As Halloween approaches, it is time to resurrect one of my top event wishlist items for San Jose. "Halloween in the Park."
Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. It's the one day where you get to interact with your neighbors and the wider community. The level of creativity in decorations and costumes is also the most eclectic and interesting out of all the holidays for me--whether that's for trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, or work events.
In October it's tradition for The San Jose Blog have a wish-list post for Halloween in the Park. The idea is to build on the momentum that Christmas in the Park brings to San Jose each year and create something of similar scale for the month of October. A lot of the infrastructure such as wiring, lighting, and booths might even be able to be shared between the events. The goal would be to make Downtown San Jose the epicenter of October Halloween experiences, much as it is today with Christmas in the Park.
Below you will find brainstorming ideas we have collected for this concept so far over the years. Please have a look and provide your feedback and suggestions in the comments or on X (Twitter). Thanks!
The largest draw to Downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. It has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area. It's economic impact is substantial and helps keep many Downtown businesses and restaurants alive.
What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture Downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by local artists. Perhaps infrastructure could even be shared with Christmas in the Park (e.g. retail booths). A strong event in October would help maintain traffic between the summer months and Christmas in the Park. Here are the ideas we have so far:
- Animated Halloween Displays
- Created by local artists
- Analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park (almost half a million visitors)
- Family friendly so that everyone can enjoy it (PG/PG13, perhaps around the same level as Great America's Halloween decorations)
- Halloween Lighting
- Orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees
- May be possible to use programmable LED lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button, allowing the lights to stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and reducing setup/take-down costs.
- Halloween Food
- Booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, pumpkin seeds, etc.
- Food trucks
- Trick-or-treating station - a free piece of candy to anyone wearing a costume any day in October (could also be used to hand out promotional flyers for Downtown events/businesses/resources)
- Retail Booths selling Halloween items, for example:
- Artwork (paintings, glass pumpkins, etc.)
- Home decor/crafts like candles
- Light-up hats/necklaces/bracelets
- Costumes
- Zombie/Halloween make-up station
- Halloween-themed Carnival Games
- Pirates of Emerson and Candlelighters (Fremont) do a good job of providing family-friendly games themed around Halloween
- A handful of children's rides could also be added to the Paseo and reused for Christmas in the Park
- Interactive Art
- Subzero-style, but with a Halloween spin.
- Halloween-themed video game kiosks and/or arcades
- Pumpkins
- Instead of the sponsored Christmas trees in Christmas in the Park, how about decorated Pumpkins (can even be Styrofoam so there is no mess/decay)?
- Pumpkin carving station for families.
- Pumpkin carving contest.
- Costumed Entertainers
- Walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families
- Haunts / Mazes
- Would be ideal if these were nearby, perhaps in vacant retails spaces, surface parking lots, the San Jose Convention Center tent, or at SJSU.
- Could partners with one of the established San Jose haunt providers such as the Winchestor Mystery House or The Bernal SCREAM.
- Potential Events
- Zombie Crawl / 5k Run
- Dia De Los Muertos Events (already quite a few today)
- Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos Bike Party
- Horror Movie Trivia Contest
- Weekly horror movie screening (perhaps in the Circle of Palms area?)
- Costume Ball
- Pet costume contests and pet-friendly events
Inspirations:
- Winchester Mystery House Unhinged
- Candle Lighters
- Pirates of Emerson
- The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (photos below)
