July 17, 2025
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Fright Fest returns to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee for 25th season

By ANGELA SYKORA
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Paityn Czechowicz, 13, Molly Wichert and Gabriel Ross, both 14, all of Racine, Wis., are greeted by a masquerade ghoul during Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. (Candace H)

Fright Fest is now open at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee with more than 100 acres of Halloween-themed attractions and thrills around every creepy corner.

“Fright Fest is on scareoids!” said Katy Enrique, Six Flags communications manager.

“We are definitely the most immersive Halloween experience in the region. Every year we strive to ramp up the scares and keep the theming relevant and fresh in our haunted attractions,” she said.

The park has added two new haunted houses this season including Big Top Terror, which capitalizes on the fear of clowns, and Infestation, which promises to bug the daylights out of guests. All six haunted houses cost an additional fee.

New shows include The Uprising Parade: Nightly Call of the Dead and Dead Man’s Party.

The parade, which starts at 5:45 p.m., “is truly the signal for all hell breaking loose,” Enrique said.

“Guests love this parade because they can also get a glimpse of all of the different types of monsters, lumberjacks, vampires, zombies and other sinister characters that will be around the park and in the haunted attractions.”

Dead Man’s Party is a hip, edgy live song and dance show choreographed to coincide with the nighttime themes of Fright Fest, Enrique said. “We also have our Love at First Fright show that is very family friendly and upbeat with lighthearted Halloween themed songs.”

Media outlets got a behind-the-scenes look at Fright Fest before the attraction opened to the public.Fright Fest makeup artists were on-hand to demonstrate their scary skills.

“This is my creative outlet,” said Abbey Bobzin, of Kenosha, who has a background in theater.

Bobzin, who’s worked at Fright Fest for the past four seasons, said Six Flags has been a great place to hone her skills and learn from fellow artists. The park even brings in professional makeup and special effects artists from Hollywood to instruct them.

Preparing for each night of Fright Fest is hectic. The first stop for the 250 actors is the costume department, which is organized by attraction. Each creepy costume is labeled with the actor’s name so they can grab it quickly and head off to the makeup chair.

Erin Baxter, who is Six Flags’ wardrobe supervisor during the summer season and Fright Fest’s wardrobe coordinator, said they find costumes “anywhere and everywhere,” including thrift stores and the internet. “We also make a lot of costumes in-house.”

“The best part of the job is seeing the transformation, putting them in something that hopefully will scare the pants off people,” said Nicole Pitak, wardrobe technician.

Fright Fest is open weekends through October, including Columbus Day and Halloween night. There also is a bonus coaster weekend scheduled for Nov. 5 and 6.

Visit www.sixflags.com/greatamerica for ticket prices and information.