Glen Ellyn Halloween Parade 2026: Your October 24 Event Guide

On Saturday, October 24, 2026, two organizations run three events in two parts of town, and the times barely overlap. The Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce runs the Halloween Festival & Parade downtown from 9:30 a.m. to noon. At noon, the Glen Ellyn Park District starts Boo Bash and the Autumn Craft Fair at 800 St. Charles Road. The whole day works as a relay, and the parts with real limits have to be handled before the day itself. Boo Bash requires registration for children and may fill. Halloween house displays have to be registered by October 14 to get on the voting map, and ticket sales for the Witches Walk close that same morning.

How The Day Runs, Hour By Hour

The downtown program ends right as Boo Bash starts. A family with a child between 2 and 10 can do all three, but only if the Boo Bash spot is booked ahead of time.

The Deadlines Come Before The Day

Today is October 4, so most of the month's sign-ups are still open. In date order, here is what's coming and what each one needs:

1. October 10, 3 to 7 p.m. OAKtoberfest at Lake Ellyn Park, 645 Lenox Road. The Park District lists it as free.
2. October 14. Last day to register a house for the 2026 Downtown Glen Ellyn Halloween Home Decor Map. Registration opened October 1 and takes a form plus a photo.
3. October 14, 10 a.m. Ticket sales close for the 21+ Witches Walk, and the organizers say tickets may sell out before then.
4. October 15, 4 to 9 p.m. The Witches Walk itself, downtown. Tickets are $25 and cover drinks, storefront activities and a hat contest. Voting on the decor map opens the same day.
5. No cutoff posted. Boo Bash registration. Only children register. The Park District's Boo Bash page gives no closing date but warns the event may fill.
6. October 24. Parade, Boo Bash, craft fair.
7. October 25. Decor map voting closes.
8. October 26. Decor contest winners are announced and get yard signs. That Monday evening, the Park District holds a free Trunk or Treat from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Main Street Recreation Center, 501 Hill Avenue.

The decor contest has four categories, all chosen by community vote: Best Overall Halloween Spirit, Spookiest House on the Block, Most Creative Halloween Display and Monster Mash. Voting runs October 15 through 25, so any house on the map gets seen during parade weekend. A house registered on October 15 is too late for the map.

The Morning Downtown

According to the Chamber's event page, families meet at the Glenwood Station Lot at the corner of Main Street and Crescent Boulevard. The Glenbard West Drumline leads the parade east to Forest Avenue. The route then turns north on Forest, loops the block via Pennsylvania Avenue and finishes on Main Street. Crafts and games are set up at the finish. After that come the costume contests, trick-or-treating across the downtown business area and the window paintings done by local scouts. The Chamber also mentions a Halloween juggler.

The Chamber describes the costume contests as being for "humans and their furry friends." Glenbard Wire's September 17 preview describes categories for children and pets. Neither source gives finer divisions or says contest entries need registration. The Chamber also hasn't published a list of participating businesses. In practice, you'll know which businesses are participating once you walk past them.

One caution if you're searching online: Patch's parade preview from last year is about October 25, 2025, and it still shows up in results. The 2026 date is October 24.

The Noon Handoff To St. Charles Road

At noon the day moves to Ackerman, which hosts two different events at once.

Boo Bash is the structured one. It's built for children ages 2 to 10 with an adult and includes a costume-friendly trick-or-treat trail, character appearances, Halloween snacks and a pumpkin patch. It runs 90 minutes. A family coming from the parade, which wraps up downtown at noon, will likely arrive after it has started.

The Autumn Craft Fair is the flexible one. It's free, open to all ages and runs four hours, until 4 p.m., at Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center. Local artisans sell handmade goods. If your group includes kids too old for Boo Bash or adults who skipped the parade, the craft fair gives them a reason to come along. The Park District also notes that vendor tables may already be full, so if you sell crafts and were planning to apply, that window may have passed.

Back-to-back, the two organizations' events add up to about six and a half hours of programming. Nobody has to choose between the parade and the Park District events.

Where To Sit Down Between Stops

Two downtown restaurants opened this year, and both are close to the parade route.

A Tavola by Mancini, at 504 Crescent Blvd., served its first diners on February 10, 2026, Patch reported. It's on the same street as parade staging.

Maplewood Public House took over the former Two Hound Red Brewing Co. space at 486 Pennsylvania Ave., a block the parade circles. The 7,850-square-foot space has an expanded kitchen and on-site brewing. The menu leans Polish-inspired. Entrees include leniwe kluski, or lazy dumplings, with farmer's cheese, cream, bacon and peas, plus boar bolognese bucatini. Meat-free options include soy corn dogs and a cauliflower sandwich. On September 26 it hosted the new Oktoberfest after-party for the Downtown Glen Ellyn Craft Beer Crawl, which started at The Beer Cellar, 488 Crescent Blvd.

For a quick stop with kids in costume, Glen Ellyn Candy & Cones at 550 Crescent Blvd. is the former Glen Ellyn Sweet Shoppe under a new name. It has been open under that name since late June. Out on Roosevelt Road, Bamboo Boba at 531 Roosevelt Rd. has been serving boba tea, smoothies and bubble waffles since a late-February soft opening.

Roosevelt Road also lost a regular stop this summer. Danby's Station Cafe at 750 Roosevelt Rd. closed after more than 23 years, Patch reported August 3. A drive-through-only Dutch Bros. is proposed for the site, with a 1,250-square-foot building and two drive-through lanes. A public hearing was scheduled for June 25. Local coverage hasn't confirmed an approval since.

The Downtown Under The Parade Stays Put Through The Holidays

The parade's staging lot sits at the corner of the downtown block the Village plans to rebuild, but not yet. The Village's September 16 update on the Metra station and pedestrian underpass covers Phase 4 of the downtown streetscape project. That phase includes Crescent Boulevard between Main and Park and Forest Avenue between Duane and Pennsylvania. According to that update, Phase II Engineering, which covers final plans, specifications and cost estimates, is about 95% complete, and design should be substantially complete by the end of 2026. Bidding could happen in summer 2027, and construction could start "as early as fall 2027." Union Pacific easement talks will help set that schedule, and the Village expects to make its offer by the end of 2026.

That means October's route and the rest of the 2026 calendar take place on the current streets. Ladies Night Out runs Thursdays, November 5 and 12. The free Holiday Walk & Tree Lighting is Friday, November 27. The street opens at 5 p.m., Santa lights the tree at 6, and Santa photos and hot cocoa at the fire station run from 6:30 to 7:30.

My advice for this October is the same thing I tell sellers about a listing launch: what happens on October 24 depends on what you lock in before it. That means the Boo Bash registration and the October 14 decor map and Witches Walk cutoffs. If you're weighing whether to put your house on the market this fall or wait for spring, Mike Thurman can go over how a Glen Ellyn listing calendar lines up against the town's own. Schedule a Consultation.