Malabar's two biggest Halloween events this year share one address. The Haunted Lair, a family-owned haunted house staffed by local high school volunteers, lists its address as 1850 Malabar Road and has set up on the baseball field at Malabar Community Park. On Saturday, October 24, the town's Fallfest fills the same park with a vendor fair, a hayride and a trunk-or-treat. Residents decorate their own vehicles for the trunk-or-treat. Malabar doesn't hire a big production for October. The town provides the field and a deputy, and neighbors supply nearly everything else.
Three October weekends remain, and Halloween lands on a Saturday. Here's how the month is organized and what a night out costs.
The haunt behind the backstop
According to The Haunted Lair's own site, it's a family-owned haunted house in Brevard County run by volunteers. Every volunteer is a local high school student, and the site says they join to earn volunteer hours or simply to have fun and make friends. So when a ghoul jumps out at you, it's probably a teenager logging community service hours.
The Lair also has a record of helping local causes. Its site says it has donated to and helped the Veterans Transitional Facility, the SPCA and Taylor For Teens, and states the group's outlook plainly:
"We believe in giving back to our community no matter what it takes."
That shows up at the door, too. Bring canned food for veterans or supplies for a pet cause the Lair calls "Isla's journey," and you get $2 off admission.
A guest review on The Scare Factor records a visit on October 19, 2019, so the Lair was running at least seven Halloweens ago. What's different this year is the location. Town staff told the council in September that the Lair was building its event space on the Malabar Community Park baseball field, which puts the haunt in the same park as Fallfest.
What a night costs
The Lair's prices run well below what a big commercial haunt charges, and the discounts are aimed at the people most likely to show up from around town.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| General admission | $20 per person |
| Military and first responders | $10 |
| Kids 7 to 12 | $10 |
| Kids 7 and under | Free |
| Donation discount | $2 off with canned food or pet supplies |
At those prices, two adults and a 10-year-old pay $50 before any donation discount. The site lists seven-year-olds in both the free tier and the $10 tier, so if your child is exactly seven, ask at the gate.
Three weekends left
The Lair is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in October, 7 to 11 p.m. Its site puts the season start at October 2, the first Friday of the month. As of today, October 12, these nights remain:
- Friday, October 16 through Sunday, October 18, 7 to 11 p.m.
- Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25, 7 to 11 p.m., including the Saturday of Fallfest
- Friday, October 30, 7 to 11 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, opening at 7 p.m. and staying open "until the last person leaves," as the Lair's site puts it
The 11 p.m. closing applies every other night. On Halloween, the line sets the closing time. That last Saturday is the night to arrive early if you want short waits, or late if you'd rather wait for the crowd to thin.
October 24 is the night everything happens at once
On Fallfest Saturday, the park runs two events back to back. The town's Fallfest page lists the event from 4 to 7 p.m. at Malabar Community Park, featuring a vendor fair, trunk-or-treat and hayride, with The Haunted Lair as special guest. Fallfest wraps up at 7 p.m., the same time the Lair opens for the night. Families can trade the candy line for the haunted house line without leaving the park.
Fallfest is also put together by residents. The trunk-or-treat only happens if neighbors register their cars, and the town's page invites people to go "spooky, silly, or spectacular" while they hand out candy. The vendor fair works the same way. The town's vendor sign-up form projects more than 1,000 attendees and promises food vendors, local businesses and children's activities. At a September council meeting, staff said the Kids Marketplace would bring 20 to 30 vendors on its own. That means a big share of the vendor fair will be children selling to other families.
The town calls Fallfest one of "Malabar's favorite community events" on its event page. Its biggest draws come from neighbors: cars decorated by residents, booths staffed by young vendors and a haunted house run by high school volunteers.
If you're tracking how other towns stage fall, it's a different model from Palm Bay's. There, four separate organizations each run their own festival. In Malabar, it's one park and one evening.
What the town handles
Malabar's part is smaller and more practical. When a council member asked about security for the haunted house, the town manager said the Lair brings its own security and a Brevard County Sheriff's deputy will be on site for Fallfest.
At an earlier September meeting, staff noted that the wayfinding sign in Malabar Community Park had been replaced with a metal blade sign. It's a small upgrade, but a useful one on an October night when a thousand people are walking around the park after dark.
The council also asked about age. According to the minutes of the September 21 meeting, a council member asked for a recommended age range. The town manager expected the group to adjust the experience for each audience but cautioned that young children may get scared. Those minutes give an October 1 opening date, while the Lair's own site says October 2. With the early weekends over, the difference no longer matters to anyone planning a visit.
Before you head over
The Lair's one firm piece of advice is about shoes. The site recommends closed-toe shoes because of "ant piles and some uneven terrain." Flip-flops and dark grass aren't a good mix.
A few more practical points:
- Address: 1850 Malabar Road, Malabar, for both the Lair and Fallfest
- Questions: the Lair lists 321-914-2125 and takes messages through its site
- Donations: bring canned food or pet supplies for the $2 discount
- Young kids: the town manager's caution suggests parents of small children may prefer Fallfest's 4 p.m. start to the 7 p.m. haunt
If the kids want more of Malabar outside after Halloween, the town's disc golf course and the trail system past Turkey Creek's boardwalk are both good places for cooler November weekends. More about the town is on our Malabar neighborhood page.
At Donell Knight II, we follow the details that make each Space Coast town feel like home, down to which ballfield the haunted house is on this year. If you own in Malabar and want to know how a park, a calendar or a local event like this affects your home's story when it's time to sell, let's connect.
