Halloween has a long and rich history in San Francisco. Private and informal observances of the holiday in the City go back to the family-oriented celebrations of Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 19th century, whose ancient Celtic harvest traditions evolved in the United States into our modern-day Halloween celebrations. Costumed San Franciscans took to the streets on Halloween night as early as the 1880’s. The City’s first organized public Halloween festivities included annual city-sponsored parades in the first half of the 20th century, complete with floats and hundreds of children marching in costume down Market Street. These parades were marshaled by the mayor, who crowned a beautiful young “Halloween Queen” each year for the occasion. The ever-popular Cliff’s Variety Store held yearly costume contests for the kids on Castro Street during the same period.

Trick or Treating and general mischief continued on each All Hallow’s Eve throughout the 20th century, as Halloween parties for both children and adults became popular in San Francisco. Plays and puppet shows about the holiday were staged on Haight-Ashbury street corners during the early 60’s. Also in the 1960’s and 70’s, a new kind of Halloween Queen emerged in Polk Gulch and North Beach, as gay revelers in drag spent the holiday partying in the streets and traveling from bar to bar in specially decorated buses.

During the later 1970’s and 80’s, Halloween in San Francisco shifted back to the Castro District, and over the intervening years the party has grown exponentially, attracting a crowd of hundreds of thousands in recent years. Although children still continue to celebrate Halloween here, it has become more and more of an adult holiday.

Drawing on these traditions, as well as Halloween traditions from elsewhere in the country and related Carnival traditions from around the world (such as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Carnival in Venice and Rio, and the Day of the Dead in Latin America), the March of Light was founded in 2000. The MOL aims to honor our history while embellishing our present-day celebrations of this most San Franciscan of holidays. Our main goal is to promote public expressions of creativity by our fellow citizens through encouraging and providing a venue for costuming and performance.

Anyone who would like to march with us in costume is welcome to join the March of Light parade, regardless of age, sexual orientation or ethnic background. The March of Light encourages participation by costumed marchers as well as performers of all kinds, such as marching bands, dancers, magicians, acrobats, etc., provided that you can do your act while on the move. In addition to marchers on foot, the MOL also accepts participants with conveyances, such as floats, decorated bicycles, electric vehicles, etc., by prior approval. Please see the PARTICIPANTS page for more information.

Photos: Scott Beale (Laughing Squid)