ALBANY — Discover Albany announced plans for “Albany’s All-Hallow e’en Festival,” a new twist to the original Halloween festival once celebrated annually by the city over a hundred years ago, starting next fall.
The festival will be a month-long celebration with programming from Discover Albany, In Our Own Voices, Albany Center Gallery, Capital Repertory Theater, the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District and the City of Albany. Discover Albany will be hosting themed ghost tours and coordinating programming with partner organizations.
In Our Own Voices will be hosting one of the largest events in the festival lineup, a Halloween House Ball paying homage to Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ house ball culture. Capital Rep will feature ghosts portrayed by actors and their life stories throughout Albany history during tours. Albany Center Gallery will create Halloween-themed window displays in businesses throughout downtown Albany leading up to the festival.
The plans for the festival were made possible by $282,200 of American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to Discover Albany and its partner organizations through the City of Albany’s ‘Albany for All’ initiative.
“Discover Albany is thrilled to have been selected as one of the 35 projects funded through the Albany ARPA grant initiative. This festival will lean into the successful Fall and Halloween-themed programming that we already offer and give a nod to the wildly-successful Halloween Carnival from more than a century ago,” said Jill Delaney, Discover Albany President and CEO. “Thank you to Mayor Sheehan, the members of the ARPA selection committee and the Albany Common Council for helping us bring this to fruition!”
“The Albany All Hallow e’en Festival speaks to the proud past of what was done here in the city more than a century ago and the potential for the future,” said Mayor Kathy Sheehan. “We immediately started thinking about how the city could have a role in restoring the vision of the All-Hallow e’en Festival. I know this is going to be an amazing and fun event that we are going to be so proud of.”
Sheehan also revealed plans folks can look forward to this month. The Trick or Trot Pumpkin 5K will be a new event this October where participants will run through a Halloween-themed Washington Park “to give everyone a little preview of what is to come next year,” Sheehan continued.
Organizations interested in getting involved with the festival can reach out to Discover Albany to discuss partnership opportunities.
For more information on Discover Albany, visit albany.org.
