Find out how it originated over 100 years ago and what activities are planned throughout Albany county

Over one hundred years ago, a massive celebration used to take over the City of Albany every October.

The 1905 Albany All-Hallow E'en Festival transformed the city into a vibrant Halloween wonderland, with organizers decorating the streets in carnival colors a week in advance. The festivities began with the crowning of Queen Titania, Miss Elsie Marie Smith, who unlocked the city gates with a gold key presented by the mayor, welcoming an estimated 50,000 attendees. T

he celebration included an automobile parade featuring creatively decorated cars and a second evening parade with dazzling floats and costumed marchers. However, as the night wore on, chaos erupted among the massive crowd, leading to reports of pepper being thrown into parade-watchers' faces. This tumultuous end, along with a mysterious poisoning incident involving the original Queen, raised doubts about the festival's future, ultimately concluding that this grand affair had met its end.

However, Albany's All-Hallow E'en Festival has been resurrected! For the entire month of October, different celebrations and activities will take place throughout Albany County. Enjoy the All-Hallow E'en Art Path, haunted tours of the Capitol building, ghost walks, seances and zombie bar crawls. 

Plan your spooky October festivities by visiting albanyhalloween.com for a complete rundown of events.