Following a record-breaking sellout weekend celebrating its 10th anniversary, Midsummer Scream announced a major expansion strategy for 2027: The world’s largest Halloween and horror convention is relocating to the Anaheim Convention Center and reviving its fan-favorite winter event in Long Beach.
David Markland, Gary Baker, Claire Dunlap, and Rick West, the executive team behind the event, took the stage Sunday ahead of the closing Halloween Horror Nights panel—a presentation that initially felt like a bittersweet farewell. During opening comments earlier in the weekend, the team choked up while honoring longtime staff with 10th-anniversary jackets, leaving some of us wondering if the event might be coming to an end.
Instead, the farewell was to the Long Beach Convention Center, the convention’s home since its 2016 inception.
Midsummer Scream 2027 will take place Aug. 6–8 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The move provides significantly more floor space and capacity following a record 50,000 attendees over the weekend—marking the event’s fourth total sellout. The growth has been evident across the convention in recent years, with dense crowds on the show floor and overlapping lines for popular experiences. This weekend in particular saw lines for Peepshow Menagerie Burlesque show and the closing Halloween Horror Nights panel compete for space outside the Grand Ballroom as eager Horror Nights fans tried to line up for the closing panel upwards of two hours ahead of its scheduled start time.
“The amazing community of Halloween and horror fans continues to grow, and we’re excited to be able to grow with it,” said David Markland in a press release following the announcement. “It’s bittersweet to leave a venue as amazing as the Long Beach Convention Center, but we look forward to all the new opportunities awaiting us in Anaheim.”
Despite the move, organizers are not abandoning Long Beach entirely. The team announced the return of Season’s Screamings, a holiday-themed horror convention last held in Pasadena in 2022. The winter event will run Dec. 5–6, 2027, at the Long Beach Convention Center, featuring spooky vendors, festive entertainment, and the signature Hall of Yuletide Spirits.
Passes for both Midsummer Scream 2027 and Season’s Screamings will go on sale in early 2027.
