Today, one of Park City’s biggest events – especially post-Miners’ Day – is Halloween on Main and the Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade. While it’s a staple for current-day Park City, the origins of organized fun go further back.
I wrote an article on Halloween pranks a few years ago, and followed it up with an article about Halloween more broadly, in which I discussed that the backlash to pranking is where the first intentional and widespread organized Halloween activities stem from. In the 1910s, we began to see parties organized for children to keep them occupied (a.k.a. not outside committing mischief).
Of course, this often did little to slow All Hallow’s Eve pranksters. But parents and community members continued to try and find ways to keep kids distracted on the spooky holiday. Trick-or-treating by itself did not dissuade pumpkin smashers and window soapers. Perhaps it was too spread out, and it would perhaps be easier to control and/or keep an eye on kids if they are all in one place.
In 1965, then, the local PTA came up with the Halloween Carnival, which took place at the War Memorial Building on Main Street. Activities included a “Spook Alley” (a mini haunted walk-through experience), carnival games, and a movie. The advertisement in the Park Record noted the event was a success in its “double purpose of showing the children a good time and keeping them off the streets.” The event didn’t stick, however.
Not until 1970 did the PTA – chaired by Mary Eley – bring the event back for a stretch run, starting at the Marsac School. Many of the activities returned, with the “Spook Alley” praised as a highlight of the event each year. A few more Halloween specific activities, like apple bobbing and a costume parade, were also added. In some years, the costume parade went down part of Main Street – almost a precursor to Halloween on Main!
The event grew each year and turned into a big fundraiser for the schools, and sometimes for other causes. By 1977, the event was popular enough that they had to move it to the larger Carl Winters Middle School (now the Park City Library). By 1981, the PTA turned a profit of over $2,700 on the event (over $9,000 today)!
Credit: Utah Digital Newspapers, Park Record Collection
In 1985, during the height of panic about razor blades in candy and apples, Randy Fields hosted the event at the recently constructed mall on Main Street (where lululemon and other stores are today). Fields noted that the Halloween Carnival was one of the reasons he and his wife moved to Park City, stating “It’s a very safe way for kids to play games and be together in a way that doesn’t put them at risk.” So kids were off the streets, both for pranks they might commit and for perceived dangers they might be exposed to. The 1985 carnival is also notable for raising over $50,000 for a local boy’s experimental cancer treatment.
By the 1990s, the Halloween Carnival began to decline in popularity after several location switches to schools away from Old Town, along with Park City continuously expanding beyond Old Town. It lasted until at least 2000 from what I can find (though perhaps someone who has lived here longer can provide a more accurate timeline).
Not uncoincidentally, the decline of the carnival gave way to the rise of Halloween on Main, which was a way to draw locals to the downtown core during our fall offseason (and, again, to have a place where most kids could be seen and watched). From mentions I can find in the Park Record, the first official Halloween on Main took place in 1996, with the Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade joining in 2001. Next year will be the 30th annual Halloween on Main.
Happy Halloween from the Park City Museum! The Museum will close early for the Main Street trick-or-treating and dog parade.