Nightmare on Auburn fall festival to return for second year

UTICA — Nightmare on Auburn will return for a second year from noon to 8 p.m. Oct. 5 in downtown Utica.

Downtown Utica will be closed for pedestrian-only access and feature a beer tent, vendors lining the street, a live music stage and family-friendly Halloween activities.

There will be trick-or-treating downtown, a family fun zone, cider and doughnuts, crafters, costume contests for people and pets, Michigan craft beer, and more.

The main stage will feature Halloween bands including Creepy Clyde and a headline performance from The 3-D Invisibles.

The family activities including trick-or-treating will take place from noon to 3 p.m. Some of the attractions will include crafts for kids, photo booths and creepy character appearances.

“Nightmare on Auburn — A Utica Fall Festival began as an idea between the city and Connect Macomb to create a fun, autumn event in downtown Utica,” Utica Mayor Gus Calandrino said. “We held our inaugural Nightmare on Auburn last year. We were pleasantly surprised by the huge turnout. We expect this year to be even better.

“This year, we’ve added some incredible bands who will be providing music all day long. Creepy Clyde is a unique performer who will thrill kids and adults alike. The 3-D Invisibles are a legendary band, which has been performing in Detroit since the 1980s. Their songs are all about the classic monsters that many of us grew up watching on Saturday afternoon television. They are making a special and rare appearance in Macomb County. You won’t want to miss this.”

According to the 3-D Invisibles Facebook page, the band is “a Frankenstein-like fusion of early punk rock, Famous Monsters magazine, 60s AM pop, 50s sci-fi and EC comics.”

The Nighmare on Auburn schedule will begin with trick-or-treating downtown from noon to 3 p.m. Live music will be going on from 2 to 8 p.m., with Creepy Clyde taking the stage at 2 p.m. and the 3-D Invisibles taking the stage at 7 p.m. The costume contest will begin at 6:30 p.m.

“Nightmare on Auburn is the perfect way to begin the scary season,” Calandrino said.

Tom Whittaker, the director of operations at Connect Macomb, said organizers are thrilled to bring the Nightmare on Auburn festival back to downtown Utica.

“Our first year was a risk, and even with not the best weather we estimated 3,000 to 4,000 guests visited at some point during the event. We learned a lot in year one and expect year two to be even better,” he said.

Attractions he highlighted included the costume contests.

“New this year we’ve added two costume contests, one for pets and another for people who want to show off their look for spooky season. Nightmare on Auburn is the official kick off to ‘spooky season’ in Macomb County and we hope you bring the whole family to join us,” he said.