sandy), and the groomed cross-country and snowshoe trails that open as soon as the valleys get their first real snow.

Sports, Ski and the Thanksgiving Countdown

The calendars are already filling up past Halloween. The Jazz are home Oct 23-28 and back again for Halloween-night hoops, the Utah Mammoth host the Lightning (Oct 24) and Wild (Oct 27), and the Utes close a big October with Houston before the BYU rivalry game at home on Saturday, Nov 7. That same Nov 7 is MLS Decision Day, when Real Salt Lake hosts the LA Galaxy at America First Field in Sandy to close the regular season before the MLS Cup playoffs begin Nov 18.

And the snow is getting close. Opening targets across the Cottonwoods are firming up: Brian Head targets Nov 6 as the state's earliest opener, Alta, Park City Mountain, and Solitude point at Nov 20, Snowbird targets Nov 27, and Deer Valley and Brighton are projecting early December starts. With a very strong El Nino on the forecast, it could be a big snow year, and the Super Pass on-sale window is the moment to lock in the best Cottonwood rates before Brighton's Nov 3 price bump. Our 2026-27 Ski Season Preview has the full pass-by-pass breakdown.

Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov 26, and the Wasatch Front marks the morning with some of the friendliest races in the region: the Utah Human Race at the Sandy Promenade, Runtastic THANKFUL at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, and Salt Lake City's Cold Turkey Run all start the holiday with a family run for a good cause.

Cozy Season: Where the Warm Evenings Are

When the clocks fall back and the cold arrives, the south valley's dining scene turns cozy, and Daybreak's restaurant row is the weekend anchor all season long. A lakeside walk in the early dark followed by a warm meal is the quintessential Daybreak evening, and it is the kind of daily-life detail Adam and Natalie love to walk buyers through when they are imagining a move. For the full list of where to eat from Daybreak to Lehi this season, our Fall Dining Guide 2026 has the complete roundup of warm bowls, big shared tables, and slow coffee mornings.

Get out and enjoy the warmest stretch of the fall. If you are exploring the region for a possible move, a night at Pumpkin Promenade, a Saturday at Rice-Eccles or the Delta Center, an evening of ice skating at the Daybreak Winter Village, or an hour walking Daybreak's lake in the golden light is the truest way to feel daily life in these towns. When you are ready to take the next step, Adam and Natalie Stark of Stark Group Real Estate would love to help you find the perfect place to call home. Reach them at 801-613-0038 or info@utahcityliving.com, or book a free call to talk through what you are looking for.