Hocus Pocus Halloween Parade Returns 2025 As All-Day Afair: Schedule of Events

This Main Street Halloween Parade has grown in recent years to be a higher concept seek-and-find for kids and families to expand their exposure from simply a parade route going down the middle of Main Street, to a reason to go into stores to explore. Costume Contests have been added, and an 21+ Adult party at the end. Therefore, an itinerary has been developed with a prize system. Organizers are The Gate House Team at Compass Realty. Any questions should go to them. ALBB is not an organizer of this event. Here’s how it works, according to their flyer:

Saturday, October 25, 2025. Beacon’s Main Street

Full Day Hocus Pocus: 11am-6pm

Each business with an orange pumpkin in the window will have a Black Cat hidden in their store. Find the Black Cat and get your passport stamped. Passports are available at participating stores during normal business hours. Businesses wishing to get involved should contact Gate House Team at Compass Realty.

• Win a Grab Bag for every 15 stamps collected. Depending on how many businesses are participating, maybe a child can get more than one Grab Bag! Beacon’s Main Street is 1 miles long.

• Grab Bag Locations:

  • The Gate House Team at Compass Realty (490 Main Street, down near the mountain, on the way to Chocolate Studio for their ice-cream.)

  • Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties (226 Main Street, Ste 1, on the way to Bagel-ish)

Parade TIme: 3-3:30pm

Lineup is at 2:30pm at Pohill Park (near Bank Square Coffee and Savage Wonder)

Parade kicks off at 3pm and ends at Veterans Place (the Post Office and Towne Crier).

Trunk or Treat from First Responders: 3-6pm

Enjoy a Trunk or Treat at Veterans Place (where the parade ends) with your favorite First Responders (Beacon Volunteer Ambulance (BVAC) and others)

Costume Competition from Happy Valley: 12-7pm

An all-day Family Friendly Halloween Celebration will be happening at Happy Valley from 12-7pm. Happy Valley has old-school arcade style video games inside, as well as beer and drinks.

Costume Contest: 5-5:30pm

A Family Friendly Halloween Costume Contest will commence with prizes for various categories: Best Family Group Costume; Best Costume For Kids (8-12 yo); Best Costume for Teens (13-17 yo)

Halloween Party for Adults 21+: 8pm-1:30am

Another celebration will commence, but this one is for Adults. The Costume Contest for this round is from 10-10:30pm.

Have fun! Get plenty of rest after for the actual night of Halloween.

Beacon's 2019 Kids Hocus Pocus Halloween Parade Canceled Due To Forecasted Rain

Photo Credit: Unknown… from the A Very Beacon Halloween Facebook page.

Saturday in Beacon has been a sunny stunner, but Sunday’s forecast of rain and high winds has triggered the cancellation of the Hocus Pocus Kids Halloween Parade, as announced on their Facebook page. The Beacon Farmers Market, which is still outside at this time of the year, has also canceled due to the predicted high winds.

Main Street Trick-or-Treating is still on, because it was a simple shopping-like event - just walk up and down the sidewalk visiting your friends in the shops from 1 to 3 pm. Shops are usually open when it rains and even snows.

New Schedule For Sunday Hocus Pocus Kids Halloween Parade For 2019

Two trick-or-treaters from last year’s Hocus Pocus Halloween Parade.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

UPDATE [10/26/2019]: The parade has been canceled due to forecasted rain. Details here.

When organizing big events, there is the intended way something is supposed to go, and there is the actual way something happens. And when kids are involved, you can count on something not going as planned.

This year, the organizers of the Hocus Pocus Parade, aka Beacon’s Kids Halloween Parade, are pulling hard for a safer environment for the little trick-or-treaters, who often dart out of the parade unplanned to trick or treat from Main Street shops during the parade. Not this year, said the organizers. After years of moderating a moving street closure (meaning, Main Street is not officially closed, so by the end of the parade, cars and kids are often both in the middle of the street - yup, we see you, angry man in the red pickup truck!), there is a new schedule, and a new official street closure by the City of Beacon:

• Trick-or-Treating on Main Street, 1 to 3 pm: People can go up and down the sidewalks to visit the shops if they have treat hand-outs. This will be like a regular day out on Main Street, where the street is not closed. You’re just mingling with your community out on the sidewalk, making your way up or down the street. Have lunch, collect candy, that kind of thing.

• Parade, 4 pm (line up at 3:30 pm): People should make their way down to the Visitors Center at Polhill Park (at Main Street and Wolcott Avenue, near Bank Square Coffee and Beacon Creamery) at 3:30 pm for the lineup. At 4 pm, the official Kids Halloween Parade begins. Main Street will be closed until the Dummy Light (at East Main Street) while the kids walk. There’s no trick-or-treating during the parade; kids are displaying their costume only. Parade participants can relax on the patio of The Roundhouse, where they’re offering what has become an annual (virgin) cider sip outside on the patio.

With the new street closure came new costs, which almost broke the Hocus Pocus Parade’s bank. The community heard about it, and a local business, A + W Scrap Metal, donated the $380 to pay for the police street closure, according to this week’s Beacon Free Press.

Event Organizers and Updates

The Hocus Pocus Parade is organized by A Very Beacon Halloween, which is Sheryl Glickman of Notions-N-Potions, Ron Iarossi of Beacon Creamery, and Carmen Johnson, everyone’s favorite crossing guard at South Avenue and Main Street, and a Volunteer Extraordinaire. Visit their Facebook page for updates, and/or the Event page specifically.

Treating Tips

Start at the far end of Main Street, near the mountain. Hit up the shops on that end, like the Chocolate Studio, the new Hyperbole, SallyeAnder (in the 1 East Main renovated factory building). We have not confirmed that they are handing out anything, but simply naming them as location examples. Head west, toward the river, to line up for the parade, then march back to the East End..

Shops that are offering treats will have witches hats displayed outside of their shops. If you are a local business who wants to hand out treats and don’t have your hat yet, you can pick one up from Notions-N-Potions at 173 Main Street, or the Beacon Creamery at 134 Main Street.

Lunching Tips

If you buddy up with friends you meet along the way, there are plenty of restaurants in town that seat large parties. Think of The Vault, Brother’s Trattoria, Towne Crier, and others. See A Little Beacon Blog’s Restaurant Guide to get more ideas at your fingertips while you’re out.

Rain Date

There is no rain date for the parade portion, but trick-or-treating is encouraged during the 1 to 3 pm time slot, rain or shine. The money raised from the community will be used for the following year’s street closure permit.

Getting Ready For Hocus Pocus Kids Halloween Parade

It’s always a good sign when there’s a BOX OF CANDY 🍭 outside your door. Getting ready for Beacon’s Hocus Pocus Halloween Kids Parade on Sunday! Check A Little Beacon Blog’s Events Guide for details. Thank you to Katy Hope from Beetle and Fred for hooking us up with this stash of candy - and for the door-to-door delivery!!