The New York City Department of Transportation has announced a record number of 147 car-free Trick or Streets locations across the five boroughs for Halloween, making trick-or-treating and other Halloween activities safer for children and their families on Oct. 31.
Now in its third year, the Trick or Streets initiative aims to help children enjoy Halloween safely while allowing all New Yorkers to use the city’s streets safely.
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced the complete list of Trick-or-Streets locations at Quisqueya Plaza at 247 Dyckman St. in Manhattan, the first Open Streets location to become a permanent pedestrianized plaza.
The DOT has partnered with 147 Open Streets, plazas and other corridors throughout New York City to add safe pedestrian space on one of the busiest holidays of the year and the days leading up to Halloween.
A total of 18 Trick-or-Street events will take place in the Bronx, while Brooklyn will host a city-wide high of 58 events. A further 38 events will take place in Manhattan, with 30 events scheduled for Queens and three events scheduled for Staten Island.
The DOT said New Yorkers can expect festive programming, performances, arts and crafts, fitness classes and giveaways at each of the Trick-or-Streets locations.
The majority of events are scheduled to take place between Oct. 26 and Oct. 31, with 77 of the 147 events scheduled for Halloween itself, including eight events in the Bronx, 31 in Brooklyn, 24 in Manhattan, 13 in Queens and one on Staten Island. However, a small number of Trick-or-Street events have already taken place.
The DOT announced that ten of the Trick-or-Streets events would be “signature events” featuring Halloween-themed programming and performances, including live music, circus acts, comedic clown performances and jugglers.
In the Bronx, signature events will take place on Fordham Road between 12 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, and on Decatur Avenue from 2:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31.
Brooklyn’s signature events will take place on West 9 Street on Oct. 26 from 3-8 p.m. and on Berry Street from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27. One signature event already took place on Beverly Road on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Manhattan will host its first signature event on Oct. 26 from 2-6 p.m. on Aubudon Avenue, with another signature event planned for Pell and Doyers Street from 3-8 p.m. on Halloween.
Queens will also host two signature events: on 165th Street in Jamaica between 3 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 and on 31st Avenue in Astoria from 3 to 7 p.m. on Halloween.
Staten Island hosted its solitary signature event on Saturday, Oct. 5 on Castleton Avenue.
Speaking at the launch of Trick-or-Streets on Friday, Rodriguez said the Trick-or-Streets initiative provides families with safe spaces to celebrate Halloween.
Rodriguez pointed to his own experiences taking his daughters trick-or-treating when they were little, stating that he would often look for safe locations to celebrate Halloween with his kids.
He said his experiences with his own daughters made him realize that the city should “take more responsibility” and get involved with Halloween celebrations across the five boroughs.
Rodriguez also highlighted the success of Quisqueya Plaza since it became a permanent pedestrianized plaza in 2021.
“This plaza was not what we see today,” Rodriguez said. “It was mostly dedicated to vehicular parking. Now, thanks to the Open Streets program, it is a permanent pedestrian plaza.
“Open Streets are making real permanent changes to make our streets safer and our quality of life better.”
He added that the Open Streets program allows the city to quickly activate a large number of car-free streets during different holidays.
“Our streets are public spaces,” he said. “They’re not only for car owners. Sometimes people believe that the streets belong to car owners, but the streets belong to everyone, to those who drive, but also to those who walk, to those who bike, and to those who want to use them for cultural wellness and health.”
The Trick-or-Streets initiative, part of the Open Streets, Plaza, and Public Realm programming initiatives, was launched in 2022 to provide safe spaces for families on Halloween, which is often the deadliest night of the year in terms of child pedestrian fatalities in the USA.
One 2018 report by the Jama Network that children aged 4-to-8 are ten times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle on Halloween than at other times in the year, while the Children’s Safety Network reports that over two times as many child pedestrians die on Halloween compared to other days throughout the year.
The Open Streets program has led to the redesign of New York City streets to create permanent, pedestrianized spaces across the five boroughs, pedestrianizing more than one million square feet of public space since 2022.
For a full list of Trick-or-Street locations, click here.
