Hotels near Village Halloween Parade

The 53rd Village Halloween Parade runs on Saturday 31 October 2026, starting at 7pm and moving north up Sixth Avenue from Canal Street to 15th Street. The 2026 theme is Body and Soul, and the Processional Arts Workshop puppets take their cue from it with luminous spirits and dancing skeletons. More than 50 bands, dancers and artists march alongside thousands of costumed New Yorkers, and the procession winds down around 11pm.

Puppeteer Ralph Lee started this as a neighbourhood walk in 1974 and it now draws spectator crowds in the millions. Watching from the sidewalk is free and needs no ticket. Marching is also free, but a costume is mandatory: participants join the lineup at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue between 6.30pm and 9pm, entering only from the east or south. Spectators in street clothes cannot get onto the route at all.

Pro Tip: Watch from the northern end near 12th or 14th Street rather than downtown. Sidewalks around West 4th and 8th Streets fill first, marchers are released in timed waves so the action runs for hours, and you finish next to the L and F trains when you want out.