For years, the Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade was something you planned around in the evening. In 2025 it ran from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on a Friday. This Saturday it fills most of the day. The Northalsted Business Alliance calls this the 30th anniversary edition, and to mark it they've added a free street festival that opens on Halsted at 11 a.m. and runs straight into the 7 p.m. parade.
For anyone within a few blocks of Belmont and Addison, Halloween on Halsted now starts with the morning coffee run. It is also two events in one: a family festival in daylight and the parade after dark, with a one-hour reset at 6 p.m. in between.
The Clock Starts at 7 a.m.
Here is the day the organizer has published, in order.
- 7:00 a.m. No street parking on Halsted from Belmont to Addison or on the listed side streets. The organizer warns that violators will be towed.
- 10:30 a.m. Vehicle traffic is banned on the same stretch.
- 11:00 a.m. Haunted Halsted Fest opens on the 3300 to 3526 blocks of North Halsted.
- 2:00 p.m. Parade check-in and day-of costume registration open.
- 6:00 p.m. Halsted is cleared for the parade, and festival crowds move to the sidewalks.
- 7:00 p.m. The parade steps off at Halsted and Belmont.
- 8:00 p.m. The parade ends at Halsted and Brompton. The costume contest and post-parade party start at 3514 N. Halsted.
- 10:00 p.m. The official program ends.
- 2:00 a.m. Sunday The parking and traffic restrictions lift.
From the first tow-zone sign to the reopening, that is 19 hours. The parade itself lasts about an hour of it.
What Changed From Last Year
The route is the same. Both Time Out's 2025 guide and the 2026 organizer listing give Belmont to Brompton. Almost everything around the route has changed.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Day of week | Friday, October 31 | Saturday, October 31 |
| Event hours | 6:30 to 10 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Parade step-off | 7:30 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. |
| Costume contest | 8:30 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. |
| Contest entry | Free sign-up | $5 |
| Daytime family programming | Not offered | Kids zone, trick-or-treating, vendors |
Each of these changes pushes the event earlier. The step-off is half an hour sooner, the contest starts sooner, and the street fills about eight hours before the first float. A Saturday Halloween also means no workday competing with the afternoon. Spectators still get in free. Contest entrants now pay $5 to compete for the same $4,000 prize pool, with $500, $200 and $100 awards in each of five categories: Character, Creative, Scary, Group and Youth under 13.
If Your Block Is on the List
The closures cover Halsted and the short cross streets that feed it, up to the nearest alley. The organizer lists these address ranges:
- Halsted, 3200 N to 3600 N
- Melrose, 720 W to 758 W
- Aldine, 800 W to 830 W
- Buckingham, 720 W to 820 W
- Roscoe, 732 W to 820 W
- Newport, 800 W to 840 W
- Cornelia, 732 W to 820 W
- Brompton, 743 W to 800 W
The festival covers a smaller area than the closures. Its pedestrian-only block party runs five blocks, from Aldine to Brompton. The no-parking and no-traffic zone reaches all the way to Belmont and Addison. Vendors set up on the cross streets next to Halsted and stay there through both the festival and the parade. A car parked on Roscoe or Cornelia this Saturday has to be gone by 7 a.m., hours before the first booth opens.
The Daytime Half Is Built for Families
The new programming is aimed at families. The organizer describes the festival as free to attend, with these features:
- a kids zone with games, Halloween arts and crafts, and inflatables
- daytime trick-or-treating at more than 25 Halsted Street businesses
- more than 50 vendor booths and sponsor activations
- a 360-degree camera for costume photos
- live local music and street performers
- beer, spirits and fall toddies for guests 21 and up with valid ID
Block Club Chicago's 2026 Halloween guide lists it the same way: free, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with family activities before the night parade.
Halsted isn't the only trick-or-treat route that morning. The Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce's Little Monster Crawl runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at businesses along Broadway, Belmont and Clark. That overlaps exactly with the festival's first three hours. According to Eventbrite, no RSVP is needed. The Chamber's Clark Street and Addison list includes Almost Home Tavern & Grill at 3801 N. Clark, with candy and hot cocoa for kids and a photo booth. Uncommon Ground at 3800 N. Clark has candy for kids and Greenstar Organic Oktoberfest samples for adults. Rizzo's at 3658 N. Clark is handing out soft-serve. Farther down the list are Big Star Wrigleyville at 3640 N. Clark, Dimo's Pizza at 3463 N. Clark, Al's #1 Italian Beef at 3420 N. Clark, Chicago Comics at 3244 N. Clark, The Quandary Escape Rooms at 3205 N. Clark and The Clark Street Dog at 3040 N. Clark. The Chamber's annual-events page had said in early October that a participant map was "coming soon," so check the event page before heading out.
Clark and Halsted are a few blocks apart. With two business-district trick-or-treat routes open at once, a costumed kid can cover a lot of East Lakeview before lunch.
The 6 p.m. Reset
The two halves of the day meet at 6 p.m. That is when the street is cleared for the parade. Festival-goers move behind the barricades, and the organizer suggests visiting vendors and Halsted businesses before picking a spot to watch.
Costumed parade participants check in for their number bibs between 2:00 and 6:15 p.m. at a registration tent on the east side of Halsted, which the organizer places at 3211 N. Halsted, near the Belmont start. Advance sign-up is strongly encouraged, but day-of entries are accepted starting at 2 p.m. If you're watching rather than marching, the reset is when curb space near Belmont gets claimed. The organizer also notes the parade happens rain or snow.
The Night Half Is the Parade You Know
After dark, the event looks the way it has for years. The organizer bills it as Chicago's only Halloween night parade, with more than 300 costumed participants. Fodor's Travel included it in its 10 best Halloween celebrations in the US. The announced lineup includes decorated vehicles from the Windy City Jeep Club, the Lakeside Pride Marching Band, the Chicago Thriller flash mob, the Chicago Spirit Brigade pep squad and the Windy City Rollers. Full Moon Jam closes the parade with fire performers. Featured appearances and live performances were still listed as "coming soon" on the organizer's page in mid-October.
At 8 p.m., the costume contest moves to the NoHa parking lot at 3514 N. Halsted. Judge-picked finalists go on stage with the hosts, and DJs, live music and drag performances follow. Contestants must be present to win.
Some nearby venues have planned their own nights around the parade. Kit Kat's Villains Halloween Ball + Drag Dinner has 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. prix fixe seatings on October 31. The 6 p.m. seating includes a livestream of the parade at 7. Lark covers the whole day with three bookable events on Saturday: a Hocus Pocus Halloween Bottomless Drag Brunch, a parade-viewing night and the Monster Mash Bash costume contest.
If the Wrigleyville side of Lakeview is more your area, our guide to how game-day restrictions really work explains why a few blocks can make a big difference on event days. Our Lakeview neighborhood page has more on the streets that host these events.
At Jonathon Spradling, we follow the details that shape daily life in Lakeview, from tow-zone hours on Cornelia to which bar livestreams the parade. If you're thinking about a home near Halsted and want to know what event weekends are actually like on a particular block, schedule a private consultation and we'll go through it with you.
