New Orleans' biggest Halloween event is happening this weekend – and it's free!

The sun sets over Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans. Costumed children ride on their parents' shoulders, costumed bargoers and plainclothes revelers crowd the side of the road. It's about to begin – the Krewe of BOO's annual Halloween parade!

Glitter-studded, bangle-studded female dance krewes bounce to the beat as parade-goers hoot and holler, raising their hands toward the floats to catch one of several signature treats: beads, chocolate moon pies, pumpkin-shaped Peeps marshmallows and CheeWees snack bags.

A jack-o-lantern smiles. A giant Dia de Los Muertos skeleton plays the guitar. A green witch holds out her hands. Each, a giant papier-mâché sculpture, sits on the hood of a trailer pulling a two-story wagon. On board 16 floats, 640 riders – secured with a safety rope around their waists – throw the pre-sorted beads and snacks.

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Occasionally they throw away larger, ornate pearl necklaces – a coveted prize. Some accidentally hit onlookers in the face as revelers reached for them, jumping and stumbling over curbs.

Late Krewe of BOO! founder Blaine Kern started the Halloween parade in 2007 to cheer up the city after Hurricane Katrina. He already had a reputation as the “King of Carnival” because of his years of building spectacular floats, but he wanted to celebrate Halloween in true New Orleans style. In 2011, the parade even helped raise funds for 9/11 first responders.

The parade was paused due to COVID-19 and Blaine Kern died in 2020 at the age of 93 from an unrelated illness. However, the parade was held again the following year and was the city's first major public event post-pandemic. Since then, it has grown into one of the city's biggest events – second only to Mardi Gras in February, of course.

Kern's son Blaine Kern continues the new tradition and has added a few additional spooky activities.

He tells GayCities that the Halloween parade is a sort of unofficial local kickoff event for the week before Halloween, giving locals and out-of-towners a chance to celebrate before the actual holiday. This year's event will take place on Saturday, October 19th at 6:30 p.m. It is free to the public and runs from Elysian Fields through Jackson Square to Canal Street.

Halloween is already “gay Christmas” for queers. But while Christmas is all about reuniting with family, giving gifts and celebrating a birth, Halloween is about standing out from the crowd, trick-and-treating and communing with the dead celebrate.

Kern says New Orleans is the perfect place to celebrate Halloween. The city's widely accepted live-and-let-live attitude has long made it a welcoming destination for LGBTQ+ travelers and other eccentric misfits, including those who happily roam the streets in costume every day of the week.

“(It) fits New Orleans perfectly,” Kern said, “and New Orleans is America's most haunted city!” There are so many different haunted attractions here, like the Sultan's Palace and LaLaurie Mansion. There are also all these different cemeteries around the city.”

In fact, a handful of guides offer ghost history tours—including a “Gay Ghost Tour”—as well as explorations of the city’s voodoo heritage. On Halloween, families can go trick-or-treating and check out the amazingly decorated front yards. Adults can visit local costume parties and haunted houses, and LGBTQ+ people can enjoy drinks and dancing at a handful of local gay bars, each decorated for the occasion.

Blaine Kern was “Mr. Mardi Gras,” but his son Brian appears to be well on his way to earning the title “Mr. Mardi Gras”. Halloween.”

In addition to organizing the annual parade with a skeleton crew, he also organizes parties and events before and after the parade, including the Captain's Masquerade Party on October 18, a Royal Luncheon at Galatoire's Restaurant the same day, and a Second Line Jazz parade through the parade French Quarter at 3 p.m., balcony parties along the parade route and a two-mile Zombie Run on Saturday morning.

There, costumed and bloodied runners jog through the warehouse district to the finish line at Lucy's Retired Surfer's Bar for a drink and a laugh.

He organizes the Halfway to Halloween Dance-Off in the spring, with live music and about 25 costumed dance groups competing in the city's Spanish Square. He also organizes the Axeman's Ball in March.

The chilling real-life horror story of New Orleans' Axeman

The Axeman's Ball, a raucous 1920s-style dance party with a live jazz band, is inspired by the city's historic serial killer. One night in March 1919, the then-known murderer – who had already slaughtered several people and left few clues behind – sent a letter to the editor of The Times-Picayune. It said:

“No doubt you Orleanians think me a most terrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to… You have never caught me and never will… I am not human, but a spirit and an evil demon from the hottest hell.”

He wrote that he would cross New Orleans again “next Tuesday evening” at 12:15 a.m.

“In my infinite mercy, I will make a small suggestion to people. Here it is: I love jazz music very much and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that anyone whose house has a jazz band in full swing at the time I just mentioned shall be spared.”

“That night, every house, every jazz club and every bar of every social class played some form of jazz music to keep the Axeman away,” Brian Kern said GayCities. It helped popularize the music genre in its infancy, he added.

Kern commemorates this historic evening with the ball and a free dance-off at halftime of Halloween at the Spanish Plaza, where there are gifts to give away and 25 costumed crews dance competitively for prizes to a live DJ in front of celebrity judges.

“My father always said … things were done differently here than in other American cities and in the North and so on,” Kern said. “People come together here. We all love each other. There are always music shows. There are rich people, poor people, black people, white people, whatever, everyone – we're always mingling here. “We always got along well at Jazz Fest and everyone was happy here.”

“(During the Halloween parade),” he continues, “I don't know if you saw it, but you could feel the euphoria in the area, the positivity, the joy…” There was nothing you could do about it; If you were in a bad mood, you would end up in a good mood.”

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