After three long years away from the Long Beach Convention Center, attending Midsummer Scream 2022 felt like coming home.
It was clearly something event organizers were hoping we would feel, with the “Welcome home, spooky kids!” banner they displayed at the bottom of the escalators as you walked out onto the vendor floor.
All I can say is…mission accomplished.
There is absolutely nothing like Midsummer Scream. You’re surrounded by people who love Halloween just as much as you. Every vendor booth is full of spooky treasures you want to take home. The Hall of Shadows gets better every year, as do the panels.
The only thing that could have made it better? Well…
Spending the weekend with all of these incredible content creators. I am beside myself still that we all made this happen.
We’ve been sharing our social media recaps like mad since last weekend, but here is my full Midsummer Scream 2022 experience.
Midsummer Scream 2022
This post is photo-heavy. For a quick recap, check out my Instagram Reel.
Midsummer Scream Vendors
One of the best additions to Midsummer Scream this year was four extra hours on Friday night where we could pick up our passes and shop! Once you get going with panels, it’s tough to get back down onto the vendor floor and do some solid wandering. I really enjoyed having extra time with nothing else happening.
Backstitch Bruja was a presenting sponsor of this year’s event (SO proud of you, Yvette!), and her booth was STUNNING.
I mean…if I didn’t already own two of those three cardigans and about five purses from here, this would have sold me. (You can see what I actually bought from her and others in this blog post.)
One thing I noticed was killer booth set-ups. People are really getting into making them pop, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. The Velvet Apparition booth was one of my favorites.
There was no way you couldn’t find something to love at The Halloween Shirt Company’s booth. It was so much fun seeing their items in person rather than just shopping on their website.
That Halloween Bro and Midge Munster shopping for killer artwork with Austin Pardun.
These blacklight posters from One Man Riet caught my eye for one simple reason: Eddie. He was EVERYWHERE, and there were zero complaints from me.
The Fiends was another booth with a great set-up. I loved their clever spooky take on summer camp.
Pumpkin guts appreciation picture.
Hall of Shadows
After three visits to Midsummer Scream, I can say…the Hall of Shadows is my absolute favorite part of Midsummer Scream. It is on the bottom floor of the convention center and takes up about one-third of the floor space. (The other two-thirds is the vendor floor.)
When you wander in, it feels like you’re walking into Halloween night. The lights are dimmed, and the people at CalHaunts always have an AMAZING set-up for you to walk through and enjoy to set the mood before you ever get to the mini haunts.
Drink in this gorgeous ambiance:
Just hanging out at my Halloween house!
Wonder if Mikey is home?
Another fave feature of mine is the ambiance set-up in the center of the Hall of Shadows. In past years, it’s been a massive pumpkin patch that is absolutely magical. This year it was a killer cemetery I could have wandered for hours.
The Hall of Shadows always includes a few vendors too, like Kara Walker Designs’ gooooorgeous pumpkins and headstones!
From inside a haunt! I think I did 5-6 of them this year…and I thoroughly enjoyed every single one! Mini haunts are my jam.
So are nostalgic Halloween games! This booth was at the very back of the Hall of Shadows, and it was the most delightful little bit of fun. I went through it twice, just to enjoy it.
Museum of Halloween
Each year, Midsummer Scream has a theme and 2022 was vintage Halloween…which included a museum FULL of Halloween decor and memorabilia. I genuinely wish I had taken more time to soak this in, and I hope the folks at Midsummer Scream bring this AND their art gallery back in 2023. Both were killer!
So tickled to see this original piece from Olivia Faust in the art gallery!
After Party
It makes for an extra long day, but one of the best-kept secrets of Midsummer Scream is the after-party. I went in 2019 and again this year…which was even better because LVCRFT DJed the party! I would have requested even more spooky tunes than they played, but we had a great time dancing and using up the last of our energy.
Panels
I made a monstrous list of panels I wanted to check out…and I barely made it to half of them. The weekend was SO busy! But here are the few I did check out.
Tricks ‘r Terrors: A History of Halloween in America
This panel with Ted Dougherty and Lisa Morton was filled with so many fun facts, from the history of Halloween to how haunts became…a thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this panel.
Spooky Music in Visual Media presented by LVCRFT
As a music lover, this was another one I was excited about. It was a bit more focused on how-to for industry people, but it was still a fascinating conversation to learn from.
Girl That’s Scary
Easily my favorite panel of the weekend. Jazz and Kat were HYSTERICAL! They recorded an episode for the podcast and talked about the horror movies that shaped them. A bunch of friends in our group attended this, and we even got a group photo with them post-panel.
Sights and Sounds
Just a few more random sights from the weekend!
The infamous black cats! It was good to see them again.
A very cool lobby photo op from Trick or Treat Studios.
This recording studio set-up from LVCRFT was really neat to wander through.
Did you attend Midsummer Scream 2022?
Let me know in the comments what your favorite thing is you saw or did over the course of the weekend!
And if you’re going, “Um…I didn’t know Halloween conventions were a thing!” then you need to check out this list to find one near you.
Until next year, Long Beach…
