On October 30, 1924, Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson led a nighttime procession through downtown Anaheim. The two were friendly rivals, in town for a charity game in Brea the next morning. City leaders had organized the parade to give local youth something to do besides Halloween pranks, and they attached it to a fall festival that had started the year before. The Los Angeles Times' Daily Pilot reports that the Anaheim Gazette called it a "howling success," and it became an annual event.
A century on, the format still splits the day in two. On Saturday, October 24, 2026, the Anaheim Fall Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Center Greens and along Center Street Promenade. The parade starts at 7 p.m. That leaves three hours in the middle with nothing on the official schedule. This year the blocks around the route have new places to fill them: a Japanese takeout counter that opened this month and a Moroccan dining room at the Packing House that opened in January.
How the Day Breaks Down
The timeline comes from the organizer's 2026 festival and parade pages. Road closures shape the middle of the day more than most people expect.
Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
10 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. | Kiddie costume contest registration, capped at the first 300 entries | Information booth, Center Greens |
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Festival: vendors, performances, Classic Car Show, scavenger hunt | Center Greens and Center Street Promenade |
3 p.m. | Anaheim City Hall parking closes to entry and exit until 9 p.m. | City Hall lot |
4 p.m. | Festival ends | Center Greens |
5 p.m. | Overflow parking opens, a 10-minute walk south to the route | Anaheim High School lot |
7 p.m. | Parade begins | Anaheim Blvd. and Broadway |
The parade route starts at Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway and turns left onto Center Street Promenade. It then follows Broadway to the finish at Broadway and West Street. Center Street Promenade is where the festival's second half happens, where the parade passes, and where most of downtown's newest restaurants sit. Anyone who stays between the two events spends the gap within a block or two of the spot they'll stand to watch the floats.
The festival site lists performers across several stages: King Kukulele, Bob Baker Marionettes, The Deadbeats, My Safe Harbor Folklorico, and a drawing session with Rene Pompa. Wild Wing from the Anaheim Ducks is also scheduled to appear. The page notes that more details will be posted in October, so the lineup could still change before the 24th.
What's New Within a Short Walk of the Route
The newest arrival is TORIKIZOKU TO-GO, at 185 W. Center Street Promenade. It soft-opened Friday, October 2. The Orange County Business Journal reports that it's the first fast-casual, takeout concept in the U.S. from a yakitori brand founded in 1985. The chain has nearly 700 locations in Japan and recently opened its first U.S. dine-in restaurant in Torrance. The menu covers chicken teriyaki bowls, curry, ramen and skewers. A takeout counter on the promenade fits a night when people hold a curbside spot for an hour or more. During the soft opening the company has posted limited weekend and early-week hours, so check the schedule before planning dinner around it.
Torikizoku joins three neighbors along the same stretch of the promenade, according to the Downtown Anaheim directory:
- Lazy Bird, 143 W. Center St. Promenade
- Okayama Kobo Bakery & Cafe, 149 Center Street Promenade
- Craft by Smoke and Fire, 195 W. Center Street Promenade
The Anaheim Packing House at 440 S. Anaheim Blvd. sits near the start of the route. In January it added Marrakesh Restaurant, which took over the former Cook's Chapel event space. That room used to be a white-walled banquet hall. The Daily Pilot describes it now as a Moroccan-style lounge with warm lighting, rugs and an arched doorway. The restaurant takes its inspiration from the Costa Mesa Marrakesh that opened in the mid-'70s and has since closed, though the two aren't connected. The same article mentions the district's longer-running sit-down options: Poppy & Seed's patio at Farmers Park, the Wooden Pearl, and the Blind Rabbit speakeasy.
The Packing House's merchant directory currently lists 206 BCE, ADYA, Black Sheep GCB, Blue Bowl, BXCR and Chippy Fish & Grill, among others. The district tells visitors to confirm hours with each merchant, and on a night with this many road closures that's good advice.
The three-hour gap has been in the schedule for decades. The difference this year is that a dinner order and a front-row spot can be a few storefronts apart.
Where the Car Goes, and When It Can Leave
The gap only works if the car can stay put through it. The organizer's parking guidance is specific:
- Center Street Parking Garage, on Center Street across from the Anaheim Downtown Community Center. Free.
- Center City Parking, CarPark 3, along the promenade. Free.
- Anaheim Parking Center, CarPark 4. Paid.
- Anaheim City Hall parking. Available, but no cars can enter or exit between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. because of the parade closures.
- Anaheim High School overflow lot. Opens at 5 p.m. for people watching along Broadway, about a 10-minute walk south to the route.
The City Hall restriction affects the dinner window most. A car parked there for the festival has to stay until 9 p.m. Parking in nearby residential streets is allowed, but the organizers point out that many of them are permit-only, and they ask visitors to be respectful of neighbors.
CarPark 3 also has a role in the parade itself. The Spanish-language announcer is stationed in front of it, and the English-language announcer works from the Car Show Stage at Lemon Street and Center Street Promenade. Families who want to hear commentary can pick a spot with that in mind. The organizers add that the parade is enjoyable without being in earshot of either announcer.
The Floats Have Been Ready Since Summer
The three hours before the parade are new for whoever waits on the curb. For the people running it, the parade takes most of the year. According to the Daily Pilot's centennial coverage, float work starts as early as May, with volunteers meeting at a warehouse on Sundays to build new floats and refurbish old ones. The production has more than 200 volunteers, and about half of them sign up just for festival and parade day.
The parade's history explains its look. KTLA broadcast it locally for decades until the run stopped in the early '90s, and community members later revived it. Two Disney art directors, Jody Daily and Kevin Kidney, found the parade's past in a box of archived photos at the Anaheim Public Library after moving into a Victorian home in the Colony district. They began volunteering in 2012. The parade's vintage Halloween style comes from those photographs. Daily told the paper, "We think there's a place for a charming, trick-or-treat, vintage-style Halloween."
The parade has also grown to include Día de los Muertos. The parade page says the volunteers celebrate Halloween, Día de los Muertos and the harvest season together. The Bisabuela, or Grandmother, float is pictured on the route, and festival visitors can fold an origami butterfly to add to it.
The year-round prep is also the source of the festival's scavenger hunt. Organizers have "hidden" six parade floats around the festival and downtown. Passports are available at the Center Greens information booth, and a completed passport enters the holder in a drawing for two Disneyland tickets. By evening, anyone who finished the hunt has already seen several floats parked, before they roll past on Broadway.
Center Street's October Doesn't End on the 24th
The parade takes up one Saturday, but the promenade it runs down has events all month. The Downtown Anaheim Association calendar lists:
- Figure 8 Market, Saturday, October 10, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Center Street Promenade
- Opal Pilates, an outdoor class at the Lemon Street Parklet, Saturday, October 17, 8 to 10 a.m.
- Nightmare on Center Street, Thursday, October 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., a Halloween version of the farmers market with vendors, trick-or-treating and costume contests
The regular Downtown Anaheim Farmers Market runs every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of The Rinks, at 201 W. Center Street Promenade. Organizer calendars can change, so check them the week of each event.
Farther from downtown, next year's openings are near Honda Center. OCVIBE says its 5,000-capacity concert hall is planned to open in March 2027, with the rest of the district opening in phases starting then. Its Katella Commons food hall, with Don Churros Gomez, MFK | Modern Filipino Kitchen, Mojo, Pull & Roll and Gelato Paradiso announced, is targeted for early 2027. For October 24, everything that matters is between Anaheim Boulevard and West Street, starting at 7 p.m.
At Arbor Real Estate, we follow how Orange County's downtowns change from year to year, from a new takeout counter on the promenade to which lot is free on parade night. If you're thinking about what life near Center Street looks like the rest of the year, let's connect.
