Haunted Halsted Turns 30, and Halloween on Halsted Now Starts at 11 a.m.

Last year the Haunted Halsted festivities began at 6:30 p.m. on a Friday. The parade stepped off at 7:30 and ended at Cornelia for an 8:30 awards show, according to the City of Chicago's 2025 OEMC bulletin. This year Halloween falls on a Saturday. For the parade's 30th anniversary, the Northalsted Business Alliance has added a daytime street fest that opens at 11 a.m.

So the neighborhood's biggest Halloween event now runs in daylight, with a kids zone and business-to-business trick-or-treating, in the same hours as Lakeview East's family crawl. Halsted is closed to cars for almost the whole day. If you live within a few blocks of Belmont and Halsted, Oct. 31 works less like one evening event and more like a day-long street closure with a parade at the end.

What moved between 2025 and 2026

The Alliance describes the change plainly. To mark the anniversary, "we're making it an all-day affair." Lined up against the City's 2025 notice, the schedule shifted in several directions at once.

The parade now starts 30 minutes earlier and runs one block farther north. The bigger change is the seven and a half hours added before it.

What fills Halsted before dark

From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the five-block stretch of Halsted from Aldine to Brompton, roughly 3300 to 3526 N. Halsted, becomes a pedestrian-only block party. The Alliance's intro text describes the area as running to Addison, but the detailed schedule on the same page gives the Fest footprint as Aldine to Brompton.

The organizer's list for the Fest:

• A kids zone with games, Halloween arts and crafts, and inflatables
• Daytime trick-or-treating at 25 or more Halsted Street businesses
• A 360-degree camera for costume photos
• More than 50 local vendor booths and sponsor activations
• Live local music and street performers
• Beer, spirits and fall-flavored toddies for adults 21 and over with valid ID

Vendors set up on the side streets that cross Halsted, not on Halsted itself. That way they can keep selling through both the Fest and the parade. At 6 p.m. the street is cleared for the parade. Fest-goers move behind the sidewalk barricades, and organizers suggest visiting vendors and Halsted businesses before picking a viewing spot.

The street closes before the Fest opens

A daytime event comes with daytime restrictions. Starting at 7 a.m. Saturday and lasting until 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, street parking is banned on Halsted between Belmont and Addison and on the connecting side streets as far as the nearest alley. Violators will be towed. Vehicle traffic is banned on the same streets from 10:30 a.m. until 2 a.m.

The address ranges posted by the Alliance:

• 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

If you park on one of those blocks, that works out to 19 hours without legal street parking and about 15 and a half hours without car access. As of Oct. 12, no Halloween-specific CTA reroute notice for 2026 had turned up in our research. Check CTA alerts before counting on a Halsted bus that Saturday.

How Saturday, Oct. 31, actually runs

With the Fest in place, Lakeview's Halloween events overlap through the day.

1. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Lakeview East Chamber's Little Monster Crawl sends families business to business along Broadway, Belmont and Clark. Some shops hand out treats inside and others set up tables outside. As of the Chamber's Sept. 30 post, the list of participating businesses and the stop map were still "coming soon."
2. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Haunted Halsted Fest runs on Halsted from Aldine to Brompton. For three hours it overlaps the Little Monster Crawl, so both kids' trick-or-treating routes are open at once.
3. 2 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Day-of parade and costume registration is open at the tent at 3211 N. Halsted, on the east side of the street.
4. 6 p.m. Halsted clears for parade staging.
5. 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The parade runs from Belmont to Brompton. It closes with fire performers from Chicago Full Moon Jam.
6. 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The costume contest and post-parade party take place at the NoHa parking lot, 3514 N. Halsted, with live music, DJs and drag performances.

The parade lineup includes the Windy City Jeep Club, the Lakeside Pride Marching Band, the Chicago Thriller flash mob, the Chicago Spirit Brigade and the Windy City Rollers. The Alliance calls it Chicago's only Halloween night parade and points to a Fodor's Travel ranking of top U.S. Halloween celebrations.

Watching is free. Entering the costume contest costs $5, and the event is open to all ages. The contest has five categories: Character, Creative, Scary, Group and Youth under 13. First, second and third place in each pay $500, $200 and $100, for $4,000 in total. Winners must be present. A group of more than one person that places receives one prize, and youth entrants need an adult with them. Pets can march or watch if they are leashed or carried. The parade goes on in rain or snow.

The family events start the week before

The Saturday is crowded, so the neighborhood's other Halloween events take place in the days before it. Many of them use the same blocks.

Saturday, Oct. 24, is the warm-up Saturday. The 12th annual Northalsted Halloween Pup Crawl runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Halsted from Aldine to Cornelia. Check-in is at Halsted and Aldine, and brunch is at Lark, 3441 N. Halsted. That afternoon, Gallagher Way's free Pumpkin Party runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at 3637 N. Clark St., with pumpkin giveaways, crafts, performers, face painting and music.

Gallagher Way's movie nights end before Halloween week. The free Toyota Movie Nights show "The Nightmare Before Christmas" on Oct. 14 and "Hocus Pocus" on Oct. 21. Starting Monday, Oct. 26, the green space is closed to the public daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Nov. 19 for the Christkindlmarket build-out. The stores and eateries around the park stay open.

Southport has its Halloween on a Monday. Trick or Treat on Southport returns Monday, Oct. 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. on Southport between Roscoe and Grace. Friends of Lakeview produces it, and it runs rain or shine. Here's what's planned:

• A pumpkin patch outside Coalfire Pizza near Southport and Waveland, provided by Lakeview SSA 27
• Inflatables from Lakeshore Sport & Fitness and Altitude Roscoe Village
• Craft beer from Corridor Brewery and wines picked by Galleria Liquors for adults
• At 5 p.m. near Southport and Cornelia, Gus Giordano Dance School dancers perform "Thriller," along with a GUS Company flash mob

The Southport Corridor post notes that the Chamber's business-by-business list still carried 2025 details when it was published, and that the full 2026 lineup had not yet been posted.

Details still to come

Several pieces had not been published as of Oct. 12. Lakeview East's participating businesses and map were still pending. Northalsted's "Featured Appearances" and "Live Performance" sections still read "More information coming soon!" The sponsor heading on the parade page was still labeled 2025. Northalsted also runs other October events, including drag competitions, a trick-or-treat event and its Movies in the Parking Lot series. Check the Alliance's calendar for dates on those.

The closure times, Fest hours and parade route are already set, and they're what decide whether your car, your guests and your kids' trick-or-treat route work on Oct. 31.

When a stretch of Halsted closes for 15 hours, it changes how the blocks around it work, from parking to foot traffic for the businesses along it. If you're comparing streets in Lakeview and want to know how event days like this affect daily life on a specific block, Joe Kotoch Group can walk you through it block by block. Start a Strategic Conversation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.