What time does trick-or-treating start on Saturday? In Livingston County, the answer depends on which side of a municipal boundary you're standing on. Halloween lands on Saturday, October 31, and according to the Livingston Daily's 2026 list of trick-or-treating hours, seven municipalities have set a window. Twelve have not.
The posted windows also don't line up with each other. Some open at 5 p.m., some at 6, and one opens at "dusk." Put those next to Saturday's sunset and they become three different evenings: one that starts in full daylight, one that starts in the last half hour of light, and one that starts in the dark.
Saturday's sunset is the number that sorts the county
Timeanddate lists Howell's sunset on October 31, 2026 at 6:29 p.m. Here's how each posted window falls against that time:
- 5–7 p.m. windows spend their first 89 minutes in daylight and their last 31 minutes after sunset.
- 6–8 p.m. windows start 29 minutes before sunset, so most of the two hours happens after dark.
- Dusk–8 p.m. starts at roughly the 6:29 sunset and runs for about an hour and a half, almost all of it after dark.
The timing is unusual this year. NIST says daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 1. That makes Halloween the last evening of 2026 with a sunset this late on the clock. The next night, the same daylight ends about an hour earlier by the clock.
Who set what for October 31
These are the seven municipalities with designated hours, as reported by the Livingston Daily on October 13, 2026:
| Municipality | Designated hours | Starts relative to 6:29 p.m. sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Unadilla Township | 5–7 p.m. | 89 minutes before |
| Genoa Township | 6–8 p.m. | 29 minutes before |
| City of Howell | 6–8 p.m. | 29 minutes before |
| Hamburg Township | 6–8 p.m. | 29 minutes before |
| Fowlerville | 6–8 p.m. | 29 minutes before |
| Handy Township | 6–8 p.m. | 29 minutes before |
| Pinckney | Dusk–8 p.m. | At about sunset |
Five of the seven agree on 6–8 p.m., so the shared window covers a lot of ground. It includes Genoa Township between Brighton and Howell, the City of Howell, Hamburg Township to the southeast, and Fowlerville and Handy Township at the county's western edge.
Unadilla Township is the outlier at the early end. Its window opens a full hour before everyone else's and closes at 7 p.m., the time the 6–8 p.m. towns hit their halfway point. Pinckney sits next to Hamburg and Putnam and is the only municipality on the list that ties its start to the light instead of the clock.
The report says it wasn't immediately clear whether Hartland Township had set hours. If you live in Hartland, check the township directly before Saturday.
Twelve places, including Brighton, set no hours at all
The Livingston Daily list names twelve municipalities with no designated trick-or-treating hours:
- Brighton
- Brighton Township
- Marion Township
- Oceola Township
- Cohoctah Township
- Conway Township
- Howell Township
- Putnam Township
- Green Oak Township
- Tyrone Township
- Deerfield Township
- Iosco Township
That list includes much of the county's population, along with some of the boundaries where a set window and an open evening sit side by side. The City of Brighton sets no hours, and neither does Brighton Township. Genoa Township, right next door, sets 6–8 p.m. The City of Howell sets 6–8 p.m., while Howell Township, which surrounds it, sets nothing. Putnam Township wraps around the Village of Pinckney, which goes dusk to 8 p.m.
In the places without an official window, porch lights and households set the timing street by street. That's also why the township events below carry more weight than they would in a town with a clean 6–8 p.m. rule.
Two of the no-hours townships built their own events instead
Marion Township and Iosco Township are both on the no-hours list, and both scheduled their own evenings for Halloween weekend, October 30 and 31.
Marion Township goes Friday. Its trick-or-treating event runs Friday, October 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2877 West Coon Lake Road. According to the township's flyer, Fire Station #23 will be handing out treats. People handing out candy are invited to arrive at 5:15 p.m. to decorate tables, with hot dogs, cider and donuts provided. Because it runs the night before Halloween, Marion families can do the township event on Friday and still have Saturday open.
Iosco Township goes early Saturday. Trail and Treat runs Saturday, October 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Township Hall Park, 2050 Bradley Road. That's the same window as Unadilla Township, so it also starts in daylight and ends just after the 6:29 p.m. sunset.
For a family with young kids in Iosco, Trail and Treat wraps up at 7 p.m. That leaves time for neighborhood stops afterward, or for a drive to an adjacent community still inside its 6–8 p.m. window.
Most of October's trunk-or-treats around Brighton and Pinckney were scheduled between October 21 and October 28, so they'll be over by the time Halloween weekend arrives. Marion's Friday event and Iosco's Saturday event are the township-run options still on the calendar.
After the porch lights go off, the dark is the attraction
The 6:29 p.m. sunset works against trick-or-treating for little kids, and it works in favor of the county's best-known haunt. Slaughterhouse Adventure & Grand River Corn Maze is at 5781 W. Grand River Rd. in Fowlerville. Its site says the outdoor haunts open at dusk and lists the haunted corn maze and the Slaughterhouse at $20 each.
WHMI reported on October 15, 2026 that the attraction is celebrating 25 years. It runs Fridays and Saturdays through Halloween, so Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31, are its last two nights of the season. Haunt Director Ken Evans told WHMI, "We have a haunted corn maze, it usually takes 30 minutes to go through. We have a haunted house, two escape rooms and a 26-acre regular maze."
Evans also told WHMI the haunted corn maze is not for the faint of heart and suggested that children under 10 stick with the regular corn maze. He said they'd probably enjoy the haunted house too, since it is "more visual and entertaining."
Fowlerville trick-or-treating runs 6 to 8 p.m. A household with kids of different ages could cover the village streets during that window and then send the older kids or adults out to Grand River Road once the haunts are fully dark. With sunset at 6:29 p.m., the haunted corn maze is operating in full darkness by the time Fowlerville's window closes.
Saturday night, by start time
Here's the whole county sorted by the clock:
- 5:00 p.m. Unadilla Township trick-or-treating begins, and so does Iosco Township's Trail and Treat at Township Hall Park.
- 6:00 p.m. Genoa Township, the City of Howell, Hamburg Township, Fowlerville and Handy Township open their windows.
- 6:29 p.m. Sunset. Pinckney's dusk start falls around now, and outdoor haunts at Slaughterhouse Adventure open at dusk.
- 7:00 p.m. Unadilla's window and Iosco's event end.
- 8:00 p.m. Genoa, Howell, Hamburg, Fowlerville, Handy and Pinckney close out.
- 2:00 a.m. Sunday Daylight saving time ends and clocks go back one hour.
Brighton, Brighton Township, Green Oak, Howell Township, Putnam, Tyrone, Deerfield, Marion, Oceola, Cohoctah and Conway have no posted window, and Iosco's only posted time is its own Trail and Treat event. Hartland's status wasn't settled as of the Livingston Daily's October 13 report.
At Surline Real Estate, we keep track of where Livingston County's township lines fall because they decide more than Halloween hours. Taxes, utilities and the everyday rules a house comes with all change at those lines too. If you're curious how the side of the line you're on shows up in your home's value, get your instant home valuation and we'll walk you through the numbers.