Halloween in the City
21-31 October, Manchester
visitmanchester.com/halloween
@halloweenMCR

Plenty of Tricks. Plenty More Treats.

Mark the passing of Halloween with ten days of terrifyingly good events across Manchester.

Following the success of the city’s first ever official Halloween celebrations in 2016, Manchester BID, the city centre’s Business Improvement District, has cooked up a whole host of activities to both fright and delight.

Halloween in the City will see Manchester eerily awash with spooky decorations and pumpkin lanterns, while mind-bending inflatable monsters, courtesy of Bristol-based artist Filthy Luker will appear to take over city buildings and come nightfall some of Manchester’s most iconic buildings including Manchester Town Hall, Manchester Arndale, House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges will once again glow a ghastly green.

As part of Halloween in the City, on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October, the city’s shopping district will host Halloweekend – a two day family friendly festival.  Prepare to be spooked by activities which include a Trick or Treat, with scary or sweet surprises in store, and a Haunted Maze in St Ann’s Square, inviting visitors to try and make it round its gothic pathways without bumping into its creepy creatures.

Those who love to dress up can make it a family affair this year, with plans to create the biggest fancy dress in Halloween history at The Big Dress Up. Families from across the region will be encouraged to come dressed in their spookiest costume, with the best having their photos taken and asked to join DJs on the Capital FM main stage catwalk in Exchange Square.

And for those who want to bring their very own creepy canine, Capital FM will also be hosting a Dog Costume Catwalk, for dogs with the cutest costumes. Finish off the weekend with the Goth Catwalk Show as part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Gothic Festival. Dress code Black.

To add to the spine-tingling set of activities, the main stage will screen everyone’s favourite Halloween family classics and there will also be a mini Halloween travelling party with a New Orleans funeral band, Day of the Dead style carnival puppets, street performers and monstrous dancing which will pass down Market Street.

Big Fish Little Fish, renowned for its family friendly raves and world class partying for kids, will be throwing a spooky science party bringing together some of the best DJs from across the city and stalls exploring the science of Halloween featuring science buskers, slime and the science of bats and spiders with zoo keepers from Chester Zoo.

While over at the city’s Museum of Science and Industry, a unique collection of over 100 robots, from a 16th-century mechanical monk to robots from both science fiction and modern-day research labs will enable visitors to discover the cultural, historical and technological context of humanoid robots.

For those who come unprepared, free creative Face Painting stations on Market Street will allow you to become the ghost with the most.

For event updates follow @halloweenMCR and Like /halloweenMCR.