What to Know
- Anaheim Fall Festival & Halloween Parade in Downtown Anaheim
- Saturday, Oct. 29; volunteers are needed and parade applications are open
- Free; the celebration will turn 100 in 2024
When you're on the team helming a famous and fun event, and you've been around for almost a whole century, and you take place in the heart of a city that's synonymous with imagination, you need to apply the creative spirit when creativity is called for, specifically in tougher times.
And so it was, in both 2020 and 2021, when the Anaheim Fall Festival & Halloween Parade, a celebration that first flickered on, festively, in 1924, reworked its magic for the moment.
How magical was the parade team's response to bringing joy during the early pandemic to longtime fans? "Very" is a good way to describe it: Organizers flipped the script in 2020 and invited parade fans to drive by parked parade floats while remaining inside their own vehicles.
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And in 2021, the inventive group behind the parade changed the event up yet again: The adorable Halloween floats were "hidden" around Downtown Anaheim, giving on-foot visitors a chance to discover them at their own easy pace.
The drive-by parade and outsized scavenger hunt proved to be touching treats during some challenging months, but some fans still wondered if and when the traditional procession, and accompanying festival, would roll again.
The happy answer? The Anaheim Fall Festival & Halloween Parade will return to the fanciful format you remember from years gone by, on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The Halloween-adjacent happening is one of our region's oldest autumn extravaganzas, predating the opening of Disneyland park, which sits a short drive from Downtown Anaheim, by over three decades.
But both the cheery festival and Disneyland have lots in common, including nostalgic floats, eerie-but-sweet costumes, and a family-fun spirit that feels timeless. Call it that Anaheim-style aura, through and through.
And if you're eager to join this homespun fun, and play a part in the parade, online applications are now open for the 2022 event.
Volunteers are also needed at the upcoming festival and parade, if you want to fill an important role in the vivacious tradition, an upliftingly eeky and charming affair that's brought smiles to generations of Orange County kids.
