DENVER — The Broadway Halloween Parade has been a staple on Broadway for the last seven years.
"It was a small community parade with the neighborhood and businesses on Broadway, and that's all it was," said Luke Johnson, president of the Broadway Merchants Association and organizer of the annual parade.
He said the free event has been a great way to showcase the local businesses that provide the spooky floats.
"The exposure alone is huge for businesses, but it brings all those folks down here to spend at businesses," he said. "That's the biggest night of the year for a lot of bars, restaurants and retail stores. So it's a big deal."
Over the years, the small community parade has also become a big deal, with audience attendance hitting 30,000 people last year.
"Crowds were going into the parade route, and we couldn't part the sea of the crowd to get the floats through. It turned into a potential safety issue and we don't want an accident to happen," said Johnson.
Organizers said they and Denver police agreed — pedestrian barricades are now necessary.
"We had an idea of how much barricades were, and they were three times more than what we thought," said Johnson.
So far, the Broadway Merchants Association (BMA) has raised $9,000 of the $42,000 needed to get the barricades.
"If every person that came out last year gave $1, the parade would go without a hitch. We had 30,000 people last year," said Johnson.
He hopes the community will help save the tradition for everything that it means to everyone involved.
"We lose the biggest event of the year for Broadway, businesses will miss what is probably their biggest night of the year, and possibly most importantly, all the kids that come out are not coming out this year," said Johnson.
Click here if you'd like to donate to the parade. Their deadline for fundraising is next week, Sept. 6.
Editor's note: Denver7 has partnered with the Broadway Halloween Parade for several years in the past.
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