Halloween on Central returns Sunday

In 2021, the first Halloween on Central event showed St. Petersburg residents – if just for a few hours – what a car-free Central Avenue would look like.

It happens again this Sunday, from noon until 5 p.m. A total of 22 blocks, from 9th to 31st Street, will be closed to anything with four or more wheels and a motor. That’s almost two miles of sidewalks and storefronts.

Halloween on Central, as the name suggests, is a family-friendly outing – not only will there be local makers and vendors from the Grand Central and Edge Districts, live performances and other fun stuff, organizers have created “treat stations” to dole out goodies for the little ones. Plus flash mobs, magicians, games, weiner dog races and other forms of frivolity.

“A lot of people came in costume last year,” says David Foote, executive director of the Grand Central District Association. “We didn’t realize people would get into it so much.”

More than 60,000 people passed through over the course of the day.

Many festivals taking place in parks, Foote says, “take away from the brick-and-mortar businesses. And when you hold an event like this in a business district, the beneficiaries are the businesses. Not as a great sales day, but because last year it drew so many people from all over who never knew they were there. They made so many new customers from that.”

It’s also a win-win, he adds, for the neighborhoods inside the districts. “With Grand Central, you’ve got Kenwood, Historic Kenwood, Palmetto Park, Central Oak … this is a big thing for them, too. They’re all going to be present. They’re all going to have tents.

“In fact, the Historic Kenwood artists have come together and created this incredible haunted mansion. I mean, it’s up to the level of Universal Studios – it’s really amazing.”

Bikes, skateboards, roller skates, one wheels, hoverboards and e-scooters are permitted. Dogs too. Halloween on Central is a No Open Container Zone.

Find additional details here.