March With the Ragamuffins Down Third Avenue
Brooklyn's Halloween season starts early in Bay Ridge, where the Ragamuffin Parade has wound its way along Third Avenue since 1966 — 2026 marks the 60th annual edition, held Saturday, September 26 at 1pm, marching from 76th to 92nd Street. It's free and open to all ages. If you want to walk it, register between 11am and 12:30pm at Our Lady of Angels on 74th Street, then line up on 76th Street from 12:30pm. Come as a spectator instead and you get the full length of the avenue: families in homemade costumes, school bands, the whole ridge out on the sidewalk.
From there, the calendar fills in fast. On Saturday, October 3, PumpkinFest takes over 4th Place between Court and Clinton Streets in Carroll Gardens, 10am to 3pm, with more than a thousand pumpkins, decorating, live music, food and raffles — free admission, in its 20th year. A week later, Saturday, October 10, the Fall Fest at Atlantic Terminal Mall's outdoor plaza (139 Flatbush Ave) brings a pumpkin patch, haunted trucks, blocks and a DJ to Fort Greene, 11am to 2pm, with a rain date of Sunday, October 11. Mid-month, on Saturday, October 17, Harvest Festival lands at Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 6 from 11am to 3pm with live music, crafts, storytelling, lawn games and face painting.
Parade Through Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Dumbo on Halloween Itself
Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, which means the borough's neighbourhood parades stack up across one long day. Start in the morning: the Brooklyn Heights Halloween Parade steps off at 10:30am from the north end of the Promenade and marches to the south end, finishing with a bake sale. It's free.
By afternoon you have choices. Cobble Hill's parade starts at 4pm from Cobble Hill Park at Clinton Street and Verandah Place, winding through the surrounding streets — free, no registration. In Dumbo, Dumboween gathers on Washington Street between Front and Water Streets for a 3pm march to the Arch, with brass bands and puppets processing through Brooklyn Bridge Park, followed by an Archway Party from 3:30 to 6pm featuring crafts, a photo booth, live music, candy and costume prizes. The Howl-O-Ween dog costume contest runs at 4pm, and more than 50 local businesses hand out candy — look for the pumpkin signs in their windows. If you're in Dumbo after dark, spooky projections play on the Manhattan Bridge nightly from October 23.
Park Slope closes the day: the Park Slope Halloween Parade, run by the Park Slope Civic Council, runs 6:30 to 8pm, with the route announced closer to the date. Free.
Cross the River for the Village Parade — or Stay in Brooklyn for the Warehouse
The city's largest procession is the Village Halloween Parade, now in its 53rd edition and founded in 1974 by Greenwich Village puppeteer Ralph Lee. It runs Saturday, October 31 at 7pm on Sixth Avenue from Spring Street to 16th Street, with roughly two million spectators, thousands of costumed marchers, giant hand-built puppets and more than 50 marching bands. The 2026 theme is "Body & Soul." Anyone can march — line up at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue between 6:30 and 9pm, no registration required. Spectators should aim to be in place by 8:30pm. It runs rain or shine.
If you'd rather stay in the borough, Circoloco New York Halloween takes over Brooklyn Storehouse for a three-day run — expanded from two nights, with a third night to be announced — and it's the final Circoloco event at that venue. The lineup includes Seth Troxler, Dixon, ANOTR, Carlita, Rampa, &ME, Beltran and Jimi Jules. Tickets are sold out, with a waitlist open for Friday and Saturday. For something smaller, the Black Lagoon pop-up bar returns to Someday Bar in Boerum Hill, part of a 34-bar takeover across the US and Canada. The 2025 Brooklyn run stretched from October 1 to November 2, and a similar window is expected; the 2026 menu teasers include Abyssa's Obsession (Kraken rum, Lustau sherry), Bone Temple (tequila, spiced oat orgeat) and Moon Shadow (espresso martini), plus limited-edition glassware such as the Abyssa the Octo-Witch tiki mug. Reservations are recommended for groups of six or more; smaller groups are first-come.
Dog Parades, Cemetery Crafts and Trick-or-Treating Streets
Brooklyn's Halloween is unusually dog-friendly. On Sunday, October 25, the Halloween Dog Costume Party fills Cobble Hill Park (Clinton St at Verandah Place) from 1 to 3pm with costumed dogs, collecting towels, blankets, toys and unopened pet food for the Queens Animal Care Center. Free. Dumbo's Howl-O-Ween contest on Halloween afternoon is the other big one.
For trick-or-treating, the blocks either side of Court Street in Cobble Hill are among the best in Brooklyn. You can also work the free neighbourhood events into a route: the Bay Ridge Halloween Fest on Saturday, October 24, 4 to 7pm, closes ten car-free blocks of Fifth Avenue from 72nd to 85th Street for bouncy houses, pumpkin decorating, trunk-or-treat, haunted trucks, games, crafts and giveaways, with the PuppetMobile performing Pinocchio at 4pm. The same day, Fort Greene Park hosts Halloween Fest from 12 to 4pm with spooky stories, face painting and games (rain date Sunday, October 25). On Sunday, October 25, the Court Street Fair runs 11am to 6pm from Atlantic Avenue to Joralemon Street — described as Brooklyn's last street fair of 2026 — while BKLYN BOO! brings music and treats to Abolitionist Place at Willoughby Street and Albee Square West on Friday, October 30, 4 to 6pm.
Halloween day itself has daytime options before the parades. Creepy Crawly Halloween runs in Prospect Park from 10am to 4pm with close encounters with park wildlife, free. HallowGreen in East New York, 4 to 8pm at Poppa & Momma Jones Historical Garden (337 Van Siclen Ave), offers organic candy, herbal treats and winter wellness tips. And on Monday, November 2, the Day of the Dead Family Celebration at Green-Wood Cemetery runs 4 to 7pm at the Main Entrance Meadow, Fifth Ave at 25th St, with Día de Muertos crafts, music, dance and activities, plus food and drinks for sale — free, registration recommended, walk-ins welcome. Note that the five-minute walk to the Historic Chapel includes stairs and uneven ground.
Reserve Ahead, Watch the Rain Dates, and Book the Season's Oddities
Several events require an RSVP and fill quickly: BAM TeenSpace: Halloween/Day of the Dead for ages 13–18 on Thursday, October 15, 3 to 5:30pm at The Adam Space at BAMcafé in the Peter Jay Sharp Building (30 Lafayette Ave), with free pizza and a raffle; the Pumpkin & Spiderman Fest at City Point in Downtown Brooklyn on Sunday, October 25, 11am to 1pm at 445 Albee Square West, for ages 2 and up, with pumpkins while supplies last; the community reading of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the Lefferts Historic House porch in Prospect Park, Sunday, October 25, 2 to 4pm; and Green-Wood's Day of the Dead celebration.
Keep the rain dates in mind — October 10 moves to October 11, October 24 to October 25, and the Sing with Suzi Halloween Costume Day in Park Slope (Thursday, October 29, 10 to 11am at JJ Byrne Playground at the Old Stone House & Washington Park, 336 3rd St, for ages 0–5, bubbles at 10am and concert at 10:15am) moves to November 5. Other free, no-registration options include the Halloween Trick or Treat at Powers Street Garden in East Williamsburg on Sunday, October 18, 12:30 to 5:30pm, and the Autumn Festival at Marine Park's Carmine Carro Community Center (3000 Fillmore Ave) on Sunday, October 25, 12 to 3pm, with pumpkin giveaways, a children's costume parade, crafts and games.
Watch for one date still to be confirmed: the 9th Annual Cobble Hill Halloween Window Painting, held in late October on Court Street between Pacific and Union Streets, where kids in grades 1–10 who live between Atlantic Avenue and Union Street and between Smith and Columbia Streets paint shop windows with supplies provided, solo or in pairs. More than 75 participants took part last year and space is limited, with Cobble Hill Association members getting the registration link first.
Start with the fixed points — the Ragamuffin Parade on September 26, the neighbourhood parades on October 31, the Village Parade that night — and build the rest of October around them. Check the organizers' listings as the month approaches, since plans were still being confirmed at the time of writing, and lock in your RSVPs early for the events that need them.