Scarecrow Walk & Haunted Canyon at Red Hills Desert Garden
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 – October 31, 2026 · All day
Red Hills Desert Garden
A Halloween Walk Through a Water-Conservation Garden
Each October, Red Hills Desert Garden fills with scarecrows built by residents, schools, and businesses from around Washington County, and the garden's slot canyon is dressed for Halloween. It runs for most of the month rather than a single night, it costs nothing to walk, and it is one of the few Halloween outings in the county that a three-year-old and a grandparent can do together without either of them having a bad time.
The setting is what separates it from every other Halloween event on the calendar. The scarecrows are staked among agave, yucca, and barrel cactus rather than corn stubble, and the paths run past a dinosaur trackway and fossil displays set into the ground. It is a Halloween walk through a desert landscape, which is a stranger and better thing than it sounds.
The Haunted Canyon
The "haunted canyon" of the name is the garden's constructed slot canyon — a walk-through replica of the narrow sandstone corridors that cut through the region, built at a scale children can manage. For October it is hung with skeletons, spiders, and webbing.
This is the part worth setting expectations about. It is decorated, not staffed: there are no actors, no jump scares, and nothing chasing anyone. Families who find Field of Screams too much for their children generally find this pitched about right, and it is the reason the walk works for the under-sevens.
How the Scarecrows Get There
The entries are not the garden's own work. Anyone can put one in, and the display is capped — the district accepts a set number of entries each year and splits them into two tracks: one for residents, families, and government partners, where displays carry a name plaque and no branding; another for businesses, nonprofits, and organizations, which may include promotional material.
Entrants choose between a single staked scarecrow, which garden staff install, and a wider multi-figure scene, which the entrant builds on site. Prizes are drawn at random rather than judged, which is a deliberate choice — it keeps a family's bedsheet ghost on equal footing with a business's professionally built display.
Every rule attached to an entry comes from the same place: this is a living collection first and a Halloween display second, and nothing hung on it is allowed to damage it. That constraint shapes what the display looks like more than any theme does.
Visiting
The garden sits on Red Hills Parkway above town, a few minutes from downtown. The canyon is the part parents ask about, and it is level and walk-through rather than a scramble — a child on foot or in a stroller goes through it the same way everyone else does.
Go after dark if you can. The displays are lit, the temperature drops into the range that makes an evening walk pleasant, and the canyon reads very differently at night than it does at four in the afternoon. Weekends close to Halloween are the busiest of the run; a weeknight earlier in the month gets you the same walk with room to stop and look.
Who It Suits
This one is for families with young children, for anyone who wants a Halloween outing that does not involve being frightened, and for visitors looking for something to do on an October evening that costs nothing. It pairs naturally with the rest of the county's free things to do, and with the Thunder Junction Spook-track-ular across town, which covers the same age range on a different set of nights.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Scarecrow Walk free?
Yes. Walking the garden and the decorated canyon costs nothing, and the garden does not charge admission at any time of year. There is a fee to enter a scarecrow in the display if you want to build one, and residents and families enter free under the garden's resident track.
Is the Haunted Canyon actually scary?
No. It is decorated rather than staffed — skeletons, spiders, and webbing strung through the garden's replica slot canyon, with no actors, no jump scares, and nothing that chases you. It is built for young children. If you want a genuine haunted attraction, Field of Screams at Staheli Family Farm is the one in this county.
How do I enter a scarecrow?
Entries go through the Washington County Water Conservancy District, which runs the garden. Registration opens well before October and closes as soon as the display fills, so it is an early-fall task rather than something you can decide on in mid-October. Residents and families enter under a track that costs nothing and carries a name plaque only; businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations enter under a separate paid track that allows promotional material.
How are the winners chosen?
By random drawing, not by judging. That is deliberate: it means a family's homemade entry has the same chance as a business's professionally built scene, which is a large part of why the display stays as varied as it does.
Are there rules about what a scarecrow can be made of?
Yes, and they exist because the garden is a living plant collection. Entries have to be built from durable, weatherproof materials and fastened down firmly enough to survive the wind along the Red Hills. Spider webbing cannot be attached to the plants. Carved pumpkins and other perishable materials are discouraged, and any audio has to stay quiet and be triggered by motion or a timer rather than running continuously.
Can a wheelchair or stroller get through the Haunted Canyon?
Yes — the canyon is a level walk-through rather than a scramble, so nobody has to skip the part of the display everyone comes for. That is unusual for an outdoor Halloween attraction, most of which route you over grass, gravel, or hay bales at some point.
Address
375 East Red Hills ParkwaySt. George, UT 84770