It's never too early to start planning out October festivities, and this is one festival you won't want to miss.

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Spooky Season

Halloween may still be several months away, but it's never too early to begin planning all the spooky trips I want to make during October.  One of those trips will be up to Indianapolis one of the largest Halloween festivals in the country.

The Irvington Halloween Festival

Located in Indianapolis is Irvington which is a historic district of the city.  Every year the Irvington Community Council hosts the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival.  This year will be the 78th annual Historic Irvington Halloween Festival.  According to their website, the event started on Halloween night, 1927 with a parade of costumed adults and children. The Halloween festival and parade had many ups and downs over the decades. Eventually, the festival stopped for a few years altogether.  Then in 1970, the annual festival returned.

Witches, banshees, and little goblins would not return to Irvington until Saturday, October 31, 1970, when windows in the business district were once again filled with images of Halloween.

The full festival history is quite fascinating, you can find it here. 

A Week-long Celebration

What makes the Irvington Halloween Festival unique, is it's an entire week-long celebration.  The annual festival includes a masquerade ball, a Halloween parade, a street fair, costume contests, and much more. The dates for 2024 have not yet been announced, but as soon as they are, we will let you know!

Among the Largest Halloween Festivals in the United States

The Irvington Halloween Festival is not only a week-long celebration that's been taking place for nearly 8 decades, it's also considered one of the largest Halloween festivals in the United States.   Now the numbers seem to vary, but according to this article from Only in Your State:

Fun fact: this isn't just one of the longest-running festivals in Indiana. It's also the 2nd largest (and oldest) Halloween festival in the United States. How lucky are we?

When I tried to search online to find out where it is noted as the 2nd largest in the country, I couldn't find that statistic anywhere else, but when I Googled the phrase "2nd largest Halloween Festival" the first link that came up was a link to the Irvington Halloween Festival, so I'll take that as a sign that it's among the largest Halloween festivals in the United States.