Halloween pop-ups have been all the rage in Vegas the past few years. Ever since the Sand Dollar Lounge launched its spooky Nightmare on Spring Mountain pop-up, new ones have been added every October.
This year’s Vegas newbie is Black Lagoon. The well-established Halloween haunt has locations in 35 cities but surprisingly didn’t have one in Sin City until this year. Last week, the devilish pop-up made its debut downtown at Evel Pie and runs there until November 1.
“This is a big deal,” said Evel Pie general manager Sam Bandy. “They decided to come to Vegas and we were the lucky ones to get chosen.”
Started by bar industry veterans Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage, the popular Halloween installation keeps expanding based on its creative cocktails and themed displays.
This year, Black Lagoon’s witches brews include more than a dozen cocktails. The Siren’s Song blends rum and whiskey with pineapple for a sweet treat; Nightmare’s Fuel is a tequila-based matcha and absinthe concoction; and Memento Mori’s mezcal, rum, coffee liqueur and cold brew is sure to keep awake spying for ghosts all night.
Evel Pie’s incarnation has a speakeasy vibe, as Bandy elaborated ahead of the recent launch. “It’s gonna look like your normal pizza shop and then you go into the back patio and that’s where you’re gonna walk through our satanic hellscape.”
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Yikes. Past the curtain, expect blacklights exposing ominous messages on the wall, a death-becomes-her spinning bride over the doorway and a creepy graveyard with apothecary witches making potions. That’s where, on the back patio, you can grab a potion of your own. The pop-up is open to all ages and will run through Halloween from 4pm until the witching hour, which some days is as late as 3am.
“Halloween is always a fun time of year for Fremont Street in general,” Bandy explains. “And the fact that we get to be a part of such a cool brand makes it even better.”