On Halloween 2025, a Friday, the earliest a Park Slope block went car-free was 3 p.m. On Saturday, October 31, Polhemus Place closes to traffic at 10:30 a.m. and stays open to trick-or-treaters until 9 p.m.
That one block shows how the whole schedule has moved. Every Park Slope street on last year's city list has a longer window this year, and two more blocks have joined. The Park Slope Civic Council's parade still starts at 6:30 p.m., but it now closes out a day that begins in the morning.
The city's list, one year apart
NYC DOT's Trick-or-Streets list shows every Halloween street closure in the city, along with the block association that requested it. For Park Slope, here is how 2026 compares with 2025.
| Block | Friday, Oct. 31, 2025 | Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Polhemus Place, Garfield Place to Carroll Street | 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. | 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Montgomery Place, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue | 3 to 9 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| 17th Street, Eighth to Seventh Avenue | 3 to 10 p.m. | Noon to 9 p.m. |
| 11th Street, Prospect Park West to Eighth Avenue | 3 to 8 p.m. | 1 to 8 p.m. |
| 8th Street, Eighth Avenue to Prospect Park West | Not listed | 1 to 8 p.m. |
| Garfield Place, Eighth to Seventh Avenue | 4 to 9 p.m. | 3 to 10 p.m. |
| 21st Street, Seventh to Sixth Avenue | Not listed | 3:30 to 9 p.m. |
Polhemus Place had four hours last year and has more than ten this year. Montgomery Place goes from six hours to nine, and 17th Street from seven to nine. Two blocks also end earlier than last year. Montgomery Place now wraps up at 8 p.m. instead of 9, and 17th Street at 9 instead of 10. On those blocks the window moved toward daylight rather than just getting longer.
The 2024 list, when Halloween was a Thursday, is a reminder that late hours aren't new. That year, 11th Street ran from 2 to 11 p.m., and 17th Street from 3:30 to 10 p.m. What's new for 2026 is the start time. Three blocks open before 1 p.m., and none did in either of the past two years.
Morning belongs to the park
With Polhemus Place open at 10:30 and Montgomery Place at 11, a family can spend the morning around Prospect Park and walk back into the closed blocks by midday.
Prospect Park Alliance's free Creepy Crawly Halloween runs at the Prospect Park Boathouse on October 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Haunted Carousel runs Thursday, October 29 through Sunday, November 1, from noon to 5 p.m. Rides are $3 each or $13 for five, and the run opens on the day this post goes up.
The Fall Festival at LeFrak Center at Lakeside runs through November 30, with pumpkins, a corn maze, carnival games and a Haunted Hotel. Weekend hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., so on Halloween it's open from late morning until after the parade ends. Prospect Park Zoo's Spooktober runs on October weekends from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. October 31 is one of those Saturdays this year, and the event requires zoo admission.
On a weekday Halloween, all of this would compete with school and work. This year the park events and the first block closures overlap for most of the day.
Afternoon is on the side streets
By 1 p.m., four blocks between Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue are closed to traffic. Polhemus Place, Montgomery Place, 11th Street and 8th Street sit close enough together to cover on foot in one loop. The 11th Street and 8th Street closures are listed as block parties, hosted by the 11th Street Block Association and the 8th Street Block Association. Farther south, the 17th Street Block Association's closure between Eighth and Seventh Avenues starts at noon.
The Brooklyn Spooky Stoops Map 2026 from Park Slope Pulse is the best guide to the decorated stoops along these blocks. The newsletter says last year's map passed 330,000 views and was featured in the New York Post. This year's version reaches into Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, with submissions from locals and from the @stoopdecor Instagram account. The current map includes stops named The Giant Pumpkin, The Haunted Subway, Boo Bash on 8th Street, The Candy Chute of Doom and The Parade Kickoff Haunt. Carvel Park Slope is the map's first sponsored stop, marked with a Fudgie the Whale icon. New spots go up daily, so open the map itself on the day, in a browser, to see each stop's description and photos.
Later in the afternoon, the activity shifts toward Seventh Avenue:
- Garfield Place, Eighth to Seventh Avenue, goes car-free at 3 p.m. under the Polhemus Place Open Street organizers and stays closed until 10 p.m., the latest closing in the neighborhood.
- 21st Street, Seventh to Sixth Avenue, joins the list for the first time and is closed from 3:30 to 9 p.m.
- Boo!KCM fills the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music garden at 58 Seventh Avenue from 4 to 6 p.m., with live music, candy and water. It's free with an RSVP.
Fifth and Seventh Avenue businesses also appear on Brooklyn Bridge Parents' 2026 list of trick-or-treating stops, along with 3rd Street between Fifth and Seventh Avenues and 7th Street between Fifth and Fourth Avenues.
Evening is Seventh Avenue's
The parade's timing hasn't moved. The Park Slope Civic Council's Children's Halloween Parade steps off at 6:30 p.m. from Seventh Avenue and 14th Street, and the Council asks marchers to line up by 6. This year's theme is "The Haunted Forest of Brooklyn," and an orange-and-black vintage Ford leads the way.
- 6 p.m. Line up at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street. 14th Street between Eighth and Seventh Avenues goes car-free from 6:30 to 9 p.m. for the parade.
- 6:30 p.m. The parade heads north on Seventh Avenue toward 3rd Street.
- At 3rd Street The route turns left and ends at Old Stone House in Washington Park, where the Brooklyn Conservatory plays spooky music.
- 7:15 p.m. The Conservatory leads a free Halloween singalong outside Old Stone House.
The Civic Council's event listing runs the parade from 6:30 to 8 p.m. DOT's listing keeps Seventh Avenue between 3rd and 14th Streets closed until 9 p.m., an hour longer than the 6:30 to 8 p.m. window it listed in 2025. In 2024, the listing ran from 6 to 7:30 p.m. If you're driving or parking near Seventh Avenue Saturday night, plan around the 9 p.m. closure, not the 8 p.m. end of the march.
The Saturday date affects one more choice. The Village Halloween Parade in Manhattan, in its 53rd year, runs on Avenue of the Americas from West 16th Street to Spring Street. It starts at 7 p.m., half an hour after the Seventh Avenue step-off, and the street stays closed until 11:30 p.m. If your household has both young kids and night owls, the two parades barely overlap.
Here is the full day on one block's terms. A child on Polhemus Place could trick-or-treat from 10:30 a.m., walk the stoops on 8th and 11th Streets in the early afternoon, sit down in the Conservatory garden at 4, and still line up at 14th Street by 6. Last year, on a Friday, the same block didn't open until 4:30 p.m.
If walking those stoops has you wondering what your own brownstone might bring this season, Ronit Abraham knows these Park Slope blocks well. Request a complimentary market or probate consultation, and Ronit will walk through the numbers for your building and street.
