On Saturday, Oct. 24, downtown Anaheim hosts two free events on the same streets. The Anaheim Fall Festival and classic car show run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Center Greens and along Center Street Promenade. Three hours later, the Halloween Parade steps off at 7 p.m. Between the two, road closures go up around the parade route. The City Hall lot gets sealed. An overflow lot opens about a 10-minute walk from the route. Families who treat this as one long day out can end up with a car they can't move, or they arrive at 6:30 p.m. with nowhere to park.
The Day, Hour by Hour
The Anaheim Fall Festival posts its schedule across separate pages for the festival, the car show and the parade. Put together, Saturday looks like this:
- 10:00 a.m. The festival opens at Center Greens and the car show opens on Center Street Promenade. The Tone Slingers play the car show stage.
- 10:00 to 10:55 a.m. Registration for the children's costume contest at the Center Greens information booth. It's open to kids 12 and under and capped at the first 300 entries.
- 11:30 a.m. J.P. McDermott & Western Bop on the car show stage.
- 1:00 p.m. Tequila Worms take the stage.
- 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Dog costume contest registration at the same Center Greens booth.
- 2:30 p.m. Trevor Kelly & Mr. Man.
- 3:00 p.m. Parade road closures begin. Nothing enters or leaves the Anaheim City Hall lot until 9 p.m.
- 3:30 p.m. Car show awards.
- 4:00 p.m. The festival and car show close.
- 5:00 p.m. The Anaheim High School overflow lot opens.
- 7:00 p.m. The Halloween Parade begins.
The posted car show lineup and festival activities aren't marked with a year, and the festival page says to check back in October for more details. Treat the performers above as the current lineup, not a final one. The date, the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours and the 7 p.m. parade time are all listed for 2026.
The daytime festival is bigger than a costume contest. The current listing includes Bob Baker Marionettes, King Kukulele, The Deadbeats, My Safe Harbor Folklorico, and drawing lessons with Rene Pompa. Kids can make wooden ornaments and piñatas, visit the Anaheim Public Library STEAM Van, try Halloween scratch art and monster-making, or catch a silent film with live music. The dog contest has three divisions: small dogs under 35 pounds, large dogs over 35 pounds, and group or family entries. Each division is capped at 20 competitors, so a 1:00 p.m. arrival at the booth beats 1:45. Car show registration cost $65 and is already sold out, but walking the cars is free. The car show's beer garden pours Pfeiffer, Beachwood, Radiant and Unsung from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where You Park at 10 a.m. Decides Your Night
Organizers list four parking options, and each behaves differently once the 3 p.m. closures start.
- Center Street Parking Garage. Free, on Center Street across from the Anaheim Downtown Community Center.
- Center City Parking, CarPark 3. Free, near the route along Center Street Promenade.
- Anaheim Parking Center, CarPark 4. Paid.
- Anaheim City Hall lot. Open, but no entry or exit between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. because of the parade closures.
The City Hall lot works if you plan to stay from morning through the parade and leave after 9 p.m. It does not work if you want to drive home for a nap and a costume change between the festival and the parade. A car parked there at 11 a.m. stays there until the closures lift.
If you're doing the day in two trips, the Anaheim High School overflow lot is built for the second one. It opens at 5 p.m., and organizers suggest it for anyone watching along Broadway. They put the walk south to the route at about 10 minutes.
Side streets near the route aren't a backup plan. Organizers say many surrounding neighborhoods are permit parking only, and they ask visitors to respect the people who live there. They also warn of "many road closures the day of the event" but don't publish a street-by-street list, and the event pages don't mention a shuttle. On Saturday, follow the closure signs on the street.
Picking a Spot Along the Route
The parade starts at Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway, turns left onto Center Street Promenade, and then heads down Broadway to its end at Broadway and West Street. That gives you two kinds of viewing. The promenade stretch is closest to the festival grounds and the free garages. The Broadway stretch is where the 5 p.m. overflow lot is meant to help.
The promenade also has the commentary. The parade has volunteer announcers in both languages, and this year they're split along the route:
- English announcer: at the car show stage at Lemon and Center Street Promenade.
- Spanish announcer: in front of CarPark 3 along Center Street Promenade.
For bilingual families, or for grandparents who'd rather hear the floats described in Spanish, the stretch in front of CarPark 3 is the obvious choice. It also sits next to one of the free garages. Organizers add that you don't need to hear an announcer to enjoy the parade. The parade page says the event celebrates "Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, and the Harvest Season," and past photos on the site show a Bisabuela float and the Anaheim High School band on the route.
A Parade Run by Neighbors
The parking notes, the announcer locations and the request to respect permit streets all come from volunteer organizers. The parade page calls it "a beloved hometown tradition run by local volunteers" who partner with organizations across Anaheim each year.
That volunteer setup is how the parade survived. The festival's official history says Anaheim merchants started a Halloween festival with games and costume contests in 1923, and a nighttime parade was added the following year. The Orange County Register reported in 2023 that the parade declined in the 1980s after city funding was dropped. According to the Register, Sally and Frank Feldhaus helped keep the tradition going, and Keith Olesen and other volunteers began reviving it in 2011. The same article identified Jody Daily as president of the nonprofit Anaheim Fall Festival. By the Register's count, the parade held its 100th edition in 2024, which makes this year's parade the second since the centennial.
Visit Anaheim's 2026 Halloween guide lists a Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center exhibit on Halloween history and Anaheim's connection to the holiday, running through Nov. 3. The museum's own page for the show dates from the centennial exhibition in its Carnegie Gallery. The gallery is at 241 S. Anaheim Blvd. Check with Muzeo for current hours and whether the exhibit is on view before building a visit around it.
Filling the Gap, and the Rest of the Week
The three hours between the festival's 4 p.m. close and the 7 p.m. parade are easier to fill now than they were a month ago. Ari's Thai Eatery soft-opened at Farmers Park, 430 S. Anaheim Blvd., on Sept. 26. The Packing District has tentatively set its grand opening for Sunday, Oct. 25, the day after the parade. On the promenade itself, Pastaphony is open at 179 W. Center Street Promenade.
Downtown's Halloween programming keeps going after Saturday:
- Monday, Oct. 26, 7:00 to 8:40 p.m. A free Monster Monday screening of "Hocus Pocus" at Farmers Park, 412 S. Anaheim Blvd.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nightmare on Center Street, a Halloween version of the weekly farmers market with themed vendors, trick-or-treating and costume contests.
Nightmare on Center Street takes over the regular Downtown Anaheim Farmers Market, which runs Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Center Street Promenade in front of The Rinks. That gives kids a second costume outing two days before Halloween, in daylight, at the same spot they'd find on any other Thursday. The market stays on its weekly schedule into November, except Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, when it's closed.
At Team Sanchez, we're always glad when our neighbors share how they do parade day downtown, from which garage they trust to where the family spreads out the blankets. If you're curious which Anaheim streets sit within walking distance of Center Street Promenade and the parade route, we're happy to talk it through with you in English or Spanish. Schedule your free consultation.
