Haddonfield's Halloween Weekend Starts Friday on Kings Highway

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so Haddonfield gets two nights of it. The borough has steadily made those nights very different. On Friday, October 30, the Haddonfield Celebrations Association parade runs down Kings Highway with a set lineup time, a set route and the high school band in front. Saturday on Washington Avenue was a police-supported block party for several years. In 2025 the borough decided to stop closing the street. That leaves Friday as the part of the weekend you can plan around.

Friday night, 6:00 p.m., Chestnut and Kings Highway

The parade follows a familiar order. Costumed kids, plus parents and a few costumed dogs, line up at 6:00 p.m. at Chestnut Street and Kings Highway. The Haddonfield Memorial High School Marching Band leads the march off at 6:30 p.m. The route follows Kings Highway and ends behind Borough Hall.

The sponsor is the Haddonfield Celebrations Association, which lists the parade for October 30. No route change for 2026 has been published, so plan on the usual setup. Get to the Chestnut Street end before 6:00 if your child is marching. If you're only watching, stand anywhere along Kings Highway between the lineup and Borough Hall.

The parade is the largest Halloween event this weekend with its details already published. It belongs to a local volunteer group, it runs on the downtown's main street, and its schedule is fixed. Saturday night has none of that structure, and the reason goes back two Octobers.

How Washington Avenue outgrew its own block party

Washington Avenue has been Haddonfield's big Halloween street for years. When 6abc visited in October 2025, the houses had giant spiders and witches on them, plus a Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and neighbors described handing out thousands of pieces of candy. Police Chief Jason Cutler told 6abc that several years earlier some residents asked for a street closure. The department said yes and began shutting about eight blocks for a block-party setup, complete with a police tent.

The crowds grew far past what that setup was built for. Patch reported that, according to Mayor Dave Siedell, more than 5,000 people trick-or-treated on Washington Avenue in 2024. Cutler told 6abc that the event spread on social media and drew visitors well beyond Haddonfield.

In 2025 the borough changed course. Cutler made the call. In a statement reported by Patch, he cited problems caused by earlier road closures and "the department's current lack of resources to safely manage an event of that scale in a residential setting." South Jersey Media reported that Cutler, borough administrator Sharon McCullough and Commissioner of Public Safety Frank Troy met with residents before deciding to keep the avenue open. The hope was that trick-or-treaters would spread out across the borough. Cutler summed up the borough's role to South Jersey Media:

"We don't regulate Halloween, we just regulate road closures … People are going to have to trick or treat from the sidewalks like every other town or every other place in Haddonfield."

Siedell gave the same reasoning on social media, as quoted by Patch: "This isn't about canceling Halloween - it's about protecting our whole community." He also told 6abc that an open street meant emergency services could reach the block if needed. He said that would have been impossible during the two previous years of closures. Neighbors on the avenue disagreed, according to 6abc. Some said a change was overdue. Others expected the crowds to come anyway, with cars now moving through.

So the borough no longer stages Washington Avenue as an event. On Halloween night it is now a decorated residential street that stays open to traffic, like any other in town.

Where Saturday, October 31 stands

Here is how Halloween night 2025 was set up, according to Patch and South Jersey Media:

• Washington Avenue stayed open to vehicle traffic during trick-or-treating hours
• Sidewalks stayed open for trick-or-treating and parking was restricted
• Extra officers were assigned to the avenue to monitor and assist
• The borough recommended trick-or-treating from 3 to 6 p.m.

Those were the 2025 arrangements. Don't assume they carry over to 2026. The commissioners' October 5, 2026 work-session agenda listed "Discuss Halloween hours" as item eight. The same agenda included planning for an October 26 commissioners' meeting. Before the doorbell starts ringing Saturday, check the Borough of Haddonfield website for the final 2026 hours and any parking notice for Washington Avenue.

The calendar matters too. In 2025, Halloween fell on a Friday, a school and work night, when the recommended window was 3 to 6 p.m. This year it's a Saturday, the night after the parade, so families have a full free day. Any hours the borough sets for 2026 will cover a very different kind of evening.

The smaller events around the parade

The rest of Haddonfield's Halloween weekend is small and close to home. Most of it happens at the Haddonfield Public Library, 60 N. Haddon Ave., and the library programs require registration.

1. Thursday, Oct. 29, 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. The library's Vintage Style Pumpkin Bucket craft, in the library classroom. Registration required.
2. Thursday, Oct. 29, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Joey Rihl's Halloween Still "Unlife" drawing workshop at Markeim Arts Center, 104 Walnut Street.
3. Friday, Oct. 30, 6:00 lineup, 6:30 step-off. The Halloween parade on Kings Highway.
4. Saturday, Oct. 31, 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. Trick or Treating Storytime, held outdoors at Library Point. Kids come in costume and bring a bag or bucket for treats afterward. Registration required.

If you have the Historical Society of Haddonfield on your list, its Haunted Haddonfield walking tours from Greenfield Hall have already ended. The 2026 dates ran from October 9 through October 24. The Society has also corrected a listing that showed a Haunted Mansion tour on October 30. It says it has not hosted that tour since 2019.

Every item on that list runs on a sign-up sheet or a published start time, and the Friday parade is the largest of them. Each one is held at a library, an arts center or on Kings Highway. Washington Avenue is the one piece with no organizer.

The name the movies borrowed

Each October, people outside the area remember that the town in John Carpenter's Halloween is called Haddonfield. The film's Haddonfield is a fictional town in Illinois. Co-writer Debra Hill was born and raised in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and the Courier-Post reported that she used the name as a tribute to her hometown.

Downtown businesses do play on the link. Downtown Haddonfield's promotion for its Halloween Night Market Part V, held October 23 on Kings Highway and Kings Court with more than 50 vendors and artists, referenced the town's fictional Michael Myers connection. That market took place the week before Halloween, in the business district rather than on a residential block.

Four weeks from costumes to candlelight

After Saturday, downtown's next big date is Friday, November 27. The Partnership for Haddonfield's 2026 events calendar lists that day as the holiday launch, with Candlelight Shopping, the Tree Lighting, the Santa Parade and the Cocoa Walk. Times and routes haven't been published yet. In June the Partnership opened bids for 2026 holiday lighting services for the downtown tree lighting, so the program is in motion.

Like Friday's Halloween parade, the November launch is organized by a local group, runs on Kings Highway and keeps a set schedule. For now, put Friday at 6:00 p.m., Chestnut Street and Kings Highway, on the calendar. Check the borough's site before Saturday night.

If you have a family move, a downsizing decision or a listing coming up after the holidays, I'm glad to talk through it as calmly and carefully as a good parade runs. Amy Reuter works with Haddonfield neighbors from Kings Highway to the shore. Let's Connect.