Burnaby Haunted Village

One of the best places for children to dress up in costume and visit at night in October is the Haunted Village at Burnaby Village just before Halloween.

In 2023 the outdoor museum was open on select days between October 19th and 29th.

Top places for families to visit during the Halloween season in the Lower Mainland include VanDusen Garden with its Harvest Days events and Capilano Bridge with its Canyon Frights attraction at night. Both of these are very kid-friendly, as are the Heroes & Villains games with Vancouver Mysteries and the HowlOver Canada film at FlyOver Canada.

Other top places for family-friendly Halloween fun are pumpkin patches at places like Maan Farms, Fantasy Farms and the Harrison Pumpkin Festival in the Fraser Valley. Unrelated to Halloween, but still fun for kids, there were Circo Osorio Circus shows in Richmond and Coquitlam between October 12th and 30th in 2023.

To learn about the region’s best places to take children this Halloween season, see our article about Vancouver Halloween Activities for Kids. To learn more about Burnaby Village during the second half of October, continue reading.

Halloween at Vancouver’s Burnaby Village

In 2023 the Legends, Tales and Other Stories Halloween event took place from October 19th to 22nd. It also happened from October 26th to 29th. Daily hours were from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Although Halloween is traditionally supposed to be for children, most haunted house venues in the Lower Mainland are scary even for adults. They aren’t always so suitable for young children. Burnaby Village, however, is one of the few really good places where kids can have fun and see Halloween scenes without getting totally freaked out. There is some scary stuff, yes, but all within reason.

HORROR MOVIES IN BURNABY

The Vancouver Horror Show is a film festival that showcases horror movies. In 2023 the festival took place in Vancouver, at the Scotiabank Theatre, from October 13th to 15th. The films also screened at Metrotown in Burnaby on October 20th to 22nd.

Haunted Village Location

Located at 6501 Deer Lake Avenue, the Burnaby Village Museum is at the edge of Deer Lake Park. The park is a nice place for a walk before dark and pretty with its fall colours this time of year.

Admission at the Haunted Village

Although Burnaby Village is free in the summer and in December for the Christmas season, there is a charge during special occasions, including at its Haunted Village special event.

The cost in 2023 was about $10 for adults, seniors and youth, and $5 for children ages 2 to 12. Kids under two years old had free admission.

Tickets for 2023 were available on the Shadbolt Centre website. Tickets generally are non-refundable.

Burnaby Village Street Car at Halloween — Halloween Monster in the Burnaby Village Street Car

Haunted Village Activities

During its short Halloween season, Burnaby Village is full of Halloween decorations. Most of the buildings are closed, but inside all the windows are spooky sights to see.

In 2023, Burnaby Village’s Legends, Tales and Other Stories attraction was where you could find all sorts of visual displays based on famous storybooks. You could expect to see scenes from Snow White, The Monkey King, How the Raven Stole the Moon, and other cultural stories.

This past year’s Halloween event also featured performances by the Vancouver Circus School, along with several bandstand parties for all to enjoy. Costumes were encouraged.

In previous years, there were also trick-or-treating candies for children and free carousel rides for everyone. However, things have been different since COVID-19. Carousel rides were unavailable in 2023. Trick-or-treating may or may not have happened this past year. Exact details were to be confirmed.

Ghost Mummy with Umbrella — A Mummy on Stilts With an Umbrella in the Rain

Haunted Village Tips & Advice

Below are some more useful pieces of advice and information.

TIP #1: If you have kids, be sure to go on the carousel ride in years when it’s offered. It’s not every day that the rides are free and unlimited. Do, however, expect there to be a lineup. Note: The carousel didn’t happen during the 2023 event.

TIP #2: There are some scary scenes in various display windows some years, but there isn’t the usual gore you’ll find at most haunted houses elsewhere. If you have particularly timid children it’s not difficult to avoid most of the spookier stuff, so in general it’s a pretty good kid-friendly place to go.

TIP #3: The Halloween event at Burnaby Village is very family-friendly. Expect most of the children there to be somewhere between about age 3 and 11, with 5 to 10 probably being the perfect age for the event.

TIP #4: Parking in the area isn’t great. If the main parking lot is full there is sometimes parking along the road on Sperling Avenue nearby, or just a short walk up the same street in the Deer Lake parking lot. For other suggestions, see Overflow Parking for Burnaby Village just in case.

TIP #5: Don’t forget to wear your costume! Lots of other kids will be dressed up too. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for trick-or-treating on October 31st.

TIP #6: If the forecast is for rain, then don’t forget your raincoats and umbrellas. Although it’s a museum, everything is outdoors (and even more so than in the summer).

Burnaby Haunted Village Skeleton