With Halloween weekend quickly approaching, many cities across the country are gearing up for far more than trick-or-treaters. Fall festivals and local haunted attractions help bring in tourists and support the economies of cities and towns across the United States. One city that uses the allure of a good ghost story and an infamous history to attract tourists all year long is Salem, Mass.  Even though there are always witches and ghosts to be found in Salem, Halloween is certainly the best time of year to check out all the costumes and ghost tours in store for visitors and residents.

Many other cities also use local legends and lore to help attract thrill-seeking tourists.  Philadelphia is home to more than one famously haunted location that become very popular every October. The Lower Hudson Valley is steeped in its own Halloween history, particularly the home of the real Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. and all the fun that goes along with Washington Irving’s great tale. Sleepy Hollow and in the rest of the region use the legend to generate their fair share of tourism.  Wilmington, N.C. has found that their haunted sites, like the ghost ship created on the USS North Carolina or the enormous, Panic Attack Haunted Attraction, have helped make Wilmington the biggest Halloween destination spot in the state, attracting visitors from near and far. The Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Ky. has a dark history, but that has not stopped the local historical society from turning what was once a slowly deteriorating building into a popular tourist attraction.

Not all haunted Halloween attractions have to be strictly scary events, and most center around family fun with only a hint of thrill. The Sea Witch Halloween & Fiddler's Festival held annually in Rehoboth Beach, Del., for example, is a weekend filled with a wide range of events that attracts 175,000 visitors each year. Rather than binge on candy, celebrants in Bend, Ore. use the holiday as an opportunity to exercise with the Day of the Dead Cyclocross Festival, where cyclists trade in biking apparel for costumes. Kern County, Calif. has found that local farms can benefit hugely from agro-tourism by putting on fall festivals with hayrides, corn mazes, and freshly harvested produce.

Check out the Knowledge Network’s Halloween resources, and as always, feel free to contribute your own by submitting a document or asking a question.

• The Green Halloween House of Safety of Orono, Maine won ICMA’s 2002 Public Safety Program Excellence Award for creating a central location where children can enjoy Halloween in a safe environment.
• Halloween presents some local governments with situations they only face once a year. Salem, Mass. created a vendor application specifically for its Halloween activities
• This Ideas in Action article describes how police in Pocomoke City, Md. used the holiday to reach out to at-risk children.
• Finally, don’t forget to keep your communities safe this Halloween! Start with these Halloween safety tips from Melbourne, Fla.