Long Beach, CA — Midsummer Scream, billed as the world’s largest Halloween and horror convention, is leaving its longtime Long Beach home. The event will move to the Anaheim Convention Center for its 2027 show on August 6 through 8, the organizers announced at this year’s sold-out convention, and it is reviving its holiday event, Season’s Screamings, in Long Beach in December.
The Move to Anaheim
Midsummer Scream will take over the Anaheim Convention Center on August 6 through 8, 2027. Organizers said the larger venue gives the event more room for its growing community of fans, haunters, vendors, artists, and celebrities. The convention has called the Long Beach Convention Center home since its 2016 debut, when it drew about 8,000 people in its first year.
“The amazing community of Halloween and horror fans continues to grow, and we’re excited to be able to grow with it,” said David Markland, the convention’s executive director and co-founder. “It’s bittersweet to leave a venue as amazing as the Long Beach Convention Center, but we look forward to all the new opportunities awaiting us in Anaheim.”
Here is our walk through this year’s event:
Season’s Screamings Comes Back in Long Beach
Midsummer Scream will not leave Long Beach behind entirely. The organizers also announced the return of Season’s Screamings, their holiday-horror event, which last ran at the Pasadena Convention Center several years ago. The revived show will take place at the Long Beach Convention Center on December 4 and 5, 2027, and will feature the Hall of Yuletide Spirits, spooky vendors, and other surprises. At the 2026 convention, the reveal came with a Santa Claus appearance on stage.
Here is our look back at a past Season’s Screamings:
A Record-Breaking 2026
The move follows Midsummer Scream’s biggest year yet. The 2026 convention was its fourth sellout and drew a record of more than 50,000 attendees across the weekend, with more than 350 vendors on the floor. The Hall of Shadows, the convention’s main attraction area, spanned nearly two indoor acres with attractions from Lionsgate Studios, Universal Studios Horror Unleashed, and independent creators.
The programming filled all three days. A CATHEDRAL listening party opened Friday evening, a standing-room-only 30th-anniversary Scream panel was hosted by Matthew Lillard in partnership with Paramount Scares, and Universal closed the weekend with its Halloween Horror Nights panel, where creative director John Murdy unveiled the 2026 Terror Tram and other Hollywood reveals. The floor also previewed the Southern California scare season with Knott’s Scary Farm, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
What Comes Next
Tickets for both Midsummer Scream and Season’s Screamings go on sale in early 2027. For more from this year’s convention, see our coverage of the Midsummer Scream 2026 Hall of Shadows, and our Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2026 guide rounds up the reveals Universal made at the closing panel.
