Newquay wants businesses to get spooky for the Zombie Crawl

Fistral might be the reason people first come to Newquay, but every October it is the pirates, ghouls and stilt-walking skeletons on Fore Street that pull the biggest crowd. Now the team behind the town’s Halloween takeover wants local businesses to help make this year’s the biggest yet.

Spooky Newquay returns on 24 October

Newquay BID has confirmed Spooky Newquay and the Zombie Crawl will be back on Saturday 24 October 2026. What began as a Halloween parade has grown into one of Cornwall’s biggest family events, drawing locals and holidaymakers alike and, according to the BID, increasingly giving families a reason to build their October half-term trip around Newquay.

It is free for families to attend, and the BID says the event now pulls in national press coverage and is becoming known as one of the major Halloween events in Cornwall, with ambitions to grow it into one of the best-known family Halloween events in the UK. Beyond the footfall on the day itself, organisers point to it as a showcase for what the town has to offer outside the summer season.

Can your business host a spooky workshop?

Ahead of the Zombie Crawl itself, which starts at 3pm and runs to around 4.30pm, the BID is building a Spooky Workshop Trail running from 11am to 2pm. Businesses with space are being asked to host activities such as pumpkin carving, wound-effect make-up workshops, face painting, costume and signage making, or banner making.

Organisers are particularly keen to hear from businesses between Cliff Road and Fore Street, so the trail can spread across the town rather than bunching in one spot. Anyone who signs up gets included on the Spooky Newquay trail map, directing families to their door and building footfall before the main parade even starts.

Got a spooky offer or event of your own?

The call is not just for workshop hosts. Newquay BID wants to hear from any business doing something during Spooky Newquay half-term week, which runs from 24 to 31 October. That could be a family offer, a Halloween event, a spooky menu, an activity, a discount, or, in the BID’s words, “something completely bonkers”.

The thinking is straightforward: the more businesses that take part, the bigger the overall experience becomes, and the more reason people have to visit, stay, shop, eat and drink in the town across the whole of half-term.

How to get involved

Businesses wanting to host a workshop, submit an offer or event, or do both, can register through Newquay BID’s short sign-up form.

The key dates for the diary: the Spooky Workshop Trail runs from 11am to 2pm, with the Zombie Crawl itself setting off at 3pm and finishing at around 4.30pm, all on Saturday 24 October. As Newquay BID puts it, this year the aim is simple. To Hell and beyond.

📷Credit: Mike Searle