St. Helens, Oregon, where Disney Channel filmed Halloweentown, held its Spirit of Halloweentown festival through November 1, and a fifth Halloweentown movie is in early development at Disney, TheWrap reported on October 22. The downtown plaza was free, and the ticketed attractions needed an Access Pass.
Halloweentown 5 Is in Early Development
The fifth movie is being developed for Disney Channel and Disney+, 20 years after Return to Halloweentown, the fourth film. Lily Houghton and Ryan Koehn are writing the script, based on characters created by Paul Bernbaum, who wrote the 1998 original, TheWrap reported. It is unclear whether Kimberly J. Brown, who played Marnie Piper in the first three films, or Sara Paxton, who took over the role in 2006’s Return to Halloweentown, will return. All of the Halloweentown films stream on Disney+, where the franchise has logged 160 million hours worldwide, according to TheWrap.
Who Was at the Halloweentown Cast Reunion?
J. Paul Zimmerman, who played Dylan Piper, Emily Roeske, who played Sophie Piper, and Phillip Van Dyke, who played Luke the goblin, were at the festival for the weekend of October 17 and 18. Van Dyke also voiced Arnold in the second and third seasons of Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold! My kids’ Halloween movies guide has where the other Halloween classics stream.
Both days, Zimmerman and Roeske had photo ops at noon, 3 p.m., and 5:30 p.m., each $85 plus fees, or $98.23 in total, sold online only. The ticket site listed no photo op with Van Dyke.
Judith Hoag, who played Gwen Cromwell Piper and was April O’Neil in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was at the festival October 24 and 25, with her own photo op at the same price. Photo ops aren’t part of the Access Pass. Hoag was also booked for a Halloweentown panel with Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz at Creep It Real OC in Santa Ana in September.
Is Spirit of Halloweentown Free?
Walking the downtown plaza, the street vendors, and the food area cost nothing. The courthouse plaza at 275 Strand Street is the one seen on screen, and it was home to Jack, the festival’s giant jack-o’-lantern. The Pumpkin Lighting there ran from 8:30 to 9 p.m. every festival night.
The ticketed attractions needed an Access Pass, which online was $40 plus a $9.09 service fee for ages 13 and up and $20 plus an $8.87 fee for kids 6 to 12, with higher prices at the box office. Children 5 and under got in free. A Haunted House only ticket was $15 plus a $3.08 fee. The festival said the pass didn’t guarantee a spot in every attraction on busy days.
Things to Do at Spirit of Halloweentown
The Access Pass covered:
- The Haunted House, which had no live monsters, so it worked for kids.
- The Masonic Building attractions, including the Alien Exhibit, the Alien Bar, and animals from Brad’s World Reptiles.
- The Boo Bash Pavilion, with games, covered seating, live entertainment, and cocktails and craft beer for adults.
- The Harvest Games Zone, with a hay maze and pumpkin bowling.
- The filming location tour trolley, which ran from 11 a.m. until dark.
- A free digital photo with Jack the Pumpkin.
Around town, each day’s schedule added stage shows, roaming performers until 4:30 p.m., an on-stage costume contest from 3 to 4 p.m., and the Outrageous Fortune pirate encampment, with cannon demos at 1 and 5 p.m.
St. Helens was also a Twilight filming location, and two stops were for those fans. Small-group tours inside the Swan House, Bella’s house in the first film, ran on October 10 and 11 and October 17 and 18, at $20. A free Twilight walking tour left from the Columbia Theater every Saturday and Sunday of the festival.
On the water, the Haunted Harbor cruise, a $25, 30-minute jetboat ride with ghost stories out to Warrior Rock Lighthouse, made its last trips on October 24 and 25.
Spirit of Halloweentown 2026 Dates and Hours
The festival ran on select days from September 26 through November 1, 2026, and its last two days, Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1, ran from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a costume contest on stage from 3 to 4 p.m. and the pumpkin lighting at 8:30 p.m. The festival’s site hadn’t posted 2027 dates as of November 3.
How Far Is Halloweentown From Portland?
St. Helens is about 30 miles northwest of Portland, a drive of about 40 minutes, and Portland International Airport is 35 miles away. Parking was tight because of street closures, so the festival ran an official lot at $25 per vehicle online or $30 on site, and no shuttle was needed this year. The festival also warned that Uber and Lyft drivers are scarce in St. Helens and that visitors have been stranded.
St. Helens has two hotels, and the festival pointed overflow guests to Longview, Washington, a 35-minute drive across the Lewis and Clark Bridge.
Who Runs Spirit of Halloweentown?
Treadway Events & Entertainment produces the festival for the city of St. Helens. Treadway took over as the city’s event contractor in 2024, after years under E2C Corp., according to a Country Media report that fall.
Treadway is also the company behind Cinema of Horrors, which had its 10th season in 2026 inside a former movie theater at Three Rivers Mall in Kelso, Washington. The Haunted Attraction Association certified it as a 2026 Top Haunt at the Gold level. One ticket covered all four of its haunted houses, from $29.99 plus a $5.42 fee.
Cinema of Horrors was also open October 30 and 31 and November 1, the festival’s last weekend.
The city pays for the festival out of its tourism fund, and in September, KPTV reported that the city had budgeted less for that fund than Treadway expected, leaving a $350,000 gap in the money for events including Spirit of Halloweentown and Holiday in the Plaza. The city council closed it with a $250,000 transfer from its contingency fund and a $100,000 loan from its community development fund. Bobbie Crousser, who owns Bobbie’s Cuts Plus near the plaza, told KPTV, “The whole event, I would say is right at 80% of my gift shop revenue throughout the year.”
More Halloween in the Pacific Northwest
- Cinema of Horrors in Kelso opened two new haunts for its 10th season, Bloodstone Gulch and Bunker 13.
- Wild Waves Fright Fest in Federal Way, Washington, ran its final season, Fridays through Sundays until November 1, before the park’s permanent closing.
- From the archive, my 2019 Spirit of Halloweentown story covers the year Twilight’s Peter Facinelli lit the pumpkin.
- For haunts across the country, my list of when haunted houses open in 2026 is sorted by opening date.
Last updated: November 3, 2026.
