With names like “Fall-o-ween” or “Boo at the Zoo,” the events offer a chance to celebrate Halloween without all the candy — and in greater proximity to natureEnormous warty pumpkins. Carnivorous plants. Immersive arachnid displays. Slithering snakes and fluttering bats. And illuminated displays of hundreds, or thousands, of ornately carved jack-o’-lanterns.
“There’s no trick-or-treating. And we don’t offer candy,” she says, adding that that’s a relief for many parents. An immersive display of arachnids in the Cool Critters building “gives kids a chance to learn about something that seems scary but might not be so scary in real life,” says Martin.And at the zoo, which is also an accredited botanical garden, a “Wildlife Explorers Basecamp” has all kinds of bugs, and bee and ant colonies. Elsewhere, horticulturists are on hand to answer questions about seemingly spooky plants like strangle-vines and vampire dragon orchids.