Greenpoint Children's Halloween Parade: Free and Short

Greenpoint's children's Halloween parade is free to join and short enough for a three-year-old: on Saturday, October 31, 2026, costumed kids gather at St. John's Lutheran Church, 155 Milton Street, march along Manhattan Avenue and are back at the church by 12:15 pm. The nonprofit Town Square has organized it every year since its founding in 2004, and 2026 is the 23rd edition. For North Brooklyn families searching for a halloween parade near me, this is the morning one.

Town Square is a volunteer, community-based 501(c)(3) in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, also behind the Go Green Brooklyn festival, the spring egg hunt and the SummerStarz outdoor movies. The Halloween parade has been on its calendar since year one, and its scale is deliberately small: a single lap of Manhattan Avenue with costumed kids, parents, strollers and volunteers, timed so toddlers are home before nap time.

Greenline, the North Brooklyn community paper, described the 21st edition in 2024 as filling Manhattan Avenue with aliens, astronauts, Disney princesses, Star Wars characters, a whole rattle of skeletons and even a banana. That is the right expectation for 2026: homemade and store-bought costumes, siblings in matching themes, and a lot of grandparents on the sidewalk.

The 2026 parade starts and ends at 155 Milton Street, the St. John's Lutheran Church building in north Greenpoint. The city's street-event permit, number 983410, covers noon to 1 pm on Manhattan Avenue between Milton Street and Driggs Avenue, and listings describe kids marching up Manhattan Avenue and returning to Milton Street at 12:15 pm. Put those together and the march is a quick loop around noon, not a long procession.

That timing means arriving at Milton Street by about 11:45 am if you want to march, especially with a stroller. In 2024 the route started at McCarren Park and Driggs Avenue and ran up to Greenpoint Avenue before looping back; in 2026 everything centers on the church, which makes it easy to combine the parade with one of the party sessions held in the same building.

Alongside the free parade, Town Square runs a ticketed Halloween party at the church from 10 am to 3 pm, split into 50-minute sessions at 10 am, 11 am and 1 pm. Each session includes live music, arts and crafts, games, a spooky movie and candy, and you pick your time when you buy the ticket online in advance.

The smart combination for a family with one young child is the 11 am session followed straight away by the noon parade, since you are already in the building. If your kids are older and want more time outside, skip the party and spend the morning trick-or-treating at the shops on Manhattan Avenue before the march.

Manhattan Avenue is Greenpoint's main shopping street, and a morning parade lines up perfectly with its bakeries and diners. Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop at 727 Manhattan Avenue is the neighborhood institution for a pre-parade doughnut, and its counter seats go quickly on a Saturday morning. Three Decker Diner at 695 Manhattan Avenue is the sit-down option for pancakes with kids still in costume.

Baker's Dozen at 788 Manhattan Avenue and Cafe Riviera at 830 Manhattan Avenue are useful for coffee and pastries closer to the route, and Mario's Pizza at 940 Manhattan Avenue works for a post-parade slice once the 12:15 finish clears. If you plan to march at noon, eat by 11:15 am so nobody is stuck in a line when the kids should be lining up.

Msgr. McGolrick Park at 744 Nassau Avenue, bounded by Russell and Monitor Streets between Nassau and Driggs Avenues, is a ten-minute walk from Manhattan Avenue and the best place to let costumed kids run off their candy. Its curving paths and old trees make for better costume photos than a busy commercial street, and the playground gives parents a place to sit.

If the kids still have energy in the afternoon, the evening is free for trick-or-treating on the brownstone and rowhouse blocks around Milton, Noble and Kent Streets, or for a trip to a later Halloween parade elsewhere in Brooklyn.

The G train is the only subway serving Greenpoint. Greenpoint Avenue station is the closest to Milton Street, about a five-minute walk, and Nassau Avenue station is useful if you are combining the parade with McGolrick Park. Driving is not worth it: Manhattan Avenue closes for the permit window and Saturday street parking near the church is tight.

Plan for the weather, too. The National Weather Service's normal high for October 31 in Central Park is 59°F with a normal low of 46°F, so a noon parade is usually comfortable, but a thin layer under the costume helps if the wind comes off the East River. Bring a tote for candy and crafts, since the party sends kids home with both.

This is a short, sweet neighborhood parade, and it is over almost as soon as it starts, so do not travel across the city just for the march. It is perfect if you live in North Brooklyn, have kids under eight, and want a Halloween outing that fits between breakfast and nap. With older kids who want floats and giant puppets, skip it and save energy for the evening parades on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan or Seventh Avenue in Park Slope.

The party tickets are the one part to plan ahead. Sessions run for 50 minutes each and are sold in advance online, so pick the slot that lines up with your child's nap rather than the one closest to the parade.

Date: Saturday, October 31, 2026. Parade: around noon, returning to 155 Milton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222 at 12:15 pm; permit window noon to 1 pm on Manhattan Avenue between Milton Street and Driggs Avenue. Parade cost: free to join. Party: 10 am to 3 pm in 50-minute sessions at 10 am, 11 am and 1 pm, tickets sold online in advance. Organizer: Town Square, a Greenpoint and Williamsburg nonprofit founded in 2004. Train: G to Greenpoint Avenue.

Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a kid-friendly brunch on Manhattan Avenue or a quieter trick-or-treat block in Greenpoint for the afternoon.