NJ's Largest Halloween Parade Returns Friday

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Ghouls and goblins, princesses and witches and all manner of characters, including Santa Claus, will fill Main Street, as the 86th Toms River Halloween Parade steps off on Friday night.

The parade is hosted by Toms River Fire Company 1 and is the largest Halloween parade in New Jersey. It has been hailed as the second-largest Halloween parade in the world behind the New York City Halloween parade.

Thousands of marchers and tens of thousands of spectators have poured into Downtown Toms River for years for the parade that travels down Main Street to Washington Street, and ends at Hooper Avenue.

It is a community event that draws in high school and middle school marching bands, fire companies and EMS squads from near and far, and all manner of community groups, Scouting organizations, youth sports groups and businesses, along with people who dress up as family entries and even march with their pets.

The parade got its start in 1919 when the fire company escorted children going trick-or-treating in the downtown area. In the early years it was followed by a block party at Robbins and Water streets, with dancing, doughnuts and cider and games for the kids, according to the fire company's historical notes.

The parade is held on Halloween each year except when Halloween falls on a Sunday. In those years, the parade is held on Oct. 30, under a longstanding agreement between the fire company and the churches in Toms River.

While 2025 marks the 106th anniversary of the first parade, it is the 86th parade because of events that halted it at various times. In the 1930s the parade was not held because of a lack of funds amid the Great Depression, and it was halted during World War II because of a labor shortage and blackout rules, the fire company says.

More recently, the parade was canceled in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey Shore two days earlier. It also was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

At its peak, the parade drew as many as 100,000 spectators to Toms River and more than 6,000 participants. Participation and the number of spectators declined for a few years after Superstorm Sandy, when the fire company tried holding the parade on the last Saturday in October instead of the traditional Oct. 31.

The decision to switch back to Halloween was made for the 2015 parade, and participation and spectators have increased ever since. And the spectators are just as eager to join the fun, with costumes peppering the crowd that in 2024 was four- and five-people deep along Main Street and Washington Street.

The parade is so popular that the township and fire company have to issue warnings about people placing chairs along the route days ahead of the parade because they wanted to reserve their favorite viewing spots.

It also prompts Toms River and the towns in the Toms River Regional School District — Beachwood, South Toms River, and Pine Beach — to move their trick-or-treating to Oct. 30, so parents and children don't have to choose between getting treats and going to the parade.

The parade also draws people back year after year, becoming a family tradition to go and watch, and a point of pride for families of those marching with the various marching bands. It is an event that makes memories that last a lifetime, such as a first date that turned into a marriage. (Read more: 75 Years Later, Parade 1st Date Holds Special Place In Woman's Heart)

If you've never been, it's an event worth checking out. If you're interested in marching or in simply watching, here's a guide for what to know for Friday: 86th Toms River Halloween Parade: What To Know To March Or Watch