Halloween around Cedar Creek Lake starts eight days early this year. It opens with a Rocky Horror screening in Gun Barrel City on Friday, October 23, and it ends with three trunk-or-treats in three different places on Saturday, October 31, all running between 6 and 8:30 p.m. In between, almost every night has just one main event, so October 31 is the only night that makes you choose.
Here's how the nine days line up. The nights that have a lot of room come first, then Halloween night, where you'll have to choose.
Friday, October 23: The Grown-Up Opener
The first costume contest of the week happens in a movie theater. Cedar Creek Lake Pride is screening The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Hometown Cinemas Gun Barrel City, 215 Heritage Parkway, on Friday, October 23. Doors open at 8 p.m., a meet-and-greet runs until 9, and then the movie starts. The costume contest comes after the credits, and the evening wraps up at 11:55 p.m. Tickets cost $15 plus a $0.38 service fee. The event also doubles as a pet-food drive, so bring a bag along with your fishnets.
That's the only big Halloween event on the calendar that night. If you're going, you won't be choosing between it and anything else.
Saturday, October 24: The City's Night, and a Birthday Next Door
The next night belongs to Gun Barrel City. Gun Barrel City Haunt Fest takes over GBC Park at 301 Municipal Drive on Saturday, October 24. The city's event listing gives the hours as 6 to 8 p.m., and everything is free. You'll find rows of decorated vehicles handing out candy at the trunk-or-treat, a haunted hayride, a kids' area with games and bounce houses, and local food vendors. The trunk-or-treat sign-up form on the same listing gives a slightly longer window, 6 to 8:30 p.m., with setup at 4. If you're decorating a trunk, plan on the longer hours. The listing also tells drivers to park carefully because the ground may be wet, which is good advice for anyone in low-clearance shoes or pushing a stroller.
October 24 also has a second meaning this year. The Monitor reported in October 2025 that Cedar Creek Plowboys Club at 336 E. Cedar Creek Parkway in Seven Points was reopening as a restaurant and music hall under Greg and Caroline Figueroa. The opening was set for Friday, October 24, with a Louisiana-inspired menu, a dance floor and a live-music stage. The Plowboys events calendar now marks October 24, 2026, as "1 Year," with the Midtown Playboys on at 8 p.m. Haunt Fest wraps up at 8 and the anniversary show starts at 8, so the family hour and the grown-up hour end up back to back on the same Saturday.
The Weeknight Middle: A Trunk-or-Treat at a Dance Hall
Most Halloween calendars go quiet between the two Saturdays. This one doesn't. Plowboys hosts a Trunk or Treat with the Parrot Heads at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. That's sandwiched between the club's usual 5 p.m. Mug Club Happy Hour and 7 p.m. Hillbilly Karaoke. The calendar doesn't list a cost or an end time, so check with the club before you load up the car.
It's the only trunk-or-treat in the lake area set for a weeknight. If your kids want two rounds of candy before Halloween, Haunt Fest and this one are the pair to put on the calendar.
Friday, October 30: The Quiet Night at the Park
The night before Halloween is all about the water. Purtis Creek State Park is running Nighttime Glow Fishing from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, October 30. It meets at the day-use fishing pier, and Texas Parks and Wildlife provides loaner gear. Park admission is $5 for ages 13 and up, and it's free if you have an Annual Texas State Parks Pass.
It's an hour on a pier with glowing lines in the dark. You don't need a costume, and you won't be competing with anything else for that hour. After a week of candy and crowds, it's the calmest slot on the calendar.
Saturday, October 31: Everything at Once
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. All week, the hosts picked different nights. On Halloween they all picked the same one. By the organizers' own schedules, here's how the evening fills in hour by hour:
| Time | Event | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 to 5 p.m. | Skins & Skulls ranger program | Purtis Creek State Park, Amphitheater on the Camp Loop | Free with park admission, $5 for ages 13+ |
| 4 to 8 p.m. | Tool-O-Ween vendor market | The Eight at Tool Park, 515 N Tool Dr., Tool | Not listed |
| 6 to 8 p.m. | Tool-O-Ween trick-or-treating | The Eight at Tool Park | Not listed |
| 6 to 8 p.m. | Trunk or Treat – Prayer in the Park | Kemp City Park, 201 S Main St., Kemp | Not listed |
| 6 p.m. | Trunk setup begins | Purtis Creek State Park, Day Use Boat Ramp | Free for candy-givers |
| 7 to 8:30 p.m. | Trunk or Treat | Purtis Creek State Park, Day Use Boat Ramp | Free for trick-or-treaters |
| Evening | Halloween Dance Party with costume contest, DJ and balloon drop | Cedar Creek Plowboys, Seven Points | Not listed |
From 6 to 8 p.m., the Tool and Kemp events run at exactly the same time, and Purtis Creek starts in the middle of that window. Each of the three has something the others don't.
Tool-O-Ween leans on golf carts
Tool-O-Ween is in its second year. The Eight at Tool, Inc. puts it on with the City of Tool, and the organizers say more than 500 kids came through the park for the first one. This year, the evening includes games around the park, a golf-cart trunk-or-treat, a haunted hay maze, hay rides and a vendor market that opens two hours before trick-or-treating starts. The invitation covers everyone. The page encourages "kids, parents, grandparents, and everyone in between" to come in costume.
"Come for the candy. Stay for the fun." The Eight at Tool, Inc.
Because the vendor market opens at 4, a family can show up in Tool early and spread the evening out. The organizers post updates on the Tool-O-Ween Facebook page.
Kemp keeps it in the city park
In Kemp, River of Life Church lists Trunk or Treat – Prayer in the Park as an annual family event at Kemp City Park, 201 S Main St., from 6 to 8 p.m. The church will have a prayer tent set up alongside the trunks. It covers the same two hours as Tool-O-Ween, so families on the Kaufman County side of the lake have a closer option for the main trick-or-treating window.
Purtis Creek is the late shift
The state park starts later, and that makes it the one event on the night you can pair with another. The Purtis Creek Trunk or Treat runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Day Use Boat Ramp. Trick-or-treaters and anyone handing out candy get in free, and trunk setup starts at 6. The page asks for your "best (family-friendly) costume."
The same park runs Skins & Skulls earlier that afternoon, from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Amphitheater on the Camp Loop. It's a ranger-led look at Texas wildlife skins, skulls and shells. Two hours separate the end of the skull table and the start of the trunks. That's enough time for dinner at a picnic table and a costume change at the same park.
Plowboys takes the night shift
Once the trunks close, Plowboys has a Halloween Dance Party on its calendar with a costume contest, a DJ and a balloon drop. The club doesn't list a start time for it. With that, the dance hall that marked its first anniversary the Saturday before also closes out the week.
Laying Out Your Own Halloween Week
Put the whole week together and the calendar is mostly open. Here's one way to use it:
- Friday, Oct. 23: Rocky Horror at Hometown Cinemas for the adults, with a bag of pet food in hand.
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Haunt Fest at GBC Park from 6 to 8 p.m., then the Plowboys anniversary show at 8 for anyone who still has energy.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28: The Parrot Heads trunk-or-treat at Plowboys at 6 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 30: Glow fishing off the Purtis Creek pier from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Choose Tool or Kemp for 6 to 8 p.m., or spend the whole afternoon and evening at Purtis Creek, from Skins & Skulls at 4 to the trunks at 7.
The week holds five trunk-or-treats in all, and kids who follow that list will hit three of them before November 1. Only one of those nights asks you to choose between events, and that's October 31 between 6 and 8 p.m.
Every October, our team at Debbie French Real Estate Group loves watching the lake fill up with hayrides, golf carts and folks in costume, because these are the nights that make Cedar Creek Lake feel like a hometown. If you have a Halloween tradition at the lake that belongs on next year's calendar, tell us about it. And whenever you're curious what your own spot on the lake is worth, we're glad to help. Start Living the Lake Lifestyle and Request Your Free Home Valuation.
