‘Summerween’ and jack-o’-melons: How hardcore Halloween-ers jumpstart spooky season over the summer

It’s Friday the 13th, and a great time to explore how die-hard Halloween fans are getting their spook on well before October.

Last month, the 10/31 Consortium held its annual Black and Orange Bash, BOB for short, a halfway-to-Halloween gathering that gives revelers an excuse to channel their favorite holiday early. It’s also when the consortium announces the theme of this October’s Fifolet Halloween Festival, comprised of a series of festive and frightful events, including a zombie pub crawl, Halloween parade, costume ball, fun run and kids costume giveaway.

The 2025 theme is “What Lies Beneath the Wicked Waves,” says 10/31 Consortium founder Kelley Criscoe Stein.

“We’re looking for things that play on the sea as a dark realm,” Stein says. “It’ll be our 15th festival, and we’ve never done a sea theme. It’s a staple theme, so we’re really excited to do it.”

Think: scary mermaids and sirens, watery graves, half-man half-crab creatures, threatening Neptunes, and, of course, squids and sharks. These and other deep-sea frights will be front and center at the Fifolet Halloween Ball, where many attendees participate in an elaborate table decorating contest. Other aspects of the Fifolet Festival will also incorporate the theme. Stein expects to see creative interpretations at the Zombie Pub Crawl (dead pirate zombies, anyone?), and at the parade itself, where krewes often design their own spooktacular throws.

The Black and Orange Bash isn’t related to the recent phenomenon of “Summerween,” but Stein says she’s pleased to see anything that spreads Halloween enthusiasm beyond the confines of fall.

“We like the idea of Halloween as a lifestyle, not just a holiday,” she says.

Summerween went viral last summer, inspired by the Disney series Gravity Falls. TikTok influencers began advising viewers to mark the occasion on the summer solstice, carving jack-o’-melons with fresh summer watermelon and making Halloween crafts. Many also suggested cutting pumpkin faces out of sliced cheese for backyard burgers and mixing pitchers of Halloween cocktails. And, of course, it wouldn’t be Summerween without a slasher movie, preferably one situated at a summer camp.

Late summer is also an ideal time to start sourcing decorations, Stein says. From orange and purple lights to 12-foot skeletons, yard decorations usually make an appearance sometime after the Fourth of July, although this year’s uncertainty over tariffs could see shipments delayed.

Louisiana Nursery reports it’s unsure exactly when decorations will hit. Baton Rouge’s location of Spirit Halloween usually opens in mid-August, giving shoppers a little over two months to pick out choice items. 

Stein says she likes to hit up Party Time, along with Hobby Lobby, where she observes fall décor and Halloween trimmings currently lurking in the back. They’ll creep their way toward the front of the stores as the summer weeks go by, she adds.

Seasoned Halloween practitioners know that if you wait until October to shop, you’re probably out of luck. Christmas will have taken Halloween’s place. 

And if ever there was a year to get the jump on jack-o’-lanterns, this one is it. Stein says that the combination of LSU Football’s 2025 home game schedule and the fact that Halloween falls on a Friday means that 10/31 Consortium’s events will happen sooner than normal.

The three-day Fifolet Halloween Festival is scheduled for Oct. 16-19. Find more information here.