Busy Halloween Weekend On Tap In Harlem

HARLEM, NY — As we near the end of one of the scariest years on memory, Harlem will play host to a number of spooky — but safely socially-distanced — events this weekend.

For Halloween, on Saturday, East Harlem's thriving open streets will welcome costumed kids for an open street trick-or treating event, featuring grab-and-go candy, pumpkins and the opportunity for costume photo shoots.

It will be held simultaneously from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on two different open streets: Pleasant Avenue at East 118th Street, and East 101st Street at Lexington Avenue. Families can register for free online. The event was put together in part by Uptown Grand Central and City Councilmember Diana Ayala.

Around the same time, further west, Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E is holding a candy bag giveaway from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. outside their office at 306 West 128th St., between St. Nicholas Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Kids up to 11 years old are welcome, and so are dogs.

The festivities don't stop when Halloween ends. Sunday marks the start of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, the Latin American holiday commemorating lost loved ones.

In East Harlem, also known as El Barrio, Mexican restaurants will be celebrating the holiday with their own ofrendas, or altars, along with special treats, candy for kids, chalk art on the Pleasant Avenue open street, and more. Other events and information about how to celebrate at home are listed on the Museo del Barrio website.

Unrelated to the holidays, this weekend also marks the final two days of the pop-up restaurants on the Pleasant Avenue open street, part of Harlem Restaurant Week. Also on Pleasant, the USTA will offer free tennis lessons between noon and 3 p.m. Sunday on pop-up tennis courts.

Most important, after a dreary week of rain, forecasts call for mostly clear skies Saturday and Sunday.

Related coverage: East Harlem Open Streets Still Thriving As Summer Ends