Campgrounds are gathering pumpkins, candy, and decorations to gear up for likely record numbers of families who will be heading to Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts this fall. Already, fall bookings are up 52 percent over last year, which was a record year. That’s according to a spokesman for the Jellystone camp-resorts, which is the second largest chain of franchised campgrounds in the United States.

Over the years, the fall season has grown more and more popular, making the parks expand into five weekends of Halloween-themed activities, said Trent Hershenson, Vice President of Marketing in Ohio.

“Summer is our peak season…followed closely by fall,” he said. “The most popular is trick or treating, costume contests, and people love decorating their RVs, cabins, and golf carts.”

These activities, along with pumpkin carving, haunted laser tag, and caramel apples, are some of what’s offered at the 75 locations across this country and Canada.
A family favorite activity is the magical pumpkin patch, Hershenson said.

“Children get a pumpkin seed and a special spell to make it magical and plant the pumpkin seed,” he said. “Then, in a matter of a few hours, all the seeds have grown into life-size pumpkins. Who doesn’t love a little bit of magic and getting a full-size pumpkin to decorate, paint, or carve to take home with you?”

Hershenson emphasized that each of the company’s franchised parks offers its own variety of activities, such as entertainment with Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, and other characters. So, campers should check JellyStonePark.com to see what’s offered at the park they will be visiting.

“For older kids, more and more locations are starting to build things with scares like haunted trails, haunted house wagon rides, and zombie laser tag or escape rooms for teens and tweens,” Hershenson said. “Halloween is just big for us in general. Individual operators decide which activities to have.”