T’Challaween is a socially distant costume parade along the Beacon Hill Stay Healthy Street. 🎃 Masks are required — the ones that block germs!

The South End Public Market will host an outdoor marketplace featuring local artists and artisans at Jefferson Park (where the parade ends). 🛍️ And you never know what else you’re going to see at T’Challaween! Clever candy-delivery devices operated by neighbors, Thriller flash mobs, 🎶 and more spooky goodness along the parade route.

Can’t attend in person? Watch the live stream! [Link coming soon …] 🎥

(Click image for larger view or download a PDF to print.)

❗IMPORTANT COVID & SAFETY INFO: Event staff will assist paraders and vehicles as needed with road safety, but all paraders should be mindful of their own safety at all times . ⚠️ ✅ To mitigate the spread of infectious diseases, paraders are asked to mask up and maintain social distancing throughout the event. Costume masks (thin cloth, elastic, nylon, plastic, rubber, etc.) are ineffective at preventing viral spread — please wear a mask that seals properly over/under costumes!

T’Challaween features a one-mile, socially distant costume parade along the Beacon Hill Greenway/Stay Healthy Street. Paraders travel north to south on 18th Ave S. from S. College St to the Spokane St entrance to Jefferson Park. There, folks can shop the South End Public Market for holiday gifts and more.  “No-touch” candy tossers will be stationed along the route! And event staff will guide paraders and facilitate a safe event for all. We’ll livestream the event for those who can’t attend in person. 📸 You’ll find plenty of photo opportunities throughout the parade, but Emerald photographers will also document the event.

BEACON HILL COMMUNITY: Please note that in previous years, the parade route was not closed to local traffic. Residents could access their streets/driveways with help from our street ambassadors and paraders. This year, the City may require that the streets be closed for, at minimum, the duration of the parade (1–4 p.m.). We will update this space as we learn more about this year’s requirements! 🚧 🚧 🚧 🚧

T’Challaween naturally provides social distance! But we encourage all paraders and spectators to maintain — a minimum of — 6 feet of distance between other attendees. Please attend T’Challaween with your family/household and — AT ALL TIMES — *masks must be worn to mitigate the spread of disease.

Our safety guidelines will help keep us all — paraders, spectators, event staff, and nearby residents — safe. Those not adhering to the guidelines will be asked to leave.

Please help us make this a fun — and SAFE — day for all! 

Also This Weekend — Rainier Beach Boo Bash! Sun., Oct. 30 We’ll post more info here when we have it!

T’Challaween is made possible with support from The Station coffee shop, Beacon Arts, the South End Public Market, and the Jefferson Advisory Council. (More sponsors TBA.)

T’Challaween is a tribute to those who inspire us. Those who have set an example for how to be. Who have paved the way for us.

Halloween is the perfect event to pay tribute to those among us, real and imagined, who make us want to be the best versions of ourselves and push through fear and insecurity to grow as human beings. T’Challaween is an opportunity to not only pay tribute to those who came before us but to those who are currently among us, and those who will come after.

On Halloween, we can be anything we want. We can try on being the “hero” for a day. We can find out what it’s like to be something different, maybe something that feels great (and inspires change in us).

T’Challaween is an opportunity for South Seattleites to come together safely to celebrate what makes our community great — the people!

More than ever, we need each other.

We are — all of us — heroic at one time or another, if not in our own eyes, in the eyes of others. And we are all role models, to each other and to the next generation.

Heroes don’t always wear capes, but they do help those in need by drawing on their unique skills. Heroes are not always masked, but heroes wear masks to protect others. Frontline, essential, workers have been among the great heroes of the pandemic!

There are many definitions of “hero.” And none of them are right or wrong. They are all beautiful and important. Just as every person who makes up our community is.

T’Challaween is a reminder that in times of great challenge and community strife — we are not alone, and there are heroes among us (sometimes they are us ). We are in this together, and collectively? We have super powers!

What’s your super power???

The spirit of T’Challaween is woven into the words of Marvel’s Black Panther, the one and only, T’Challa:

“We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other. Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.” R.I.P Chadwick Boseman. 

T’Challaween is very fondly dedicated to the man, the actor, the role model —  the hero — and the gift that is the legacy he leaves behind.

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