Frequently Asked Questions

(Last updated 10/24/24)

I. General

When is the Parade?

Halloween Night, Thursday October 31, 2024 6:30PM

Who can attend?

The Parade is free and open to the public. It is an all-ages event. Families, kids, teens, and adults are all invited to attend. Neighbors from across the Seattle-Tacoma metro area and anywhere else are welcome!

What time does the Parade start?

The Parade will start between 6:30-7:00 PM depending on how dark it is. We invite everyone viewing the parade to begin gathering around 5:30.

Where is the Parade?

The parade starts at Bloom Bistro (6601 Carleton Ave S) and ends at The Trailer Park Mall (5805 Airport Way S) in Georgetown. Both sites will have official announcers, music, and more (view Map).

GTAAC wishes to acknowledge that our Parade will be held on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People past and present. We honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.

Where is a good place to watch Parade?

We’ve set up two convenient viewing sites. Both sites will have official announcers, music, and more (view Map).

• Bloom Bistro (6601 Carleton Ave S) on Carleton Ave S near Oxbow.
• The Trailer Park Mall (5805 Airport Way South) on Airport Way S next to Star Brass.

The Parade ends just north of the Trailer Park Mall at 5800 Airport Way S. Visitors may also gather anywhere along the parade route, which covers parts of Carleton Ave S, Flora Ave S, 12th Ave S, and Airport Way S. See this map for more information on where parking is available, the parade route, and where our viewing sites are located.

May I join the parade as it marches by?

Hell yes you can! Please wait until the end of the Parade formation, and our Parade Marshalls will wave you in. After the parade passes by feel free to jump in and walk with us.

Will there be Trick-or-Treating?

There’s Trick-or-Treating at 4:30 PM in Historic Georgetown on Carleton Ave S, Flora Ave S and S Ellis St starting at 4:30 PM on Halloween Night. Trick or Treaters are free to visit any home with its lights on. Out of respect for our neighbors who do not wish to be disturbed on Halloween night, please avoid visiting homes with their front lights switched off. Thank you!

Where do I park if I’m visiting Georgetown?

• All of the commercial parking lots along Airport Way are open. This includes:
• The public parking lot on S Nebraska St (behind the Stables and Jules Maes). Access via Corson Ave S.
• The commercial parking lot on S Doris St. (next to the Tavern, across from Sirenito). Access via Corson Ave S.
• The public driveway/spaces on Doris St. (next to the empty food stand)
•  The commercial lots on the south end of Airport Way. Access via 13th Ave S & S Bailey St.
• The commercial lots adjacent to the paint store. Access via 13th Ave S & S Stanley St.

Where can I find restrooms during the parade?

There will be ADA-accessible portable restrooms at the Trailer Park Mall.

Where can I find food before, during, or after the parade?

Bloom Bistro (6601 Carleton Ave S) is one of our official Parade Watching sites! They’ll be open later hours so people can gather, grab snacks, coffee, and check out the parade! There will be a DJ, video arcade games, candy, and an official Parade announcer. If you’re trick-or-treating or watching the Parade in the neighborhood, stop by!

Nearly all of the shops & restaurants on Airport Way S are open during the parade. Here’s a quick list:

• Donburi Station
• Georgetown Pizza Arcade
• Poke Bowl
• Post Pike Bar & Cafe
• Star Brass Works
• Seattle Tavern & Pool Hall
• Sirenito
• Fonda La Catrina
• Jules Maes Saloon
• All City Coffee (Open till 6PM)
• Matcha Man Ice Cream & Taiyaki
• 9lb Hammer
• Maude’s
• Smarty Pants
• Ciudad
• Mezzanotte

What’s going on in Georgetown Besides the Parade?

We’re so glad you asked! There are activities for grown ups, wild adults, people with kids, teenagers, and families including arts & crafts,  21+ and all-ages music shows, costume karaoke, a pinball tournament, tarot readings and more!

Before the Parade

Happenings At Side Rail Collective on Halloween Night!

Side Rail Collective
Oct 31, 4-9PM, all ages, Free Event + Candy
5511 ½ Airport Way South 

Last chance to see our current gallery show a dim flicker

• This hauntingly lush exhibition explores ideas of decay, softness, and fragility. Using various symbols, references to nature, use of color and texture the artist in this group exhibition create work that requires precision and the ability to relinquish it.
• Featuring artwork from: Alex Roby; Ashley Hale; Christen Coomer; Gregory Pierce; Isabella Stewart; Jennifer Hui; Kate Cudney; Sue Kim & Zeke Spier
• Curated by Essa Baird

Arts & Crafts: Get Creative with Oil Pastels! 

• Draw spooky pumpkins and other terrifying creatures using oil pastels on black paper, or start off with white paper and at the very end add a layer of dark black India Ink to bring your creations over to the dark side!
• Side Rail will provide all materials for artistic creation. We are a multidisciplinary arts collective that fosters a vibrant, inclusive community for creative ideas and pursuits. Located on the second floor in Georgetown’s historic Bertoldi Hall, The Collective provides studio, gallery and meeting space to working artists and entrepreneurs in design, and sponsors regular exhibits and events that support the creative community.

After the Parade

The Viking Surfers + Corey & The Tribe
Oct 31, All Ages + Free Event, starts at 8PM
The Trailer Park Mall
5805 Airport Way South

We’ll kick it off with the bluesy folk vibes of Corey & the Tribe, then the Viking Surfers will be doing songs from their forthcoming EP Hell on Waves!

Frankenstein TNT + The Heebie Jeebies
Oct 31, 21+, show starts 9pm

Jules Maes Saloon
5919 Airport Way S 

Featuring Seattle’s rockin’ surf villains Frankenstein TNT—a quintet from Hell with their own brand of B movie and fetish spookiness, and the 100% pure Halloween mayhem of The Heebie Jeebies—surf guitar, spooky organ, bluesy bass and R&B beats doing 40 years of creepy classics.

Post Pike Scaryoke Karaoke & Costume Contest!
Oct 31, All Ages, starts around 7pm

Post Pike Cafe & Bar
5701 Airport Way S

Post Pike’s Karaoke night HALLOWEEN EDITION! There will be costume contests, horror trivia, movies, and of course scary costume KARAOKE!

2nd Annual Halloween Pinball Tournament @ GPA!
(Oct 31, All Ages, starts at 7PM)

Georgetown Pizza & Arcade
5513 Airport Way S

Game it up for the second annual Halloween Pinball extravaganza! 6:30 PM Sign-up, 7PM Start – 5 founds of match play with $50 for best costume, a $200 prize pot, and raffle prizes!

Who are our sponsors?

We wish to acknowledge and thank our generous sponsors, without whom this Parade would not have been possible. The Halloween Parade is proud to be sponsored by 100% local businesses from Seattle.  Additional funding provided by the Neighborhood Matching Fund from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

What is GTAAC?

A vibrant neighborhood with a high concentration of creatives and a unique fabrication-heavy culture, Georgetown is one of Seattle’s most lively Arts & Cultural Districts. The Georgetown Association of Arts & Culture Association (GTAAC) supports artistic and cultural participation in our historic neighborhood by advancing creative opportunities, advocating for our creative economy, and strengthening important networks for the residents, arts professionals, and cultural organizations of Georgetown.

II. Traffic

What streets will be affected by the Parade?

• S Warsaw St, east of Carleton, west of Ellis
• Carleton Ave S, north of Warsaw & south of S Eddy St.
• Flora Ave S, South of Eddy to Warsaw
• S Bailey St between Flora and 13th (this will be an SPD supervised crossing to allow traffic to flow through S Bailey St.)
• 12th Ave S between Bailey and Vale
• Airport Way between S Vale St. and S Carstens St.

How long will Airport Way S be closed?

5:30PM to 8:30PM

If I live on the Parade route, do I have to move my car?

We advise anyone on the Parade route who is concerned about potential damage to relocate their vehicle from 5:30PM – 8:30PM. No parking signs along the route will go up about 72 hours in advance.  On Halloween Night, Sections of Flora Ave S, Carleton Ave S, and portions of Eddy St and Warsaw St will be inaccessible from around 5:30PM – 8:00PM. Driving in and out of of these areas will not be possible during the Parade.

For the sake of convenience to residents, it’s completely fine with the Parade to leave your car put if you don’t need it while the Parade is going by. The only exception to that is S Eddy St. S Eddy St is very narrow, and we would like to avoid any possibility of damage to local vehicles. If you’re parked on S. Eddy St., please relocate your vehicle during the Parade. 

In an effort to minimize disruption to the neighborhood, we will aim to pack up our street barriers as soon as possible, so it is likely that these streets will become accessible again sooner than 8:00PM.

Who can I contact with questions about street closures?

Please email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org with any questions.

III. Participation

I want to be in the Parade! What do I do?

Being in the Parade is absolutely free. We are trying to finalize a Parade formation – so if you’re interested in marching, fill out this form and send a note to events@georgetown-arts-culture.org so we don’t miss your registration!

Can I just show up on Halloween Night?

What types of costumes are permitted?

No restrictions on costumes. Rather than give you a huge list of “don’ts,” we ask everyone attending the parade to follow the rule: “be kind, take care of each other.” Costumes can be scary, gory, racy, sexy, filthy, glamorous, and gruesome as long as they aren’t intended to make others feel seriously unsafe.

Please be respectful — dressing up as a particular culture can be easily offensive if you’re not part of that culture. For example, that means it is never okay to dress up in blackface, wear something transphobic, discriminatory, based on or promoting discrimination, hate, or violence against a particular group.

In other words, don’t dress as anything that may haunt another member of your community (or could one day come back to haunt you).

In the interest of public safety, where are some obvious don’ts that bear mentioning:

• Please do not bring real firearms (fictional/costume and/or props are fine)
• Please do not bring open flames or fireworks
• Please no religious proselytization

Can the Parade help me with my costume?

Yes! Er… we did? GTAAC held 3 free public arts education workshops in October. This year’s workshops included large prop building, float building, cosplay armor, special fx makeup & prosthetics, and how to walk like a zombie. If you didn’t know about these, sign up for GTAAC’s mailing list to get future updates.

I want to build a float for the Parade! Where do I start?

Fill out this form fill out this form and email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org.

Check out this page for requirements. Email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org if you need some advice on float construction. We also have a store of spare casters and wheels we can donate to your float.

What types of floats are permitted and what are the requirements?

A float can be anything. In most cases, they’re moving stages or installations pulled along by some means of locomotion. Some floats are giant art pieces with or without movements.

No restrictions on float construction other than height & width (9’ H x 8’ W). Float length can range because cars are different sizes. Just bear in mind floats must be able to make it around one-lane rotundas, which are about 10’ wide.

No restrictions on float locomotion. Floats can be pulled by cars, people, bicycles, motorbikes, or sit on top of cars & trucks (or something else!)

Can the Parade help me with my float?

We held a really cool large prop workshop where a few folks learned how to build large-scale props out of inexpensive materials like cardboard. We didn’t get critical mass for the float construction workshop, but, we can still offer advice.

Can I perform at the Parade?

Yes! If you are a performer of virtually any kind, we definitely you to showcase your talent in the Parade! Email us directly at events@georgetown-arts-culture.org and we will figure out how you can join in!

IV. Volunteering

How do I volunteer to help out in the Parade?

Super easy – email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org and we will contact you. Thank you in advance! We need an army to pull this off. You may also fill out this form but we’re pretty close to Halloween and might miss it.

For Halloween night volunteers, time commitment is small — basically 3 hours or so on Halloween night. There will be one organizing meeting Sunday 10/27 at 10AM.

How do I join the parade organizing team?

Email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org and we will contact you immediately.

V. Safety

Are there ADA accessible places to watch the Parade?

Yes – the Trailer Park Mall should all be wheelchair and walker accessible. There will also be ADA accessible restrooms.

Who do I talk to if I need help?

Find anyone with an orange security vest, and let them know. Our security team will be posted at street barricades and throughout the route. You may also contact any member of the volunteer or organizing staff or email events@georgetown-arts-culture.org.

Where do I go if I get separated from a family member?

We’ll take any separated family members, including children or elders to our tent at the Trailer Park Mall (5805 Airport Way S) or to the Mini Mart City Park (Ellis Ave S & S Warsaw St, across from the Steamplant). Our team will be in communication all evening and assist you in finding your party.

What’s our evacuation route if there is an emergency?

In the unfortunate event of a weather, public health, or public safety emergency, Parade organizers will be leading everyone to a safe evacuation zone while we await an all-clear from authorities. SPD will also be nearby for the duration of the Parade supervising the Bailey St. crossing. If you feel unsafe, or observe anything that makes you feel potentially unsafe, please contact one of our Parade organizers, Security team members, or an SPD officer.

VI. Weather

How bad will the rain be during the Parade?

• The rain will be light (0.02 inches).
  • For an idea of what 0.02 inches of rain feels like visit this website.
  • The lowest they go is 0.05, so play that video–we’re expecting about half of that as a ballpark.
  • So an umbrella, hat, or a hood, and you’ll be dry.
  • But as you know, Seattle is Seattle. Think positive thoughts.
• See the hourly forecast at the Weather Underground.
• This is the forecast as of 7:43 AM PT today 10/31/24:

Time Conditions Temp. Feels Like Precip Amount Wind Humidity
3:00 pm Cloudy 51 °F 49 °F 14 % 0.00 in 6 mph S 72 %
4:00 pm Cloudy 52 °F 49 °F 21 % 0.00 in 7 mph S 73 %
5:00 pm Showers 51 °F 48 °F 45 % 0.02 in 6 mph S 77 %
6:00 pm Showers 50 °F 47 °F 53 % 0.02 in 6 mph SSE 79 %
7:00 pm Showers 49 °F 47 °F 52 % 0.02 in 5 mph SSE 83 %
8:00 pm Showers 49 °F 47 °F 58 % 0.02 in 5 mph SE 83 %