Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade

Head to Chicago's Northalsted neighborhood, historically known as Boystown, for the Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade on Saturday, October 31, 2026. This year marks the parade's 30th anniversary, and the neighborhood is marking it with an all-day celebration, a block party from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. along Halsted Street, followed by the parade itself around 7 p.m., and a costume contest and after-party running until 10 p.m. Organizers expect roughly 10,000 attendees across the full day. Both the block party and parade are free.

What to expect

The block party fills roughly five blocks of Halsted Street with food, drinks, live music, street performers, more than fifty vendor booths, and a dedicated kids' zone, plus daytime trick-or-treating at participating businesses. Halsted clears at 6 p.m. to make way for the parade, which runs from Halsted and Belmont to Halsted and Brompton with more than 300 costumed participants, the Windy City Jeep Club, the Lakeside Pride Marching Band, the Chicago Thriller flash mob, the Windy City Rollers, and Chicago Full Moon Jam fire performers. The parade has been ranked one of the top ten Halloween celebrations in the US by Fodor's Travel. The costume contest that follows carries $4,000 in prize money across five categories, Character, Creative, Scary, Youth, and Group, with $500, $200, and $100 going to first, second, and third place in each.

History and legacy

The parade has run since the mid-1990s, growing from a neighborhood Halloween tradition into one of Chicago's largest annual events and marking its 30th year in 2026. Northalsted has held the identity of the city's LGBTQ+ neighborhood for decades, and the parade reflects that history directly, with drag performers hosting the costume contest and the surrounding bars building their own programming around the same night.

Getting there

Halsted Street closes to vehicle traffic between Belmont and Addison from 10:30 a.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning, along with several side streets, and street parking in the area is banned from 7 a.m. Public transit or rideshare is recommended over driving.

Plan your trip

Northalsted runs a full month of Halloween programming around the parade, including a Halloween Pup Crawl, drag competitions, and trick-or-treating for families earlier in the day. Book from a selection of the best gay-friendly hotels in Chicago to stay within walking distance of Halsted Street for the parade and its after-parties.