Emmaus Halloween parade draws large crowd; 5K raises $17,612 and donates $3,000 to parade

Organizers praised volunteers and sponsors after the Emmaus Halloween parade on Oct. 25 and reported high participation and fundraising figures at the borough council meeting.

Chris, who chairs the parade committee, thanked volunteers, borough staff and public-safety partners and reported 58 parade groups, seven bands (six of them high-school bands), six food trucks and three additional vendors in the food-truck lot. Parade sponsors included Xfinity as presenting sponsor; Service Electric broadcast the parade live and Astound provided a tape-delayed broadcast. The Delaware-Lehigh Amateur Radio Club provided communications support, and the Lions Club collected donations along the route.

A separate speaker who identified an address of 51 Gulf Circle, Emmaus, summarized results from the 5K race associated with parade weekend: 594 people registered, 531 showed up on race day (both records), 176 runners were 14 years old or younger, the youngest runner was 5 and the oldest 82. Ten states were represented. The 5K raised $17,612 (organizers provided that figure at the meeting) and the event’s organizers plan to donate $3,000 to the Halloween parade committee. The speaker said the group has raised more than $200,000 in total since February 2007.

Organizers announced the 2026 parade date as Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., with a rain date of Sunday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. The parade committee said winners are listed on the Emmaus Halloween Parade Facebook page and will be posted on the borough website later.

The race director said organizers plan a future 2.5-mile ("250") fundraising event tied to an America 250 project and indicated roughly $5,000–$8,000 would be a likely donation target for future projects; the council did not act on a funding request during the meeting.