ALLENTOWN Pa. — Thousands gathered for Allentown’s revamped Halloween parade Saturday, and many said they liked the new format.
City officials last month announced that the parade, one of the oldest for Halloween in the country, would this year be a “walking parade” instead of a traditional parade with floats.
- Allentown’s historic Halloween Parade looked more like a festival this year, with residents able to walk along Hamilton Street visiting stations hosted by local organizations and businesses
- Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said while some people were angry about the changes to the parade, people told him Saturday that they enjoyed it
- Tuerk said the city will likely continue with the new format of the parade in the future
The event felt more like a festival than a parade, with Hamilton Street closed off from Sixth Street to Ninth so visitors could walk along the street and visit different stations held by local organizations and businesses.
“The feedback that I've gotten from a lot of the people who participate is that this year, they have a chance to really engage. They're not rushed. They're not being pushed along on the parade route. So it's been successes all around.”Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
Allentown resident Hana Cannon, who was born and raised in the city, said while she liked the old parade format, she thinks the new format is a good change.
“This is more for children and parents and everybody to get involved,” Cannon said. “So I feel like this is amazing.”
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk rode around in a golf cart, handing out candy. He said some residents were angry about the change in the format of the parade, but on Saturday, no one told him they wanted the parade to go back to the way it was before.
“The feedback that I've gotten from a lot of the people who participate is that this year, they have a chance to really engage,” Tuerk said. “They're not rushed. They're not being pushed along on the parade route. So it's been successes all around.”
Allentown resident Helen Rivera agreed with the feedback Tuerk has heard. She said unlike in past years, kids have enough time to take everything in.
“It's a chance for all the kids to get candy and actually see everything because you know, you miss some things,” Rivera said, referring to traditional parades. “The kids just sit there and just look for the candy when they throw it in [the crowd]. [Now] they actually get to see the bands play and stop and look at them and get everything.”
Many of the stations had candy, so kids could walk along and put candy in their bags as if they were trick-or-treating. Bethlehem resident Priscilla Bejaran said she enjoyed how safe the event felt compared to normal trick-or-treating.
“My kids were just begging me to go do trick-or-treat night and I didn't want to do it at night,” Bejaran said. “So this is the best option.”
Jane Heft, chairwoman of the Allentown Arts Commission, was host of one of the stations at the event, handing out candy and dog treats. She said she thinks the new format is a great way for the community to get together and celebrate.
“I'm meeting so many community members and seeing everybody come out – parents and children dressed up together. It's amazing,” Heft said.
Heft said an hour and a half into the event that she already had gone through eight giant bags of candy.
Tuerk said his office likely will continue the new format for the parade in future years.
“I think everybody's thinking about little improvements that we can make to future years,” he said. “But I think that it'd be hard to say no to doing this in the future.”
The Allentown Halloween parade was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic but returned in 2021. That parade cost the city tens of thousands of dollars.
City officials have not released a cost for this year's event.
