A Free October Afternoon at Stewart Creek
For families in The Colony who have been watching the calendar since summer, the date is finally close: Family Fright Fest returns to Stewart Creek Park on Saturday, October 24, 2026, running from 3 to 7 p.m. at 3700 Sparks Road. The event has become one of the more reliably low-key, high-participation items on the city’s fall lineup — the kind of afternoon that fills a neighborhood group chat with photos of kids in costume rather than adults comparing parking complaints.
Admission is structured simply: free for park annual pass holders, and $15 per vehicle for everyone else. That per-vehicle pricing tends to work in larger families’ favor, since a minivan full of pirates and witches costs the same as a couple making the trip on their own. The flat rate also means there’s no pressure to move through the event quickly to justify a per-person ticket cost.
What’s Actually on the Schedule
The programming at Family Fright Fest is deliberately accessible rather than frightening in any serious sense. Hay rides will run through the event window, giving younger kids the kind of slow, bumpy, completely beloved experience that no app has yet managed to replicate. Trick-or-treating happens at dedicated booths spread through the site, which keeps the candy-gathering structured and manageable even when attendance is high.
Beyond the hay rides and trick-or-treating, the afternoon includes games and crafts — the kind of stations where a six-year-old can spend forty-five minutes making something that will live on the refrigerator until February. The mix of activities is designed to stretch the visit across the full four-hour window without requiring families to arrive at a specific moment to catch a single headlining act.
Stewart Creek Park as the Setting
Stewart Creek Park is doing real work here as a venue. The park sits along the western edge of The Colony’s developed green space network, and its layout accommodates the kind of spread-out, station-to-station event format that Family Fright Fest uses. Families who visit the park regularly through the year will find it transformed for the afternoon — familiar ground dressed up for October in a way that feels like a reward for the people who use the space the rest of the year.
The park annual pass connection is worth noting for residents who haven’t yet thought about whether a pass makes sense for their household. If a family attends Family Fright Fest plus a handful of other pass-required events or facilities through the year, the math tends to shift in the pass’s favor. For those without one, the $15 vehicle rate at this event remains a reasonable entry point.
How Family Fright Fest Fits the Fall
The Colony’s October is genuinely busy this year. The same weekend that Family Fright Fest runs, the Great Indian Diwali Festival of Lights is scheduled for the following day, October 25, over at Grandscape — a free event that runs noon to 9 p.m. The two events don’t overlap, which means a family with the energy for it could make a full weekend of community programming without leaving The Colony city limits.
Earlier in the month, Barktoberfest at The Shacks Dining and Dog Park on October 17 offers a dog-friendly market day. And the Citywide Fall Cleanup runs that same morning, October 17, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Hawaiian Waters Waterpark parking lot, pairing nicely for households who want to spend the early hours doing something practical before an afternoon of browsing local makers.
Family Fright Fest lands at the end of that stretch, close enough to Halloween itself — October 31 — that costumes worn on the 24th still feel current rather than premature. For families with children who want to debut a costume before the actual holiday, the event functions as a proper dress rehearsal in front of a crowd that will respond with appropriate enthusiasm.
A Note for Annual Pass Holders
If you hold a park annual pass and haven’t yet circled October 24 on whatever calendar system your household runs on, this is a reasonable moment to do that. The free admission benefit is one of the more concrete perks attached to the pass, and Family Fright Fest is exactly the type of event the benefit was designed for — a multi-hour, multi-activity afternoon that would otherwise cost a flat fee at the gate.
For those coming without a pass, the $15 per vehicle entry is collected at the park, so there’s no advance ticketing required. Arriving in the first hour or two of the 3 to 7 p.m. window will give families the most time to work through hay rides, booths, and craft stations before the light drops and younger kids start flagging.
Stewart Creek Park. October 24. Three o’clock. The Colony has done this before, and it tends to deliver.
