"Turn your lights out if you run out of candy or go buy more locally." That line is in the fine print of the Crosslake Chamber's camper listing for Camp Spooktacular, aimed at the campers who decorate sites for this weekend's event. The same listing asks them to plan for 1,000 kids.
The camper arrival window opens at noon on Thursday, Oct. 22. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the town's Halloween events line up almost to the minute along one road. Each one hands off to the next, and the one in the middle pays for the lights on the Pine River Dam for the rest of the year.
Saturday, Stop by Stop
All three Saturday stops have County Road 66 addresses, and their times connect.
- 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Zorbaz on Crozz Lake, 36215 County Road 66. Zorbaz is running a trunk-or-treat in its lot. Gift cards go to the best-decorated trunks: $300 for first, $200 for second and $100 for third. Anyone who wants to decorate a trunk registers by calling Zorbaz at 218-692-4567.
- 2:30 to 6 p.m., Camp Spooktacular at the U.S. Army Corps Crosslake Recreation Area, 35507 County Road 66. Kids trick-or-treat from one decorated campsite to the next. Cocoa is free for everyone, and every child in costume gets one free hot dog.
- 6 to 8 p.m., the wagon ride tour of lights. A tractor pulls a wagon past the decorated campsites after dark. Crosslake Log Village donated the wagon.
- 5 to 9 p.m., Whistling Werewolf at Whistling Wolf Mini Golf and Gifts, 36006 County Road 66. The 18-hole course becomes a haunted course after dark, and you need to arrive by 8:15. It costs $13 for adults and $11 for kids 10 and under. No reservations are taken, and the course promises spooky lights and creatures with no jump scares.
Zorbaz's trunk-or-treat ends at 2:30, the same minute the campground opens to trick-or-treaters. The Chamber calendar lists Whistling Werewolf on both Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24. The course runs Friday and Saturday nights through October, weather permitting. The mini golf opens at 5, while trick-or-treating is still going, and its 8:15 arrival cutoff falls 15 minutes after the last wagon ride ends at 8.
Getting In Without a Car
The middle stop has a rule that shapes your whole afternoon. No vehicles are allowed into the campground from 2:15 to 8:15 p.m. The organizers say to bring strollers and wagons for the kids. The Chamber's trick-or-treat listing includes a parking and walk-in map.
So a family coming from the Zorbaz lot at 2:30 parks and walks into the recreation area. If you have little ones, plan the evening around wherever the car ends up.
Who Is Behind the Candy
There's no charge to get in. The volunteers accept donations, and those go to Light Up the Dam, the nonprofit that puts on the event.
Light Up the Dam is the reason the Pine River Dam and the Corps land around it look different every season. The Chamber's trick-or-treat listing describes the cycle: an American flag in summer, a pumpkin in fall, a Christmas wreath, archway and lit trees for the holidays, and a shamrock in spring. The donations at Camp Spooktacular go toward that lighting, and the group asks people who can help to volunteer through Light Up the Dam on Facebook.
The fall pumpkin you may have driven past on the dam this month comes from the same volunteers who are handing out cocoa on Saturday. Light Up the Dam also runs Holiday at the Dam, a free family celebration at the recreation area that the Chamber listed as its 11th annual edition in 2024. The holiday display is the next big change on the dam. Watch the Chamber calendar and the group's Facebook page for the 2026 date.
The Hours Keep Moving Earlier
Pine and Lakes Echo Journal has run a Camp Spooktacular preview each fall. Laid next to each other, those previews show the trick-or-treat window starting earlier almost every year.
| Year | Trick-or-treat | Wagon rides |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3:30 to 7 p.m. | not listed |
| 2024 | 3:30 to 7 p.m. | 7:30 to 9 p.m. |
| 2025 | 3 to 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. |
| 2026 | 2:30 to 6 p.m. | 6 to 8 p.m. |
The 2024 preview and the 2025 preview both said attendance was free and that donations supported Light Up the Dam. That arrangement hasn't changed. Since 2023, the start has moved a full hour earlier. This year the wagon rides end at 8, an hour before the 2024 rides ended. If you're working from last year's memory, the candy starts half an hour sooner than you think.
The 55 Sites That Make It Work
The trick-or-treating only works because campers decorate their sites, and they pay to do it. The camper weekend costs $100 per site, which includes one bundle of firewood. Sites check in Friday, Oct. 23, and check out Sunday, Oct. 25, and campers who arrive Thursday don't pay extra. There are 55 sites, and past campers had until Aug. 31 to reserve the same spot they had before.
The rules show how much work goes into it.
- Every campsite has to include decor, a theme and lights, and judges award trophies in a decorating contest. A pumpkin carving contest runs alongside it.
- All candy and treats have to be store-bought, not homemade.
- Sites have electric service, but campers bring their own extension cords.
- There's no running water or showers, just portable restrooms. The nearest dump station is at Moonlite Square, 2 miles north, for $25.
- Firewood brought in has to be DNR-approved.
- Quiet hours run from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. Everything and everyone has to be out by 1 p.m. Sunday, when the gate closes.
The camper listing also mentions a community tent with free hot dogs, hot cocoa, kettle corn and more. Put together, 55 decorated sites, a tent of food and a donated wagon are what turn a Corps campground into a trick-or-treat route for a crowd planned at 1,000 kids. Remember all of it when the donation jar comes around.
Sunday Afternoon, One More Stop
The weekend doesn't end when the campground gate closes at 1 p.m. Sunday. From 2 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 25, the Ideal Fire Department hosts its own trunk-or-treat at the Ideal Fire Department & Community Center, 34358 Butternut Point Road. Kids can see the fire trucks, play games and learn about fire prevention, along with the candy.
That makes three trick-or-treats and a haunted mini golf course between Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m., run by Zorbaz, Whistling Wolf, a volunteer lighting nonprofit and a fire department. Halloween itself falls the following Saturday, Oct. 31. In Crosslake, the costumes come out a week early.
Our team works out of Crosslake, and this is the kind of weekend that reminds us why. If the wagon ride gets you thinking about a place of your own near the dam or anywhere along the Whitefish Chain, Larson Group would be glad to talk once the candy is sorted. Work With Us.
