Tickets are on sale now for the Chicago Botanic Garden's Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns, the Glencoe institution's signature fall event that sends families down a paved outdoor trail lit by more than 1,000 hand-carved, LED-illuminated pumpkins.
The event runs 15 nights across three weeks in October: Oct. 7–11, 14–18 and 21–25, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. each evening. It's the same expanded format the Garden adopted in 2025, its tenth year, after demand outgrew the original 10-night run.
New for 2026 is a 20-foot glowing inflatable sculpture called the Monarch Skull by artist Alyse Gamson. Inspired by the monarch butterfly, the piece anchors a trail that also features 75 giant pumpkins weighing 150 pounds each, costumed performers, live carving demonstrations and seasonal food and drinks including caramel apples, apple cider donuts and cocktails.
The carved pumpkin themes this year span Halloween movies, comic book icons, dragons, native Illinois wildlife, Día de los Muertos traditions, 150 years of Cubs baseball, bioluminescent wonders and fungi.
The Garden announced the event on X on Wednesday, Aug. 12, calling it a just-creepy-enough evening of Halloween fun for families.
What tickets cost
General public sales opened Tuesday, Aug. 11. Advance off-peak pricing: $24 for adult nonmembers, $17 for children ages 3–12, free for children 2 and under. Members pay $20 and $13 respectively. Off-peak windows are Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 7:45 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday through Sunday and early weeknight slots carry standard pricing.
Parking is free for members and $15 in advance for nonmembers ($25 on-site). VIP President's Circle All Access passes cost $35 each and allow entry on any night.
Reduced "Museums for All" pricing is available on Oct. 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22 for families receiving food assistance, with parking included.
A year-round anchor in Glencoe
The jack-o'-lantern trail is one of three major nighttime events the 385-acre Garden stages each year. Shimmering Summer runs through Sept. 20, and Lightscape, the winter light installation, opens Nov. 13 and continues through Jan. 3, 2027.
The fall season also marks the first full programming cycle under president and CEO Gretchen E. Baker, who took the helm March 16 after leading Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Baker, an Illinois native who spent 18 years at the Field Museum, said upon her December 2025 appointment that plants had been "braided into my entire career, from the Amazon rainforest to the landscape design studio to the dinosaur gallery."
The event runs rain or shine. Tickets and full details are available at chicagobotanic.org/halloween or by calling 847-835-5440.
