Halloween Fest Brings Small-Town Fun To Southwest RivCo Families

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — The annual Halloween event at Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium will look much different this year with its new family-friendly Halloween Festival and Marketplace.

The three-day event runs Oct. 28 through Oct. 30 and entrance is free as are all shows and performances within the event. Still, there is a $20 parking fee. Inside, food and adult beverages are available for purchase and all midway events and games for the Halloween Festival are accessible through "a la carte" ticket or wristband sales.

If you want to visit a haunted house, this is not the event you are looking for. Gone are the haunted mazes and creepy clowns from the Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium's Field of Screams from previous years.

In its place, you'll find midway attractions, games, live local entertainment and performances by high school cheer and dance teams. Both Storm Events and its new partner, SHF&M Events, are aiming to create a safe in-person experience for all over Halloween weekend, event organizers told Patch.

The festival will include 10 major amusement rides, midway games, inflatables, a zombie gel-blaster experience and a pumpkin patch with decorating activities.

There will also be safe trick-or-treating for youngsters ages 12 and under in the vendor marketplace daily, and a Kids' Kostume Kontest at 4:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, according to SHF&M Event Producer Jonathan Piumelli.

The first prize each day is a pair of VIP wristbands, valid for all attractions with no time restrictions.

The free weekend entertainment includes a stage where talented high schoolers from Elsinore High School and Temescal Canyon High School will showcase cheer and dance teams beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday. World-famous ventriloquist Kevin Johnson of "America's Got Talent" fame will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sunday, guests will be treated to folk dancing and a kids sing-along, followed by local sensation, Anthony The Magic, who will cap off the festivities with illusions.

Guests can shop the large retail marketplace for one-of-a-kind bargains with custom engraved jewelry, vintage band t-shirts, and boutique handmade clothing.

All weekend, food trucks will serve up street tacos, shrimp ceviche, chicken n' waffle cones, gourmet barbecue and much more. The stadium's Diamond Taproom will host a beer garden featuring draught pours for guests 21 and up.

Why Silence The Field Of Screams?

The traditional Lake Elsinore Storm Field of Screams haunted maze format was first delayed during the coronavirus pandemic and later shuttered following the conviction of both a former haunt actor and a producer of that event earlier this year.

Piumelli, who was not affiliated with the Field of Screams, broached the idea of a family-friendly Halloween reboot with Storm Events General Manager Mark Beskid.

"We wanted to do something along the lines of a small-town fair, trying to bring back live events after coronavirus," Piumelli said.

The family fair idea complimented the path that Storm Stadium wanted to take after the Field of Screams, according to Beskid.

"The differences between this festival event and our old Haunted Stadium event are night and day," Beskid told Patch. "There is absolutely no haunt aspect to the festival, at least for this year."