"There really weren't any just free family events for Halloween that were all dedicated in one place," Marshall County Parks Director Britney Moss told the Tribune-Courier when she explained why Boo Bash exists. "You know, there would be lots of little ones all over the place, and so we saw an opportunity to serve our community in that way and have a safe space for kids to trick or treat."
The event takes one Saturday evening at Mike Miller County Park on US-68. On the county's 2026 calendar, the park's Halloween starts earlier than that. Today, Saturday, October 10, is the scheduled hay bale decorating day. Boo Bash itself follows fourteen days later, on October 24.
The Bales Go Up Today
The Marshall County Parks Department's calendar lists "Boo Bash - Hay Bale Decorating" at Mike Miller Park on October 10, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The main event follows on Saturday, October 24, from 5 to 10 p.m. at Mike Miller County Park, 596 US-68, Benton, according to the county's official event listing.
Last year the contest ran on a longer clock. The 2025 Tribune-Courier preview said decorating began September 29 and Boo Bash was set for October 25, so the bales stood for close to four weeks. That year 28 teams registered. Photos of each bale were scheduled to go up on the Mike Miller Park Facebook page on October 1, and the bale with the most likes by Boo Bash would win.
The 2026 calendar shows a shorter run, from the October 10 decorating day to the October 24 event. The county pages captured for this post don't say whether this year's winner will again be picked by Facebook likes or how many teams signed up. If you're following a particular bale, check the park's own channels for those details before you assume last year's format.
Those two weeks also account for most of the month. With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, the bales cover the first half of the season and Boo Bash starts the last week before the 31st.
What "One Place" Replaced
Moss described Boo Bash as a way to give the county a single free Halloween event in one location, replacing the scattered smaller ones. The start was rocky. The event began roughly four years before the 2025 preview, and the first year it was planned, rain canceled it. Since then, the Tribune-Courier reported, it has grown and kept drawing large numbers of people from across the community.
By 2025, putting Halloween in one place had come to mean a full lineup. The preview listed these activities for that year:
- Trunk-or-treat. Small businesses, organizations and families decorate a car trunk or a table and hand out candy.
- Touch a truck-or-treat. Tractors, large trucks, construction equipment and emergency vehicles come to the park, and their crews hand out candy.
- Candy dash. Moss compared it to an Easter egg hunt, with children racing to collect as much candy as they can.
- Boo Bash Dash. A one-mile walk or fun run, held that morning at 9:30 a.m. in 2025.
- Inflatables, a costume contest and food trucks.
Last year, everything on that list was free to attend. The only costs were the $5 Dash registration and whatever families bought from the food trucks.
"We are all about making or creating opportunities for families to make memories, and that is really what we strive to do in a lot of things that we do out here," Moss said.
What's Confirmed for October 24, and What Is Still Open
The county has posted some 2026 details and not others. Here is where things stand as of October 10.
Confirmed on county pages:
- Saturday, October 24, 2026, 5 to 10 p.m., at Mike Miller County Park, 596 US-68, Benton, KY 42025.
- The Boo Bash Dash returns as a Halloween costume fun run on a one-mile course that starts at the park's main baseball parking lot. Registration is $5 for both county residents and nonresidents, and everyone who signs up by the deadline gets a t-shirt, according to the Parks Department program page.
- Marshall County Parks is the organizer.
Not yet confirmed for 2026:
- The Dash start time. Last year's was 9:30 a.m.
- Whether the trunk-or-treat, touch a truck-or-treat, candy dash, costume contest, inflatables and food trucks return in the same form.
- Whether admission to the rest of the event stays free.
One change shows up in the published times. In 2025 the evening program was set to start at 5:30 p.m. This year's listing starts at 5 p.m. and runs until 10. If you're planning to bring a decorated trunk or a piece of equipment, the safest move is to confirm the current setup with Marshall County Parks before you load up.
The Library Fills In the Rest of October
Boo Bash collects the park's Halloween activity into one evening. Marshall County Public Library spreads its programs across the rest of the month, at the Benton and Hardin branches. Here is the library's posted schedule for 2026, in order:
- Monday, October 12: Zoinks! Mystery Maze, Benton Branch, 9:30 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. It is tagged for children, PreK, families and all ages.
- Saturday, October 17: Halloween Book Folding, Benton Branch, 1 to 3 p.m. This one is for adults, and registration is required.
- Saturday, October 24: Fall Carnival, Hardin Branch greenhouse, 11 a.m. to noon. It includes games, crafts, activities and snacks, and it moves indoors if the weather is bad.
- Saturday, October 31: Spooky Plants, Benton Branch, 10 to 11 a.m. This all-ages program is presented with the Marshall County Extension Office Master Gardeners and includes a Halloween craft and treats.
- Saturday, October 31: Pumpkin Decorating, Hardin Branch, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., listed for children, including elementary-age and PreK participants.
October 24 fits two events into one day. The Fall Carnival at Hardin ends at noon, and Boo Bash opens five hours later at Mike Miller Park. A family could go to both, with the afternoon in between.
The Mystery Maze is the only weekday program on the list, and its hours cover most of a Monday. The book folding session is the only one set aside for adults.
Halloween Night Has No Posted Hours Yet
Halloween is the least scheduled day on the calendar. As of this writing, the City of Benton's official calendar lists only an October 19 council meeting for October. It does not post trick-or-treat hours for October 31. Until the city posts them, no 2026 trick-or-treat time is settled.
Benton added a second organized event last year. Benton Partnership coordinated the city's first trunk-or-treat in 2025. Volunteers handed out candy from their trunks, the Benton Fire Department provided s'mores and traffic control, the Police Department gave out treats and Riverwoods Church supplied water, Marshall County Daily reported. Organizers said they hoped to expand it in later years. A 2026 date for that event does not appear on the city calendar yet.
That leaves the morning of October 31 to the library's pumpkin and Spooky Plants programs. Plans for that evening depend on announcements the city and Benton Partnership have not made yet.
After the Costumes Come Off
The fall calendar then shifts to downtown. The city lists Harvest Fest on Court Square for Saturday, November 7, from 3 to 5 p.m. Benton Partnership's Small Business Saturday follows on November 28.
This year Court Square is easy to picture taking a break. The Court Square Cruise-In took the summer off for the heat. Harvest Fest puts a scheduled event back on the square one week after Halloween. In the meantime, Mike Miller Park on US-68 holds the bales from October 10 and the one evening the county built to keep Halloween in one place.
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