Park Slope's Halloween Runs on a Street-by-Street Clock This Year

The Park Slope Civic Council's Children's Halloween Parade steps off at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. The first car-free block in the neighborhood opens eight hours before that. The last one stays closed to cars until 10 p.m. Between those two times, each block runs on its own schedule. Families who plan the day around the parade alone miss most of it.

The 2026 theme is "The Haunted Forest of Brooklyn," and an orange and black vintage Ford leads the march. The rest of the day runs on separate block-by-block hours, and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music has just opened a second building near Grand Army Plaza, four blocks from its original home on Seventh Avenue.

The car-free blocks, sorted by when they open

The blocks below are on NYC DOT's Trick-or-Streets program, and the hours come from the 2026 street roundup by Brooklyn Bridge Parents. Each block chose its own window. Sorted by start time, they look like this:

• 10:30 a.m. Polhemus Place, Garfield Place to Carroll Street, car-free until 9 p.m.
• 11 a.m. Montgomery Place, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue, until 8 p.m.
• Noon 17th Street, Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue, until 9 p.m.
• 1 p.m. 8th Street, Eighth Avenue to Prospect Park West, and 11th Street, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue, both until 8 p.m.
• 3 p.m. Garfield Place, Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue, until 10 p.m.
• 3:30 p.m. 21st Street, Seventh Avenue to Sixth Avenue, until 9 p.m.
• 6:30 p.m. 14th Street, Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue, until 9 p.m., for the parade

Polhemus Place and Montgomery Place are car-free from late morning, so families with toddlers who nap in the afternoon can trick-or-treat early. Garfield Place opens later in the afternoon and stays closed to cars an hour after any other Park Slope block. The same guide also lists businesses on Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, 3rd Street between Fifth and Seventh Avenues, and 7th Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues as stops on the route, but it gives no closure hours for any of them.

For stoops beyond these blocks, the Park Slope Pulse runs an interactive 2026 Brooklyn Spooky Stoops map. More than 30 locations have been added since it launched. The giant pumpkin display at 69 Eighth Avenue, listed in the Brooklyn Bridge Parents Halloween guide, is up through October 31.

The Conservatory's four blocks

The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music takes part in the day twice, and this is the first year it does so with two buildings.

On October 9, BKCM held the ribbon-cutting for BKCM Prospect Park West, at One Prospect Park West near Grand Army Plaza. Brooklyn Paper reported that the new building is four blocks from the Conservatory's original home at 58 Seventh Avenue, which opened 129 years ago. The 12,500-square-foot campus has 13 soundproofed studios, a 1,400-square-foot performance hall named for the Joel Foundation, and a community space. The whole building is ADA-accessible and sensory-friendly. The $17.8 million project went from groundbreaking to opening in just under a year. Executive Director Chad Cooper said it had been about eight years in the making. The new building is also the home of BKCM's Music Therapy Institute, which Brooklyn Paper reports is the largest music therapy program in New York City, with more than 3,000 clients at more than 50 sites.

On Halloween, the Conservatory's events take place at the original Seventh Avenue building and at the parade's finish. Boo!KCM runs from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Conservatory garden at 58 Seventh Avenue. It's free with an RSVP, and Brooklyn Bridge Parents describes it as live music, candy, water and a place to sit on the trick-or-treating route. Boo!KCM ends half an hour before the parade steps off. After the parade, the Conservatory leads a Halloween singalong outside the Old Stone House at 7:15 p.m. The Civic Council's own parade page also promises spooky music from the Conservatory when marchers reach the Old Stone House.

So the same institution hosts the late-afternoon rest stop and the music at the end of the parade, from a building on the trick-or-treating route and a new one near the park.

Saturday, in order

Combining the street hours, the Conservatory's events and the parade gives this sequence for October 31:

1. 10 a.m. Free "Creepy Crawly Halloween" activities begin at the Prospect Park Boathouse and run until 4 p.m.
2. 10:30 a.m. Polhemus Place closes to cars, the first Park Slope block to do so.
3. 11 a.m. Montgomery Place follows. In Prospect Park, the Haunted Hotel at Lakeside runs a Halloween schedule from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
4. Noon The Old Stone House opens free public hours until 4 p.m. 17th Street goes car-free. The Prospect Park Carousel's Haunted Carousel runs noon to 5 p.m.
5. 1 p.m. 8th Street and 11th Street close to cars, both on the Prospect Park West end of the neighborhood.
6. 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Garfield Place, then 21st Street.
7. 4 p.m. Boo!KCM opens in the garden at 58 Seventh Avenue. The Boathouse and Old Stone House daytime hours both end at this point.
8. 6 p.m. Parade marchers line up at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street.
9. 6:30 p.m. The parade steps off, goes north on Seventh Avenue, turns left on 3rd Street and ends at the Old Stone House in Washington Park.
10. 7:15 p.m. Halloween singalong outside the Old Stone House.
11. 8 to 10 p.m. The car-free blocks reopen to cars one by one, from 8 p.m. on Montgomery Place, 8th Street and 11th Street to 10 p.m. on Garfield Place.

Around 4 p.m., the schedule moves from the park and the historic house to the streets. That's the stretch when families walk from the park side of the neighborhood toward Seventh Avenue, and it's also when Boo!KCM opens on the way.

The week before Halloween

The Old Stone House, where the parade ends, holds its own costume event six days earlier. On Sunday, October 25, it hosts free Spooky Story Time from noon to 1 p.m., then a free Halloween Costume Showcase and Mini-Parade from 1 to 2 p.m. The mini-parade goes around Washington Park and through the playground, starting from the Old Stone House of Brooklyn at 336 Third Street. The same morning, "Mozart for Munchkins: Boograss Spooktacular!" is listed from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., but tickets show as unavailable.

The Prospect Park Alliance's Halloween page lists a free reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" at Lefferts Historic House from 2 to 4 p.m. on October 25. On Thursday, October 29, "Sing with Suzi in the Park: Halloween Costume Day" runs from 10 to 11 a.m. at JJ Byrne Playground next to the Old Stone House. It's free and aimed at ages 0 to 5. The Haunted Carousel runs Thursday through Sunday, October 29 to November 1, from noon to 5 p.m. Rides cost $3, or $13 for five tickets.

The Fall Festival at Lakeside, at the LeFrak Center at 171 East Drive, has the longest run of the season. It lists October 9 to November 1 and includes a pumpkin patch, a corn maze and games. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and 3 to 6 p.m. on the weekdays it's open. It's usually closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but the Haunted Hotel opens October 27 and 28 from 6 to 10 p.m. The operator's page already records a rain delay on the October 12 holiday, so check it the day of your visit.

This weekend's subway change

The G train affects this weekend more than Halloween. The MTA has suspended G service between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue from 9:30 p.m. Friday, October 23, to 10 a.m. Monday, October 26. During that window, the F serves the Park Slope stops, including 4 Av-9 St, 7 Av and 15 St-Prospect Park. That's the weekend of the Old Stone House costume showcase and the Lefferts reading. Check the MTA's live alerts before you go, since weekend service plans can change after they're posted.

If you'd like help with a Park Slope move or sale this fall, The De Niro Team can take you through the neighborhood block by block. Work With Us.