Broadway Halloween Parade Saved by Last-Minute Sponsors, Community Donations

Organizers thought the parade was dead and buried after receiving a $42,000 bill.

September 6, 2024

The Broadway Halloween Parade will go on. Courtesy of Broadway Halloween Parade

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The Broadway Halloween Parade successfully raised over $40,000 needed to stage this year's event on October 19, after organizers had feared they would need to cancel because of unexpected costs.

The Broadway Merchants Association, which organizes the event, just announced that it has raised more than $42,000 required to safely operate the parade. That number includes over $6,100 in community donations, while businesses stepped up to sponsor the event for amounts between $1,000 and $7,500.

“We asked the community to help save the parade, and they stepped up like I’ve never seen before," Luke Johnson, president of the BMA, says in the September 6 announcement.

The parade had run on a shoestring budget in the past. According to Johnson, the previous sponsorship total had never been higher than $13,000. But this year, the parade had to add $26,000 to its budget to rent pedestrian barricades.

The Broadway Halloween Parade quickly became one of Denver's most popular events for the holiday, with over 30,000 people showing up last year, according to Johnson. The BMA was always happy to see the larger crowds, but with more people came more safety risks.

The BMA knew a crowd-control plan was necessary for the parade’s 2024 iteration after last year, when crowds didn’t listen to directions from volunteers about where to go and which places to avoid, Johnson says. Although there weren’t any safety incidents, the BMA didn’t want to wait to take action until after an incident had happened.

When the BMA met with the Denver Police Department in July to work up the safety plan for the special event permit for the parade, the DPD said barricades were the best solution. Scarier than any costume or horror movie, the quote for the barricades came in at $25,992.

The BMA looked into erecting its own barricades, but learned that would be too time-consuming for volunteers. Other solutions, such as yellow caution tape or snow fencing, weren’t approved by the DPD, Johnson adds.

Now, with community support, the parade will go on safely and spookily.

"The very expensive pedestrian barricades will bring a new level of safety that the kids of our community need for this parade to continue," Johnson says.

Any funds not used this year will be applied to next year, he adds. Learn more about the Broadway Halloween Parade here.

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Catie Cheshire is a staff writer at Westword, where she has primarily reported on news since September 2021. Her prior work experience includes contributing to Cronkite News, Arizona PBS, the Regis University Highlander and AZ Big Media. Catie holds a master's degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from Regis University in Denver.

Contact: Catie Cheshire

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