The Park Slope Civic Council's Children's Halloween Parade ends at the Old Stone House in Washington Park on Saturday, October 31. In the two weekends before that, the same house holds the parade's craft workshops, a free puppet morning and a costume mini-parade. Seen that way, the 6:30 p.m. march down Seventh Avenue is the last step of a two-week build, and the route carries the costumes back to the building where part of the parade was made.
This year's theme is "The Haunted Forest of Brooklyn." The Old Stone House calls its craft sessions the "Enchanted Forest Workshop," and the theme runs through the whole calendar.
The countdown runs through Washington Park
The Old Stone House hosts the parade's prep work and its finish. Here is the Old Stone House calendar as it stands this week:
- Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. At the Enchanted Forest Workshop, artist Theresa Linnihan leads a one-hour session to "build a collective art piece for the Halloween Parade." The house's calendar currently lists both sessions as unavailable.
- Sunday, October 18, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. White Bird brings a free, all-ages Halloween puppet pop-up to the house. The monthly Repair Cafe runs at the same time, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Sunday, October 25, 1 to 2 p.m. The Halloween Costume Showcase and Mini-Parade returns. It's free, and the house calls it "The Beloved Halloween Costume Parade."
- Saturday, October 31, 6:30 p.m. The Civic Council parade steps off at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street and finishes at the Old Stone House.
The October 25 mini-parade works as a dress rehearsal. Families can test whether a costume holds up for an hour of walking six days before it has to last the full route at night. It's also a much smaller crowd than the one that fills Seventh Avenue on Halloween. The full list is on the Old Stone House events calendar.
On October 31, the blocks open up before the parade does
Halloween afternoon on the slope doesn't start at 6 p.m. NYC DOT's 2026 Trick-or-Streets list shows several Park Slope blocks closed to cars hours before the parade lines up. Four of them sit along the stretch between Seventh Avenue and the park:
| Block | Organizer | Hours on Oct 31 |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery Place, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue | Montgomery Place Open Streets | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| 11th Street, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue | 11th Street Block Association | 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Garfield Place, Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue | Polhemus Pl Open Street | 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. |
| 14th Street, Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue | Park Slope Civic Council parade | 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
The 14th Street listing covers the parade's staging block, not the full march down Seventh Avenue. DOT notes that listed events can be delayed or canceled, so treat the table as the plan, not a promise.
Several of these closures overlap with the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music's free Boo!KCM garden party, which runs 4 to 6 p.m. in the back garden at 58 Seventh Avenue. BKCM promises live music, candy, water and places to sit. On its own event page, the conservatory jokes that its 144-year-old Victorian mansion "may be haunted," a rumor it says it "can neither confirm nor deny." Its timing fits the rest of the night. The garden closes at 6, the same time marchers are asked to line up at 14th Street.
Reading the route from 14th Street to Third
The Civic Council asks marchers to arrive by 6 p.m. at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street. An orange-and-black vintage Ford leads the parade, which steps off at 6:30 and heads down Seventh Avenue. It turns left on Third Street and ends at the Old Stone House and Washington Park. The route moves through the numbered streets from 14th down to Third, so the march gets closer to Washington Park with every block.
Two of the newer spots in the neighborhood sit right on it.
Yellow Pear Coffee, 384 Seventh Avenue. This Asian bakery and coffee shop soft-opened in July and serves pastries alongside espresso drinks, according to Brooklyn Bridge Parents' July openings roundup. It's on Seventh Avenue in the stretch the parade covers early, so it's a good place to pick up something warm before lineup.
Kings Co Imperial, 357 Third Street. The Chinese restaurant opened its third New York location on July 27, next door to Stone Park Cafe, which the same owners opened on that block in 2004. The menu has soup dumplings, sesame shrimp toast, Beijing street noodles, and a Sichuan crispy duck made only for Park Slope, per the same roundup. It's on Third Street, the parade's last leg, so it's the natural dinner stop once the march ends.
At the finish, the Brooklyn Conservatory provides spooky music at the Old Stone House. BKCM also lists its annual Halloween singalong for kids and adults outside the house at 7:15 p.m. That gives the march 45 minutes after its 6:30 step-off to come down Seventh, turn onto Third and gather in Washington Park.
What isn't confirmed for 2026 yet
Two of the best-known parts of a Park Slope Halloween have no 2026 details yet.
The decorated stoops. In 2025, Park Slope Pulse's decoration roundup highlighted "The Great Jack-O'-Lantern Show" on Third Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues and displays on 11th Street between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West. It also listed decorations on 6th Avenue, Warren Street and St. Marks Avenue. The New York Post covered the 11th Street displays last Halloween. It reported that neighbors there had gotten a permit to close the block to cars about three years earlier and described the day as a block party. The 11th Street closure is on DOT's 2026 list, so the block party side is scheduled. No source yet confirms which displays are coming back. Park Slope Pulse's 2026 Halloween guide, published October 7, says its Brooklyn Spooky Stoops Map is back and growing borough-wide. It's taking submissions from residents and businesses, and the map itself is coming "soon."
Merchant trick-or-treating. The Civic Council says Seventh and Fifth Avenue merchants hand out candy every year. The only published hours are from last year. In 2025, Brooklyn Bridge Parents listed shop trick-or-treating on both avenues from 4 to 6 p.m. If that window holds this year, it matches the Boo!KCM garden hours and ends right at parade lineup.
If you're heading into the park instead
Prospect Park Alliance has a separate Halloween lineup, listed on its Halloween in Prospect Park page:
- Creepy Crawly Halloween, Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Prospect Park Boathouse. It's free, with owl-pellet dissection, an autumn walk and snacks from the Alliance's nature chef.
- Haunted Carousel, Thursday through Sunday, October 29 to November 1, noon to 5 p.m., at the Prospect Park Carousel.
- Fall Festival at Lakeside, billed as the park's first fall celebration, at the LeFrak Center. Its operating page lists free entry to the pumpkin patch with pumpkins at $10, a $5 corn maze, and the separate Haunted Hotel. The festival page says it runs through November 1. The Alliance's Halloween page says November 30, so plan on at least November 1 and check before a late trip.
The Boathouse event wraps at 4 p.m., while Boo!KCM runs until 6, so families leaving the park can still catch part of the garden party before the 6 p.m. lineup on 14th Street.
Our office has been in the same Sunset Park storefront for 28 years, and the parade, the workshops and the block closures in this post are all run by a civic council, a historic house and block associations. If your stoop is on one of the closed blocks this year and you're curious what the house behind it is worth, Parkview Terrace Realty will put together a free home valuation, with no pressure and a straight answer.
