Our picks for events in and around Chicago for Halloween weekend.
Haunted Halsted
It’s more than a parade this year: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Northalsted’s annual Halloween parade, Haunted Halsted is expanding to a day-long festival. Start your trick-or-treating as early as noon at local businesses and stick around for family-friendly fun, vendors, entertainment, and of course the parade and costume contest. More than 300 participants — the Lakeside Pride Marching Band, Chicago Thriller, Windy City Rollers — will be decked out in costumes and performing in the street. And if you think your costume measures up, enter the contest to win some cash. Noon-10 p.m. Oct. 31 (parade at 7 p.m.) between 3300-3526 N. Halsted St.; details on the free event at northalsted.com
Streeterville Doggy and Kitty Halloween Party
Sure, your pooch is cute, but can she sell a costume? Or even put up with wearing one? Find out this weekend at the Streeterville Doggy and Kitty Halloween Party, where more than 350 pets and their people will dress for Halloween. Need inspiration? Past participants have dressed their dogs as hot dogs (owners as ketchup and mustard), Dumbo, and the Pope. 9-11 a.m. Oct. 31 in the Museum of Contemporary Art Sculpture Garden, enter through the MCA’s back gate bordering Lake Shore Park to the east; details on the free event ($10 suggested donation to register a pet) at pawschicago.org
Upside Down Parade
If you’re looking for a human daytime parade that’ll still allow for trick-or-treating, head to Washington Park for the annual Upside Down Parade. Kids and families march, along with dance teams, musicians, acrobats and sports mascots. Noon-2 p.m. Oct. 31 on Russell Drive between Morgan and Best drives; details on the free event at artsinthedark.com
Manual Cinema’s “Frankenstein”
Manual Cinema brings back its production of “Frankenstein.” It premiered at the Court Theatre in 2018, but just like the classic story it portrays, it never gets old. Combining shadow puppetry and cinematic techniques, Manual Cinema creates a production that’ll pull at your heartstrings even as it mesmerizes. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31, and 3 p.m. Nov. 1 at Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave.; tickets from $31 at fineartsbuilding.com
Geese
Check out the post-punk indie rock group led by Cameron Winter this weekend at Salt Shed. And if secondhand ticket prices for Geese are too high for your budget, you’ll get a chance soon to see director Paul Thomas Anderson’s concert film, “Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall.” Music Box Theatre is scheduled to screen the Geese frontman movie Dec. 4-10. (Fun fact: Winter is the son of author and Evanston native Molly Roden Winter.) 8 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Salt Shed, 1357 N. Elston Ave.; tickets at saltshedchicago.com
Rod Wave
Rod Wave plays a two-night stand at United Center on a tour to support his seventh album, “Don’t Look Down.” In a story ranking all 24 tracks on the album, Billboard said Wave’s “ability to be so poetic over modern trap beats is almost unparalleled, and the impact shows in his ravenous sold-out arenas and constant high-charting performances.” If you’re planning to head to the show on Halloween, take note: United Center prohibits costume masks. 8 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at United Center, 1901 W. Madison St.; tickets from $161.35 at unitedcenter.com
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Sanctum Dark Music Festival
A Split-Second, Aux Animaux, Zanias, Buzz Kull, and Sacred Skin headline the Sanctum Dark Music Festival, a two-day fest at Thalia Hall. Drag shows, a costume contest (theme: blasphemy), installations, and a photo booth (capture all those dark moments for Insta!) round out the Halloween event. 7 p.m. Oct. 30-31 at Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport; tickets (ages 17+) from $46.39 at thaliahallchicago.com
“Anything Goes” with Don Lemon and D.L. Hughley
Journalist Don Lemon and comedian and actor D.L. Hughley roll into Chicago on the cusp of the midterm elections. Expect them to break down politics and pop culture with energy and humor. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.; tickets from $35 at msg.com
“House of the Exquisite Corpse: Lullabies”
Just how frightening can puppets be? Come find out with Rough House, presenting this theatrical haunted house for its sixth season. Groups of small audiences are let in via timed entries to experience six “rooms” of horror stories, told through puppets, stage artistry and live theater, directed by Corey Smith. This year’s theme is “Lullabies,” as in, what happens after that cradle falls? Through Nov. 1 at The Merle at Steppenwolf, 1624 N. Halsted St.; tickets from $23.50-$49.25 at roughhousetheater.com
Frights at the museums
Several of Chicago’s museums have gotten into the Halloween spirit this year. On the Museum Campus, the Field Museum has turned its “Underground Adventure” exhibition into “Underground Mis-Adventure: Zombie Fungus” to explain the real science of so-called “zombie fungi,” which take over the bodies and behavior of their insect hosts. Which all sounds a little too close to a real-life version of “The Last of Us”; more at fieldmuseum.org. “Bug Out at Shedd” adds a new bird-eating tarantula to the Shedd Aquarium’s “Amazon Rising” exhibit. A tarantula that’s 9 inches wide; more at sheddaquarium.org. And the Adler Planetarium can teach you all about dark matter; more at adlerplanetarium.org.
Have something to do around Chicago? Email events to [email protected].