Castro Halloween is coming back again for 2024
Expect a tamer but equally fabulous Halloween celebration in San Francisco — now back for the second time following a 17-year hiatus.
Halloween in the Castro is getting its second year back from the dead in 2024. The nighttime festivities are returning October 26th along with afternoon events the next day, marking the latest installment since its comeback in 2023. This isn’t the wild block party of decades past; It’s community-driven and family-friendly, but honestly, I’d expect at least a little craziness — it is San Francisco, after all.
While people always celebrated Halloween in Castro, the infamous block party version of it went on indefinite hiatus in 2006 after a mass shooting injured nine people. The city then ceased barricading certain Castro streets, effectively halting the walkable block party atmosphere that at its height attracted 500,000 people — making it the likely the biggest Halloween party in the U.S. Soon, a “Home for Halloween” campaign encouraged partiers to be merry in their own neighborhoods, and a large presence of San Francisco police made sure of it.
They announced a big comeback last year, and it admittedly made me skeptical; I was there at the Pink Saturday shooting in 2010. Witnessing that, and my own PTSD following the Pulse shooting in 2016 still makes me afraid about large queer gatherings. But we also shouldn’t live in fear, and it also still isn’t the massive party that once was, even now that community support has returned for it.
Halloween’s return was what everyone promised in 2023: a relatively quiet, cute night in the Castro — at least when I went around 8 to 10 p.m., so maybe I was early. Typical bar crowds mingled outside 440, the Mix, and Castro Theatre, attracting drag queens and costume shop outfits alike. I didn’t feel nearly as squeezed for space as say, the Castro Street Fair or Pride festivities. And from what I remember, there were no street barricades that encouraged revelers to get super messy.
Community organizer Manny Yekutiel tells me to expect a similar vibe this year, with “mini activations” like face painting, tarot reading, DJs, drag performances, photo opportunities, and a pie eating contest — among I’m sure some other activities. He and neighborhood stakeholders have corralled a $25,000 budget for local bars to decorate and join the local aesthetic befitting the spooky season. This is a lighter number than the $80,000 last year — but it’s also purposefully a smaller activation, he noted.
“We want to build up excitement for next year, when the Castro Theatre is reopened,” he told me today in a phone interview.
The storied theatre hosted a movie marathon and costume contest for Halloween’s return last year. But the space has been undergoing a buzzy overhaul that saw the recent beautification of its neon sign, and we still have to wait awhile for the inside of Castro Theatre to reopen.
In the meantime though, there will still be a costume contest for Halloween this year. It’ll just be held a short walk away on Noe Street between Market and Beaver, and in the daytime on October 27th. Sister Roma will host contests for kids at 2 p.m., pets at 3 p.m. and adults at 4 p.m. It’s all part of an afternoon of activities happening between noon and 5 p.m. that day.
I shared my safety concerns with Yekutiel and Terry Asten Bennett — the president of Castro Merchants Association — who was on the call, too. Yekutiel noted that no violence happened last year. They hired some private security and asked for community help via neighborhood patrols, he said, noting a similar albeit smaller plan is in place for this year, too.
“I was here during Halloween in the Castro in the heyday years, and the problems happened much into the night when people were very, very drunk,” Terry added. “Part of our focus is about daytime activations and moving anything off the street by 8 pm.”
The only closure they noted would appear about Noe and Beaver streets for the Merchants’ activities and also Glow in the Streets, Comfort & Joy’s annual costumed glowy festivities. There might be a suggested donation for Comfort & Joy, but the other Halloween festivities that weekend will be otherwise free to the public.
I mentioned a likely appearance at this year’s Halloween, and Terry told me not to miss the pie eating contest outside Cliff’s Variety at 5 p.m. No promises, Terry; one can never start the Pride diet too early nowadays.
Saul Sugarman is editor in chief of The Bold Italic.
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