Imagine waking up on a cool fall day with Halloween on the horizon. You get into your car, pick up your friends, and drive to a limited-time Halloween event at an amusement park, ready to scream through haunted houses, mazes, and rides. But when you arrive, the sign that was supposed to read “ValleySCARE” now twinkles back at you in big welcoming letters, “Tricks and Treats.”

In autumn of 2022, ValleyFair, an amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, made the horrible decision to turn ValleySCARE into a family-friendly event called Tricks and Treats. An event that once featured five scare zones and scare actors that sent my 7-year-old brother home crying has been turned into a split theme park featuring a Land of Tricks and a Land of Treats, both of which would send my brother home sobbing of boredom. 

If ValleyFair’s justification for turning ValleySCARE into Tricks and Treats was to make it more inclusive and cater it to younger kids, it makes no sense. ValleySCARE was an event that began when the sun set, which meant that for the entire day—when the sun was up—the park was fundamentally Tricks and Treats, since there were no scarers around. In fact, on Saturdays and Sundays, the park held an event called The Great Pumpkin Fest, which included fun zones instead of scare zones, and kids were allowed to trick or treat in their costumes. How is that different from Tricks and Treats? 

Also, what is the point of extending Tricks and Treats later into the night if it means closing ValleySCARE? If anything, the children who enjoy Tricks and Treats go to bed at an earlier hour. Some may argue that staying open into until 8:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. makes it possible for more families to experience the event if the parents work during the day. However, as most people work Monday through Friday, Tricks and Treats taking place on Saturdays and Sundays negates the argument for workweek hours accessibility as the times do not conflict whatsoever. 

With ValleySCARE being permanently shut down, the next closest major scare park is Screamtown. Even so, for people who live around Edina High School, an eight mile drive to ValleySCARE has now turned into an 18 mile drive to Screamtown, which is in Chaska. 

Although it may be long, if you are looking for a haunted attraction (or are over the age of three), you should make the drive because you will not find the spooks—or even baseline entertainment—you are looking for at ValleyFair’s Tricks and Treats.