Anaheim, California, famed for its iconic Mice, Ducks, and Angels, is set to mark a significant milestone this October as the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade each celebrate their 100th anniversaries in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Known for its world-renowned theme parks and sports teams, Anaheim also proudly hosts one of the longest-running Halloween celebrations in the United States.
The festivities kick off on Saturday, October 28, with the Anaheim Fall Festival taking place on Center Street Promenade in downtown Anaheim from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The celebration is followed by the Anaheim Halloween Parade, starting at 7:00 p.m., with a route spanning Broadway and Anaheim Blvd to Center Street Promenade, down Harbor Blvd., then west on Broadway to Manchester.
Jody Daily, president of the Anaheim Fall Festival, emphasizes the event’s commitment to preserving a small-town, family-oriented Halloween experience. “The Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade represent a welcoming, family-oriented, whimsy-filled day of classic hometown Halloween fun and a throwback to Anaheim’s small-town roots,” Daily states. “Now that the festival and parade are celebrating their back-to-back 100-year anniversaries, we are proud we’ve been able to keep the festival and parade feeling authentic, handmade, and citizen-centric, with a design nod to the 1950s but representing the terrific cultural diversity of today’s Anaheim.”
Originally established in 1923 as the city’s Halloween Carnival and Festival, the Anaheim Fall Festival aimed to redirect the attention of the city’s youth from traditional Halloween pranks to more wholesome activities such as carnival games, dunking for apples, and costume contests. Today, the festival features a towering Halloween tree, game booths, live entertainment, food, magicians, storytelling, and informational booths from Orange County’s top companies and civic organizations.
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken shares her personal connection to the tradition: “I grew up attending the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade, and now I share this special tradition with my kids. The professional creativity, countless volunteer efforts, movie quality, hand-built floats, and costumes make this a community gem that has thrived in Anaheim for a century.”
For one night, the Anaheim Halloween Parade transforms Orange County’s most populous and geographically largest city back into its original small-town atmosphere with a nighttime pageant of whimsical floats, marching bands, ghosts, goblins, jack-o’-lanterns, and witches stretching a mile and a half through Anaheim’s downtown.
Influenced by the mid-twentieth-century heyday of classic Halloween, the parade features fanciful floats, zany Halloween characters, local bands, car clubs, a celebration of Día de los Muertos, and many other entertaining elements. The parade’s storied history includes Grand Marshals such as baseball legend Babe Ruth, Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, and TV and film actor Buddy Ebsen.
As Anaheim gears up for this historic double centennial celebration, residents and visitors alike can anticipate an unforgettable evening of community, creativity, and the continuation of a cherished tradition that has defined the Halloween season in Anaheim for a century.
This year’s festival and parade occur in downtown Anaheim on Saturday, October 28. Don’t miss out on the fun!
