In the fictional town of Gravity Falls, which the beloved Disney children’s series is named for, there’s no shortage of strangeness. Sometimes, this means vengeful ghosts and talking gnomes; other times it means that, in Gravity Falls, Halloween is so beloved that residents agreed it should come twice a year. Where Halloween comes in October, for the characters, June brings Summerween, a warmer take on the spooky holiday that swaps cool weather and carving pumpkins for carved watermelons and haunted s’mores.
In the years since the Gravity Falls’ 2012 premiere, the holiday, which the showrunner created out of a desire to have a Halloween episode despite the show’s summertime setting, has existed online and in the minds of devoted Gravity Falls fans. In recent years, Summerween has journeyed slowly from the world of fiction into reality thanks to fans and Halloween enthusiasts alike. The holiday has even taken root in Pittsburgh, where you can spot a jack-o’-melon or mummy hot dogs throughout the summer.
Sometimes, a Summerween celebration means a living room party, in the case of Castle Blood, a haunted attraction that combines theatre, escape rooms, and magic, it means that visitors can enjoy stories about mythological beings based on the year’s theme. In years past, Castle Blood Owner Ricky Dick tells Pittsburgh City Paper, the attraction has explored Pennsylvania-centric mythological creatures and legends.
This year, Dick says, the year-long saga revolves around a witch family with a maiden, mother, crone theme. In addition to a story, Dick says, during Summerween, visitors could win their own 3-D printed tiki heads as a prize for solving the puzzle presented. As a lifelong monster enthusiast himself, Dick says colleagues’ and vistors’ playful comparisons between him and the beloved uncle on Gravity Falls drew him to the show. When he finally watched, he appreciated the similarities between the fictional Mystery Shack in the series and the decades-old Castle Blood.
“I like Gravity Falls in general, because it very much has like the silliness that goes on at the castle with all the weird things and the oddities,” Dick says.
Dick recalls Castle Blood began hosting Summerween festivities in 2017, but before that, visitors and crew alike could look forward to Castle Blood’s May Halfway to Halloween celebration. By pushing the celebration to June and rebranding it, Dick acknowledges that there is no shortage of competition, as June coincides with Pride Month and Father’s Day. Still, visitors show up for the fun every year.
“The customers that do come love it, because they still get to do something spooky, and, as far as the general public, it seems to be catching on,” Dick says. “I mean, even the big stores have Summerween beach towels and blankets [with] jack-o’-melon images on them.”
Nationally speaking, stores such as Walmart, T.J. Maxx, and Michaels have jumped on board with the holiday, opting to stock their shelves with spooky pineapples, pink pumpkins, and, as Dick observes, jack-o’-melons. Closer to home, but roughly 20 miles away and operating a different kind of business, The Bag Lady, a North Versailles-based store that sells tumblers, bags, and ’80s and ’90s memorabilia, also chooses to commemorate Summerween. For the store owners Heather Cookson and Eddie Cookson, since 2024, when June comes, the store gets a makeover, and the customers have a chance to enjoy flash sales.
“I search for ‘tropical spooky’ and things like that,” Cookson says. “I have all of my skeletons wearing leis and hula skirts, but they’re all purple and black, or lime green and black, and orange and black, and all the leis I have are orange and neon green.”
Although it’s only The Bag Lady’s second-ever Summerween celebration, Cookson considers herself a year-round Halloween enthusiast. Thinking of last summer, Cookson recalled that the time of year, combined with the weather, slowed things down at the flea market. Celebrating Summerween, Cookson says, was a way to have fun and celebrate. As time has passed, their customers have responded well to both the sales and the decorations.
“They’re excited about the flash sales that we have all weekend,” Cookson says. “The kids are really excited about the Halloween-colored leis that they all get. I have little black swans that are wrapped around the cups. And everyone’s really excited when they see it.”
Dealing in cocktails, espresso, and meals as opposed to tumblers, The Urban Tap joined in on the Summerween festivities in June, as well. Throughout the year, the self-described gastropub and draft house with locations in the Shadyside and on the South Side, respectively, tries to go all out for unconventional holidays year-round. During the time of year when the students are typically gone, The Urban Tap Event Director and Social Media Manager Matthew McGreevey, says, Summerween provides a fun event that customers look forward to.
“It is one of the most popular events we do all year — people were asking about it before we even started posting about it!” McGreevey says. “Summerween, Galentine’s, Anti-Valentine’s Day, and Christmas in July are some of our most popular events.”
In the case of Summerween, McGreevey says, it’s a time when customers can look forward to brunches, cocktails, and even costume contests. The Urban Tap draws inspiration from its Halloween menu while allowing the creative team room to craft items such as vampire donuts, spooky waffle boards, and ghost-themed lattes.
“We go all in,” McGreevey said. “I haven’t seen any other restaurants do a themed event similar to ours, and getting our whole team involved from the menu, to the drinks, to the decorations, really gets the customers excited, which gets us even more excited.”
Although Summerween might be new to The Urban Tap and new to Pittsburgh, what The Urban Tap, The Bag Lady, and Castle Blood all have in common is that they plan to continue celebrating Summerween for years to come. From where Dick stands, as Castle Blood prepares to mark its 33rd Halloween in business, Summerween is a great way to keep the spirit of Halloween alive year-round.
“I’m not in any way saying we started it, but I know we were among the first, certainly in Western Pennsylvania, to do anything about it,” Dick says. “But man, oh man, the whole country has sort of caught on real quick, hasn’t it?”
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2025.
