By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Where
- Sixth Avenue, from King Street to West 15th Street
- Tickets
- Free
- Time of year
- October
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
Held on 31 October every year without exception. The parade steps off at 7pm and runs up Sixth Avenue from King Street to West 15th Street, finishing around 11pm. Costumed marchers line up at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue between 6.30pm and 9pm.
This is the only major parade in America that you can join. There is no ticket, no application and no selection: turn up in costume at the line-up point on Canal Street in the window the organiser publishes, and you walk in it. Watching is free too, but marching is the better experience and almost no visitor realises it is an option.
What the Village Halloween Parade actually is
An annual night parade through Greenwich Village that began as a neighbourhood puppeteer’s walk for local children and grew into an event drawing tens of thousands of participants and a far larger crowd of spectators. It is organised as a participatory event rather than a spectacle staged for an audience, which is the whole reason the open line-up exists.
The character of it follows from that. There are floats, bands and large puppets, but most of what moves up the avenue is people in costumes they made, and the standard is high. It is the least corporate large parade in the city by a distance.
Where to watch the Village Halloween Parade
- In it. Line up in costume at the published point and time and you are in the parade. Costume is the only requirement and it is enforced at the line-up rather than being a suggestion.
- The lower stretch of Sixth Avenue. Closer to the start, the crowd is thinner and the parade is still tightly packed. Further north it spreads out and the pavements are deeper with spectators.
- Anywhere, about an hour after it starts. The parade takes hours to pass and the crowd at any given point thins once the first wave has gone through, so arriving late is a legitimate strategy rather than a mistake.
Tickets and what it costs
Free in both directions: nothing to buy to watch, and nothing to buy or apply for to march. The organiser sells nothing to the public and there is no reserved viewing. Costume is the price of entry to the parade itself.
Official information and booking: halloween-nyc.com
Getting there
Sixth Avenue closes along the route, and the stations along it become extremely busy before the start and again at the end. Arrive by subway well before the parade steps off, or come in from a station a few blocks east or west and walk across.
Getting home is the harder half. The parade finishes late, the crowd leaves at once, and the nearest stations are the worst place to be at that moment. Walking ten minutes away from the route before going underground is the difference between a normal journey and a long one.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Not knowing you could have been in it
Anyone in costume can march, free, with no application. Visitors watch from behind a barricade for hours without realising the line-up was open the whole time.
Turning up to march without a costume
Costume is the requirement and it is checked at the line-up. This is not a parade you can walk in as a spectator.
Arriving at the start time
It steps off in the evening and runs for hours. Arriving at the beginning means the deepest crowd; arriving an hour in often means walking straight to the front.
Heading straight for the subway at the end
Everyone does, at the same minute, at the stations closest to the route. Walk several blocks away first.
Bringing small children to the late part
The early parade is family-friendly and the tone shifts as the evening goes on. Watch the first hour, then leave.
Other New York City events
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone march in the Village Halloween Parade?
Yes, and this is the thing almost no visitor knows. Any person in costume may join, with no ticket, no application and no selection process. You go to the published line-up point on Canal Street at Sixth Avenue inside the window the organiser gives, and you walk in the parade. Costume is the only requirement and it is checked there.
What time does the Village Halloween Parade start?
It steps off at seven in the evening and takes several hours to pass, finishing around eleven. The line-up for costumed marchers opens half an hour before the start and stays open for a couple of hours after it, so joining late is possible. As a spectator, arriving an hour after the start usually means a much shallower crowd.
What route does the Village Halloween Parade take?
Straight up Sixth Avenue from King Street to West 15th Street, through Greenwich Village. The lower part of the route nearer the start has thinner crowds, while the northern stretch draws the deepest spectator lines. The avenue itself is closed along the whole length for the evening.
Is the Village Halloween Parade free?
Completely, in both senses. There is nothing to pay to watch and nothing to pay or apply for to march, and the organiser sells no public tickets or reserved viewing. It is one of the few open large-scale events in New York.
Is the Village Halloween Parade suitable for children?
The earlier part of the evening is, and the tone becomes more adult as the night goes on, which is worth planning around rather than discovering. Watching the first hour and then leaving works well. Be aware that getting away afterwards is slow if you wait for the end, because the crowd heads for the same few stations at once.
Sources
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.