Summerween 101
- brandonhayman
- May 28
- 3 min read
It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out Summerween is a portmanteau of “summer” and “Halloween”, but there still may be a lot of people out there who haven’t heard of my favorite new completely made up holiday of the year. So, here’s a quick crash course. Make sure you stay ‘til the end for an invite.
The word and concept of Summerween first emerged in the Disney animated series, Gravity Falls, during season 1, episode 12, which aired on October 5, 2012.
The episode revolves around characters celebrating Halloween twice a year, once in the traditional fall and again during summer, with jack-o'-melons and trick-or-treating. While the idea was originally fictional, the term and the concept have gained traction in real life, becoming a popular unofficial holiday celebrated in the summer months. -Google synopsis
That ‘popularity’ was brought to my attention last year through online videos via social media posts like this one:
Which…is obviously a vibe. A vibe that’s most often co-opted by those of us who are trying to figure out a way to enjoy the summer heat while waiting for all those sweet, sweet spooky season vibes that start to blow in come September and October. Summer, for a lot of us, is just purgatory before paradise—or the inferno, pick your pleasure. The point is, summer is on its way, why not make it spooky? Hashtag halloweenallyearlong.
Wanna’ know more? A quick Google search turns up several YouTube videos with ideas how to celebrate and this New York Times article from 2024 notes how the fictional holiday is heating up.
In Gravity Falls, Summerween officially lands on June 22nd. So that’s when I’ll be celebrating too. But, much like Halloween, you can start your spooky summer as soon as it starts heating up in anticipation for the holiday.
Personally, I start kicking things off in a big way on the first of June and surf the Summerween waves all throughout the month. This is where the invite comes into play.
Every year I start Summerween off with an online book club. I choose four spooky/scary/horror themed graphic novels and read through one each week of June. I post a review at the end of each week and encourage everyone to join in and read along. At the end of each week, I’ll host a zoom call where everyone can hop on and discuss. Since it’s all online, it’s an open invite. You can read one book or all four, the only rule is to have fun with it. Intrigued? Here’s the book list for this year:
Week one: In Utero by Chris Gooch
Week two: Skeeters by Bob Frantz, et. al. for Mad Cave Studios
Week three: Proctor Valley Road by Alex Child and Grant Morrison
Week four: All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn (make sure you grab the graphic novel adaptation as it was originally a novel)
How you celebrate Summerween in other ways is completely up to you! In addition to the graphic novel book club, I’ll be sharing new illustrations I’ve created specifically for the holiday. And, if you stick around (hint hint, subscribe to this substack), I’ve even curated a Spotify playlist for you based on this year’s Summerween theme: Aliens Invade the 90’s. Think of it as a quintessential soundtrack to a movie about an alien invasion set during the 90’s complete with billboard hits and movie scores.
There are 3 ways join in the fun. Subscribe to my Substack to get the weekly newsletter and updates on the book club activities. Sign up to my e-newsletter via my website which will be delivered to your email much like how Substack works except you’ll only get one update a week-on Sunday morning. Or-in my opinion-the best way to participate is to join my Patreon! Free Patreon followers will get weekly updates in real time. But, if you join those who have upgraded to a paid membership, you’ll also get a Summerween sticker sheet which I’ll send to you via snail mail.
Summerween starts next week! Are you ready? Hope to see you here or at the book club chat!
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