September to mid-October 2026

Maumee Bay State Park sits along Lake Erie’s shore. Entrance to Ohio State Parks is free and various areas are available for public use. Maumee Bay’s day use facilities include two beach areas, a Nature Center, disc golf course, trails, and a convention-sized lodge.

The campground area has green spaces, natural meadows, and several small ponds, along with camping amenities. Paved trails crisscross the park providing opportunities for biking or strolling near the lake. Sunrises and sunsets can be dramatic. After a year of travel, being here is a lovely break.

This was our fourth year to camp host here. This time, we opted to stay an extra two weeks, till mid-October, in order to enjoy Maumee Bay’s Halloween events.

September is a month of seasonal transition in northern Ohio. Temperatures start to level out and the scenery changes almost daily. Fields of goldenrod shift from bright yellow to buff. Purple asters take over and bridge the gap as the trees begin their autumn show.

Birds migrating in spring and fall make the park a favorite for bird watchers. I watched these swans daily until late September. Then one day, poof. They’d packed up and headed to warmer waters for the winter.

Each month has a different team of 12-15 volunteer camphosts. We have assigned tasks, and in return, we are able to camp for free. Hosts are assigned a loop, or loops, of campsites to monitor and clean. We also help with events and activities around the campground. We’ve made good friends among the volunteers and staff, and are happy to see many of the same faces each year. It’s fun to get back together and catch up. They make volunteering here like a homecoming.

September has one special event: Enchanted Forest Weekend. It’s a relatively new event for the park, but it’s doing well. Volunteer event planners work hard to come up with activities and crafts that are nature and fairy themed. The kids dress up in their best fairy costumes for story time. Even volunteers get into the act. Being a good sport is an unwritten part of our volunteer position description.

As camp hosts, we help with refreshment sales. It’s the only time during the year that we’re tempted to buy and consume way too many donuts. All things in moderation, as they say.

October’s big event is the Halloween Camp Out. It’s very popular with the campers. Reservations for the more than 250 campsites sell out six months in advance. The weekend is chock-a-block full of activities: a scavenger hunt, costume contest, spooky crafts, a Halloween parade, decorated campsites, a dance party, and most popular of all – Saturday night trick or treat in the campground. When we asked about numbers for the trick or treat hour, we were advised to have enough treats for 300 children. We began to realize how busy this event would be.

Camp hosts are asked to decorate the entrance to their assigned loop. We take care of two loops, so we decorated both end caps. We came up with ideas that we put together with components from our fellow hosts, the Dollar Store, Walmart, and Amazon.

Our first attempt at a dancing ghost circle was terrific. However, it fell victim to high winds from the lake; on its first night it blew apart.

So, we opted for line dancing ghosts and tucked the display closer to the woods. We also used fishline to anchor the ghosts to keep them in line. The ghosts did dance; they just didn’t blow apart. Battery-operated orange glow lights made the campfire look pretty real at night.

Our second display is pictured below. A mini pop-up tent, which we use for an outdoor shower enclosure, became an outhouse. The picture tells the story. We had a lot of fun putting this one together. John especially liked that the one skeleton thinks the situation is funny.

The campers also decorated their sites. There were very clever displays that represented a lot of planning. This bistro vignette was well done.

This pirate-in-a-barrel was actually a working fountain. The ticket booth was another element of this sideshow display.

Blow-up decorations have become a very big thing. Seriously big…look at the size of the truck.

The costume contest was also fun. John was drafted as a judge. Such an important role!

We even decorated our golf cart.

Congratulations are in order for the Friends of Maumee Bay volunteers who plan and execute these great events. We had a blast with our fellow volunteers and the campers. We didn’t have 300 trick or treaters, but the number was impressive.

So the skeletons and decor have been put in the campground’s storage area till next fall. And already we are wondering, how can we top this year’s displays? And what about our costumes? Things to ponder while heading down the road.