Halloween is, sadly, over, but I’ll be riding the high of my Halloweekend for a long time.
For me, most of my Halloween fun was relegated to last weekend. But, of course, the rest of the world was ready to party it up on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. And while I was no longer in the party mood, the spirit was contagious. I pulled on a Halloween shirt and went to work in high spirits on Friday.
Of course, we had a lot to celebrate. Riverbender.com turned 20 years old on Halloween and everyone was keyed up for the 108th Alton Halloween parade. Our coverage of the parade was going to be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. My colleagues and I did our normal work throughout the day, and then at 5 p.m., the real fun started.
First, C.J. Nasello was set up along the parade route so he could bring the parade to viewers at home. You can relive the parade here and watch his coverage of the floats, bands and community that makes the event so much fun. C.J. and the video team left at 5 p.m. to set up their station and get ready for the stream at 6:50 p.m.
Meanwhile, Content Director Dan Brannan was off to Edwardsville to cover the Edwardsville Halloween Parade, while I successfully navigated downtown Alton and parked my car as close to the parade lineup as possible so I could do the same in Alton.
It was 5:15 p.m. and I had a little less than two hours before the parade started at 7 p.m. My mission? Collect as many pictures of floats and stories of people as possible.
This was my third year covering the Halloween parade, so I felt the familiar thrum of adrenaline as I began walking up and down the parade lineup. I don’t know how many times I said, “Hi, my name is Sydney, I’m a reporter for Riverbender, can I take your picture?” And our community, with everyone in the best Halloween mood, was more than eager to smile for photos and show off their floats and costumes.
I saw some truly incredible decorations and very elaborate costumes! But the coolest part of the Halloween parade coverage is collecting stories. I challenged myself to break last year’s record; how many interesting stories could I find before the parade started?
As it turns out, everyone has something interesting to share if you know how to ask the right questions. Right away, I ran into Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. I took their picture, but then Santa showed me his truck with personalized license plates that read “CLAUS.” Hmm. Surely, there was something more to this story than a casual Halloween costume. So we got to talking, and, in fact, Santa had a great tale to tell. You can read it here.
I walked farther down the route and ran into a few horses and their handler, Audrey Wright, who has been riding since she was 7 and loves to share the horses with the kids at the parade. Of course, I had to track down Dr. Bruce Vest and his float, which always turns heads. And then I circled back and found the Harman family band, playing music on their float.
I must’ve walked that half-mile lineup about five times. By the end of the night, right before the parade started, I was exhausted. But there was more to do! I charged back up to the front of the parade and had a great conversation with this year’s parade marshal, Karen Wilson, and took pictures of Alton Mayor David Goins and his family.
And then I took a few minutes to walk along the route, chatting with spectators. People have such interesting stories and traditions surrounding the Halloween parade! You can read a few special ones here.
By the time 7 p.m. rolled around, the parade was just getting started, but I was clocking out. I drove home and sat down to write a few stories about the parade and the interesting people I met along the way.
That’s a behind-the-scenes look of what we did at Riverbender on Halloween night, but I’d love to hear more about the community’s experience! Did you go to the parade, trick-or-treat, or stay home watching scary movies? Whatever your traditions are, I think we can all agree that this Halloweekend was one for the books.
