Brian Tortarolo has played Chucky at Scarywood since 2021. He told the Coeur d'Alene Press that at midnight, when the park closes, he likes to chase people out with a chainsaw. This year the last chainsaw send-off comes on Friday, October 30. Silverwood's own events page says it plainly: Scarywood is closed October 31.
So the biggest Halloween production in north Kootenai County goes dark on Halloween itself. Saturday then belongs to a different kind of event. They're smaller and free, and they happen in a parking lot, a church campus and two Main Streets. They start in late afternoon and finish early, and their start times are spread out enough that one evening can cover more than one.
Here is how the week sets up from Thursday, October 29.
| Night | What's on | Where | Listed time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct. 29 | Scarywood | Silverwood Theme Park, Athol | 7 to 11 p.m. |
| Fri, Oct. 30 | Scarywood closing night | Silverwood Theme Park, Athol | 7 p.m. start; see the closing-time note below |
| Fri, Oct. 30 | Real Life Ministries North Campus Trunk or Treat | 30447 N. Roughstock Road, Athol | 5:30 to 8 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct. 31 | Silverwood | Closed | — |
| Sat, Oct. 31 | Bayview Reverse Trick or Treat Parade | Main Street, Bayview | 4 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct. 31 | Super 1 Foods Trunk-or-Treat | 30585 N. Roberts Road, Athol | 5 to 6:30 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct. 31 | Spirit Lake Trunk or Treat | Main Street between 3rd and 5th avenues | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. |
Two nights left at Scarywood, and they split by age as much as by date
Silverwood's days-and-hours calendar lists Thursday, October 29 at 7 to 11 p.m. and Friday, October 30 at 7 p.m. to midnight. The Scarywood site's own calendar shows Friday ending at 11 p.m. The Coeur d'Alene Press described the park closing at midnight. Check the hour on scarywoodhaunt.com before you leave the house.
Two rules matter more than the hours. First, there are no tickets at the gate. Scarywood sells online only, tickets are limited, and buying one or more days ahead takes up to $8 off the online day-of price. Silverwood public relations manager Sara Jean Meddock told the Coeur d'Alene Press she expected about 4,000 visitors on opening night, up from last year. She also said she expected attendance to climb as Halloween approached and tickets to sell out in advance. If you're deciding at dinner on Friday, the final night may already be gone.
Second, Scarywood is not recommended for children 12 and younger. That age line is why the week splits the way it does. Thursday and Friday nights at Silverwood suit teens and adults. The events on Saturday the 31st are built for little kids with candy buckets.
What's different at Scarywood in 2026
This is the 17th Scarywood season and the first under new owners. KHQ reported that the event's return came after Silverwood was sold to Herschend Family Entertainment, the company that also owns Dollywood. Herschend's announcement says the purchase of Silverwood and Boulder Beach closed March 27, 2026. It also says Silverwood keeps its name, its identity and its existing team.
That continuing team is easy to see in this year's lineup. The headline addition is Nightmares, a maze KHQ reported had been four years in the making. It has 14 rooms built around 13 phobias, and the park calls it the largest haunt it has ever built. Meddock told the Coeur d'Alene Press that it is "very psychological."
"You're going to be walking through, and you're going to be learning things about yourself that you may not even have realized you were afraid of."
The full set of five haunts is Blood Bayou, Chuckle's 3D Sideshow, Nightmares, Pharaoh's Curse and The Swine: Bigger and Badder. There are ten scare zones: Anarchy, Clown Town, Deadwood, The Dark Forest, Doom Town, Freak Farm, The Toybox, Trick or Treat, Phobia and The Wharf. Doom Town and The Wharf are new this year. Most of Silverwood's signature rides also run in the dark. On opening night, the Coeur d'Alene Press counted 300 costumed cast members working the park.
Friday is the overlap night
The Real Life Ministries North Campus Trunk or Treat runs 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 30, at 30447 N. Roughstock Road. It's free, with candy, games, bounce houses and tractor hay rides. Some regional listings call it a Harvest Festival. The church calls it Trunk or Treat, so look for that name.
That puts a kid-sized event in Athol on the same evening as Scarywood's final night, and it starts 90 minutes before Silverwood opens its gates. Younger kids and older siblings each get a Halloween event in town that night.
Saturday runs on a staggered clock
With Silverwood closed, October 31 is spread across the corridor. The listed start times are far enough apart that the events don't all compete for the same hour:
- 3 to 5 p.m., Lakeland High School, Rathdrum. A free Trunk or Treat sponsored by Rathdrum Parks & Recreation.
- 4 p.m., Main Street, Bayview. The Reverse Trick or Treat Parade flips the usual setup: participants line up at 3:50 p.m. by the ice cream shop and hand out candy along Main Street and Ralph's Boulevard.
- 5 to 6:30 p.m., Super 1 Foods, Athol. A Trunk-or-Treat at 30585 N. Roberts Road, listed on the Community Library Network's Athol calendar with Bethany Sandberg as organizer.
- 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., downtown Spirit Lake. Trunk or Treat on Main Street between 3rd and 5th avenues, credited to Spirit Lake Parks & Recreation.
The Bayview, Spirit Lake and Rathdrum times come from a regional events listing on Coeur d'Alene Insider, not from organizer pages. Confirm with the hosts before you plan a route around them. Times like these can change.
Read in order, the list moves from mid-afternoon to evening. A family could catch the early start in Bayview and still reach the Super 1 lot before it wraps at 6:30 p.m., then decide whether Spirit Lake's later window is worth one more stop.
The roads between the stops
The route between Bayview and Athol runs along SH-54, which has been under construction all year. Earlier, the Idaho Transportation Department closed SH-54 through Farragut State Park from February to mid-summer while crews built a pedestrian underpass at Brig Road. That work finished in July. Repaving of nearly three miles started September 21, covering the stretch from Farragut's traffic circle to the top of the hill above Bayview.
ITD's October 1 update said the project was expected to finish by late October. It also said that after the October 5 to 6 traffic-circle closure, at least one lane would stay open, though drivers should still expect delays and shifting traffic patterns. Crews have been scheduled for daylight hours, generally 6 a.m. to dusk on weekdays, with some Saturday work possible. Check Idaho 511 before heading to the Bayview parade.
Farragut itself has switched to its off-season setup. Under its Fall 2026 update, the visitor center is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the Museum at the Brig is closed until Memorial Day weekend 2027. Waldron campground is still open with vault toilets, but site water is off and the flush restrooms are closed for the season. The park's page lists cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sledding as winter activities. It also notes that the central entrance will shift to Brig Road over the next several years.
After Halloween, the Athol Library's calendar includes a family Harvest Party on Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to noon.
Here at Dream Homes Idaho, we keep calendars like this one for the north Kootenai towns we work in. Seasonal dates and road updates shape everyday life here. If you'd like help understanding how Athol's corridor works through the seasons, Lea Williams is happy to talk it through. Find Your Idaho Dream Home.
