Two distinct prizes reflecting the venue's dual personality
Each autumn, communities find small rituals that mark the turning of the season — a chance to gather in orchards, to laugh in daylight or shiver in darkness, to feel the year drawing inward. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, Wiard's Orchards has long served as one such ritual ground, and this October a local newsletter is offering its readers free passage through either its sunlit family fair or its haunted nighttime corridors. The gesture is modest, but it speaks to something enduring: the human need, as the days shorten, to seek out both warmth and a well-chosen fright.
- Halloween's final weeks create a narrow window for seasonal experiences, and the clock is already running — entries close at midnight on October 19.
- The giveaway splits along a meaningful fault line: a family 4-pack for daytime hayrides and slides versus two tickets to four back-to-back haunted attractions after dark.
- Entry barriers are deliberately low — one submission per person, age 18 or older — making the opportunity broadly accessible to newsletter subscribers.
- Two winners will be chosen and contacted after the deadline, turning a simple newsletter sign-up into a potential free afternoon or evening at one of the region's signature fall destinations.
As October tilts toward Halloween, Wiard's Orchards in Ypsilanti is offering something rare: a chance to get in for free. Through a newsletter subscriber giveaway, two winners will receive admission to the agritainment destination — but the prizes reflect two very different versions of the same property.
One winner takes home a family 4-pack to the daytime Country Fair, where slides built from a vintage firetruck, hayrides, and family-friendly diversions fill the afternoon. The other receives a pair of Night Terrors passes, granting access to four haunted experiences — the Mineshaft, Hayride of the Lost, the Asylum, and the Haunted Barn — designed for adults willing to be genuinely unsettled.
The rules are simple: entrants must be 18 or older, may submit only once, and must do so before 11:59 p.m. on October 19. After that, the window closes and the two winners are selected and notified.
The partnership between the newsletter and Wiard's is a seasonal one, timed to the peak of fall entertainment. For subscribers, the cost of entry is nothing — and the reward is either a full family outing or an evening of deliberate, well-crafted fear.
As October winds down toward Halloween, there's still time to experience what Ypsilanti's Wiard's Orchards has to offer—and you might not have to pay for it. A4 readers who receive the local newsletter have been given a chance to win free admission to the sprawling agritainment destination, with two distinct prizes reflecting the venue's dual personality: one family-focused, one decidedly not.
The giveaway works straightforwardly. Newsletter subscribers can enter for a shot at either a family 4-pack of daytime Country Fair tickets or a pair of passes to Night Terrors, the property's nighttime haunted attraction experience. The choice essentially splits the difference between what Wiard's offers depending on the hour and the appetite for scares. The daytime option opens access to the Country Fair's collection of free attractions—slides fashioned from a vintage Wiard's firetruck, swings, hayrides, and various other diversions designed for children and families. The nighttime alternative takes visitors through four separate haunted experiences: the Mineshaft, Hayride of the Lost, the Asylum, and the Haunted Barn.
Entry requirements are minimal but firm. Participants must be at least 18 years old and can submit only one entry per person. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19. After that moment passes, the giveaway closes and two winners will be selected and notified about their prizes.
For those considering whether to enter, the stakes are straightforward: either a full family outing with multiple attractions included, or an evening of intentional terror for two adults. Wiard's Orchards maintains both experiences simultaneously through late October, making it possible to experience either version of the property depending on preference and timing. Those curious about what awaits can preview the attractions through the venue's Facebook page or Instagram before deciding whether the daytime charm or nighttime frights appeal more.
The partnership between A4 and Wiard's represents a seasonal push to draw visitors during the final weeks of October, when fall activities and Halloween-adjacent entertainment reach their peak. For newsletter subscribers, the entry is free and the potential payoff is a full evening or afternoon without the usual admission cost.
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why split the prize into two such different experiences? Why not just give away tickets to one or the other?
Because Wiard's is fundamentally two different places depending on when you go. The daytime version is genuinely family-oriented—kids on slides, hayrides, that kind of thing. The nighttime version is explicitly for adults who want to be scared. By offering both, they're acknowledging that different people want different things from the same location.
So the haunted houses are really not for families with children?
The source doesn't explicitly say, but the fact that Night Terrors is positioned as a separate, nighttime experience—and that the family 4-pack is daytime—suggests they're marketed to different audiences. The haunted attractions have names like "the Asylum" and "Hayride of the Lost." That's not toddler material.
Why does the age requirement matter? Why 18 and up?
Probably liability. Haunted attractions can be intense, and they likely want to ensure that whoever's entering—whether they win the daytime or nighttime tickets—is old enough to make their own decision about what they're getting into.
What's the actual value of winning here?
That depends on what the tickets normally cost, which the article doesn't say. But a family 4-pack to a fall attraction with multiple free activities included is probably worth $60 to $100 or more. The Night Terrors pair could be similar. It's not trivial.
Is there any reason someone wouldn't want to enter?
You have to be a newsletter subscriber, which means you've already given them your email. And you can only enter once, so there's no gaming the system. Beyond that, it's just a question of whether you want to spend an evening at Wiard's in the next few weeks.