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.

The outdoor museum is open for just a few days before Halloween each year and offers trick-or-treating opportunities, ghostly displays, carousel rides and characters in costumes.

Halloween at Vancouver’s Burnaby Village

In 2019 the Halloween event at Burnaby Village Museum ran from Friday, October 25, until Monday, October 28, from 6 to 9 pm each night. The event was unable to run in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 dates will likely be similar.

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

Haunted Village Location

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

Admission at the Haunted Village

The Haunted Village is open most years during the last four or so days of October.

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 same as in recent years, the cost in 2019 was about $14 for adults, seniors and youth, and $9 for children ages 2-12. Entrance is free for members.

Included with admission is some live entertainment, trick-or-treating candies for children and free carousel rides for everyone.

In the summer the carousel costs a couple of dollars per ride, so if your little ones want to go round a few times it won’t be hard to get your money’s worth in October.

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 great spooky displays.

There isn’t much gore in the Halloween displays at Burnaby Village – except for maybe the brain desserts and eyeball cupcakes in the bakery window – just mostly scenes with skeletons having tea or knitting with friends, plus the occasional cobwebby gravestone.

There are a number of trick-or-treating stations around the Haunted Village most years where children (yes, just the children) can present their stamp cards and collect a candy. There is also live entertainment with dancing in the street, characters in costume wandering around, and, of course, the free rides on the restored 1912 carousel.

Ghost Mummy with Umbrella — A Mummy on stilts with an umbrella in the rain

Haunted Village 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. It’s not every day that the rides are free and unlimited. Do however expect there to be a lineup.

TIP #2: There are some scary scenes in various display windows, 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.

Burnaby Haunted Village Skeleton — A skeleton display at Burnaby Haunted Village

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).