2009 Allentown Halloween Parade Will Be Held on November 1

The 2009 Allentown Halloween Parade will be held on Sunday, November 1, starting at 2 PM Eastern. The rain date will be a week later on Sunday, November 8, also at 2 PM Eastern. The parade will be held downtown and cover a two-mile route from the Allentown fairgrounds to 7th & Hamilton streets.

This year will be a big year for the Allentown Halloween Parade with participant registration up 29 percent over last year, no doubt due, in part, to the $3000 cash prize being offered for the best-voted marching unit. Twenty-three floats and twenty-seven marching units are signed up this year.

Eleven bands will be marching in the parade including nine area high school and middle school bands (Allen, Dieruff, Central Catholic, Salisbury, Parkland high school, Harrison-Morton, Trexler, Raub and South Mountain middle school), the Hobo Band and the Allentown Union Band, which marched in the city's first Halloween Parade in 1905. Also the 15 piece Northeast Variety Band of Pottsville, with banjos and horns, will be playing from a float.

The Allentown Halloween parade is considered the Oldest Halloween Parade in America. This year's theme is the Fall Harvest.

In addition to the marching bands and floats there are several other participants in the parade this year. Some of them include The Lehigh Valley Cruisers with classic cars and the America on Wheels Museum. A number of military units are extracted to participate including, the U.S. Army Company 213th Area Support Group, the 744th Army Military Battalion and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sponsors for the parade include Cadillac, RCN and KNBT.