St. Helens, the town 30 miles northwest of Portland where the 1998 Disney Channel movie Halloweentown was filmed, becomes a citywide Halloween party every October. Actors from the movie show up. Haunted houses, a vendor village, and oddities museum fill the town, and several scenes are restaged for photo ops. It's great. Most impressive, perhaps, is the replica of the huge jack-o'-lantern from the movie-which is ceremoniously lit each night. It's an all-day affair, but staged events turn up the block-party feel.
Along the way, crawlers can sip and snack on ghastly specials like 1 FREE Spooky Shot (Scooby Snack) + Witches Brew at Beer Baron, Blood Red Sangria, Dead Man Tostones and Vomiting Pumpkin with Avocado and Chips at El Coqui, Frankenstein Fuel at La Rosa, Grave Robber + Brain Joose at Belly Left Coast, and Zombie Venom Casamigos Rita with Severed Finger Fries at Ausiello's.