ST. LOUIS — March 26–29, 2026, America’s Center will be transformed into a Halloween lover’s dream, equipped with spooky lighting and eerie animatronics that jump out from the dark corners of exhibitor booths. It’s like a classic haunted house experience on a show floor — and that’s exactly what the organizer of the Halloween & Attractions Show intended.
“You walk in and you literally feel like you’ve entered Halloween,” Jennifer Thaler, President of TransWorld Trade Shows, LLC, said. “It’s not a traditional show where you go in and you just see a bunch of 10-by-10s. We have enormous displays, so you really feel immersed in the holiday.”
In addition to enormous frights, show attendees — including buyers from theme parks, haunted houses, farms and zoos — also participate in evening delights that help them build their businesses.
“Attendees go to a lot of our nighttime events because it’s a chance for them to network and learn from industry leaders that are there,” said Thaler. “A lot of people go to the parties at night to interact with different people and get a chance to hear about their experiences [and] their seasons, and figure out ways to make their event better.”
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Also, attendees will have the opportunity to learn ways to make their events better through the show’s education programming.
“If you have a haunted house, you may want to add food concessions to make money. If you have gift stores, you may want to add an escape room to the existing attraction because you already have people there and it’s just another way to make money throughout the year,” Thaler said. “There are a lot of different things we teach people to grow their business.”
Three Unique Show Experiences Under One Roof
Attendees of the Halloween & Attractions Show don’t only get a spooky floor experience: They can also take a metaphorical sleigh ride right into the Christmas season because the Halloween event is co-located with TransWorld’s Christmas Show. According to Thaler, it’s just good business to run the shows concurrently because so many Halloween merchandise buyers also purchase items for Christmas — and they love the convenience of making one trip for all their holiday needs.
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“Christmas has a lot of the same buyers,” she explained. “When you really think about it, the farms that theme out for Halloween also theme out for Christmas. A lot of the haunted houses now are doing both. When you look at the theme parks, they also do both now. So it just makes sense running both shows together.”
It also makes sense for the company to co-locate a third event, the Interactive Entertainment Show, which caters to business owners that run interactive concepts, such as escape rooms.
“It’s great having all the shows under one roof,” said Thaler. “Instead of running three different shows, it’s a lot easier to rent the convention center and be able to put three different products under one roof at one time.”
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