Belle Fourche's Saturday Halloween Has a 45-Minute Handoff Between State Street and the Rec Center

This year Halloween falls on a Saturday, so both of Belle Fourche's big Halloween traditions land on the same free afternoon. The Center of the Nation Business Association parade steps off on State Street at 4:15 p.m. The Belle Fourche Rec Center opens its Halloween Spooktacular at 5:00 p.m. That's 45 minutes from step-off to open doors. In that window, families walk the route, go through costume judging and collect candy from the State Street shops. After that comes the drive across town to a gym where last year's line ran long.

The downtown businesses run the outdoor part of the evening, and the city Rec Center runs the indoor part. The Rec Center event is the one that has grown fastest, so most of Saturday's planning comes down to getting from one to the other.

Saturday, Oct. 31, in Order

Here's how the day lines up, based on the Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce events calendar:

1. 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.: Anke's Bakery Market and Bistro serves its Saturday hours in the newly expanded bistro.
2. 4:00 p.m.: Parade lineup in front of Pete's Clothing & Hodge Bootery, 500 State Street.
3. 4:15 p.m.: The parade steps off, followed by costume judging and trick-or-treating at State Street businesses.
4. 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.: The Halloween Spooktacular runs in the Rec Center gymnasium.
5. Evening: The Outlaw Bar holds a costume contest.

A small heads-up about the parade listing: it still says "Tuesday, October 31st." That looks like leftover wording from an older flyer, since Oct. 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday. The date and the 4:00 lineup are what count.

Two Blocks, Four Age Groups and a Bunny Suit

The State Street parade is short. The Belle Fourche Beacon's 2025 coverage put the route at two blocks and the crowd at several hundred kids, parents and family members in costume. The Beacon called the parade a community tradition for "well over a decade."

The starting point fits. Pete's Clothing & Hodge Bootery sits in the Flat Iron building at 500 State Street. The building went up in 1918 and has served as a post office, a grocery store and the Hitchin' Post. The store's history page says the building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hodge Bootery dates to 1946. Pete Krush started managing the Hitchin' Post there in 1965, and Lee and Sheila Hodge took over Pete's Clothing in 2019.

Krush used to lead the parade, and Lee Hodge has taken over that role in the last few years. In 2025, the Beacon reported, Hodge led the walk dressed in Pete's bunny costume as a tribute.

Most of the parade's time goes to judging, not walking. Kids who enter the costume contest line up at the end of the route. Last year each category averaged about 30 entrants. The Beacon reported two to four judges per group, drawn from CONBA members, community volunteers and a city council member. Here's the setup the 2026 listing describes:

The individual prizes come from the 2026 Chamber listing. The group amounts are what CONBA paid in 2025, as reported by the Beacon. If a judge names your child a winner, the listing says to go to the office at 7th and State, where the Beacon used to be, for a photo and the prize. Trick-or-treating at the State Street businesses starts after judging.

So a family with a winner has three stops before leaving downtown: the judging line, the prize office and the shops. All of that has to fit between the 4:15 step-off and the Rec Center's 5:00 opening, or it runs past it.

The Gym That Takes Seven Hours to Decorate

The Spooktacular has been growing. The Belle Fourche Beacon reported that the 2025 event drew more than 1,100 people. It had 34 candy booths run by businesses, school groups and nonprofits, 12 more than the year before. The Beacon also noted a long line to get in.

Booth growth is a good measure of the event's draw. Each booth is an organization deciding to spend Halloween night handing out candy in a gym. The 2025 list ran from the Belle Fourche Volunteer Fire Department and Belle Fourche Public Library to Runnings, American Colloid, Beards and Shears, Love That Shoppe, VFW Post 3312 and Dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Museum.

The Beacon said the Spooktacular has been a community staple for 25 years, and the setup is a real job. Rec Center staff spend two full days on it. Program coordinator Tessa Anderson-Voyles told the paper that the gym ceiling alone took seven hours. The maintenance crew hangs the wires, then staff hang the lights and tulle. Booths fill a dimly lit room and the gym, with games along the way and a costume contest open to everyone.

Anderson-Voyles also explained to the Beacon why the event works:

"It's just a great way to give an event to the community that's free, that is indoors on Halloween night."

She added that you never know what the weather will do. The parade is a short outdoor walk with a fixed start. The Spooktacular gives a crowd of more than a thousand a warm place to spend the rest of the evening. The 2025 event was free. The Rec Center is at 1111 National St., and the doors are listed for 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.

The Spooktacular runs two and a half hours, so families don't have to be in line right at 5:00. A family that finishes on State Street at 5:15 still has more than two hours of the gym.

Thursday and Wednesday Get the Week Started

The Saturday rush is the end of the week, not all of it. If you're reading this on publication day, the first event is tonight. Wareing Belle Fourche Ford CDJR, 30 5th Ave., holds a Trunk or Treat on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. It gives younger kids a costume run before the bigger Saturday crowds.

Out on Highway 212, Dinosaurs of the Hell Creek Museum is holding its second annual Haunted Museum Days from Oct. 28 to 31. The museum's events page promises nightly dinosaur presentations, ghost stories, a Jurassic costume contest, haunted museum tours and old movies shown on the side of the building. The Chamber's listing invites kids in costume to come trick-or-treating.

The museum is still new. KOTA reported that it opened in late May 2025 under paleontologist Walter Stein, owner of Paleo Adventures. Its hands-on exhibits include animatronics, a T. rex leg bone you can touch, a megalodon skeleton and the "Chicken From Hell" dinosaur skeleton. Its regular 2026 admission is $12 per person over age three, with regular hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The Haunted Museum events run at night, so check the museum's visit page or its events page for evening times and pricing before you drive out.

Wednesday through Saturday at the museum, Thursday at Wareing, and the parade and Spooktacular on Saturday add up to four days of events. A family with young kids could hit something on three of them without repeating.

After the Kids Are Down, and Before It All Starts

The adults get their own event. The Chamber lists a Halloween costume contest at the Outlaw Bar, 616 5th Ave. The listing gives no start time, so call ahead.

Saturday morning has a new option this year. Anke Townsdin's Anke's Bakery Market and Bistro cut the ribbon on Sept. 25 on its expansion into the former Belle Fourche Chamber office. The Beacon reported that the sit-down bistro serves breakfast sandwiches, paninis, market goods and German breads and pastries, with Saturday hours of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

CONBA moves straight on to the holidays after the parade. The Chamber's event program lists the Christmas Tree Lighting and Parade of Lights for November. Watch the Chamber's events page for the 2026 dates.

Falina is a Black Hills native, and knowing a town's calendar this well shapes how Black Hills Real Estate Pros markets homes across Belle Fourche, down to which listing photos show off a block on a Saturday afternoon. If you'd like to talk about what your home is worth this fall, request a free market valuation or schedule a consultation, and start living your vision.