The 77th Irvington Halloween Festival is back

Indianapolis, Indiana – The east side of the city’s streets are about to be overrun by ghosts, vampires, monsters, and more.

Returning for a 77th year, the Irvington Halloween Festival takes place through Saturday. The Irvington Community Council organizes the yearly celebration.

The yearly festival has offered a range of activities this week to commemorate the spookiest day of the year, such as window painting competitions, terrifying stories, and movie screenings.

The co-chair of the event, Kami Nielsen, thinks it’s wonderful to see the neighborhood support the custom.

“This neighborhood just really lights up in October. People start decorating their houses in July for Halloween around here,” Nielsen said. “By October people are just revved up and ready to go.”

The warmer weather has been a nice addition to this year’s festival, according to Carrie Yazzell, co-chair of the event.

“The weather just brings more people, more fun, more excitement,” Yazell said. “We’re hoping for good weather(Saturday), fingers crossed…hoping for a record turnout.”

The annual Zombie Bike Ride will take place on Friday at 6 p.m., when the living dead will be out on the streets enjoying the nice weather.

The annual Street Fair kicks out at 10 a.m. on Saturday and features a parade, a dog costume competition, and a battle of the bands.

Light Matter Promotions will host a 21-and-over After Party at the Irvington Events Center, 6767 E. Washington St. in Indianapolis, following the fair. Music will be played by local performers from 7 p.m. to midnight.

For the past seven years, Light Matter Promotions has organized the Official Irvington Halloween Festival After Party. There are free psychic readings, cuisine sampling, and costume competitions.

Co-owner of L: MP Alicia Dougherty says she and her husband Brandon wanted to honor the eerie past of the neighborhood.

“The history of Irvington is really pretty haunted. We have the first-ever serial killer here, H.H. Holmes in Irvington. It’s actually named after Sleepy Hollow. The author of Sleepy Hollow was (named) Irving,” Dougherty said. “We wanted to bring something special to the …the adults who want to partake in Halloween. The street festival brings about 50 to 70,000 people. We thought what a great opportunity to bring everyone together.”

You can still purchase tickets for the After Party celebration. You can buy them at the door or online.