Everything You Need to Know About Halloween on Boise’s Famous Harrison Boulevard

Halloween in Boise’s North End. There’s nothing quite like it! Full-size candy bars. Beautiful fall leaves. Over-the-top decorations. Thousands of trick-or-treaters. 

Over 50 trunk-or-treat events were scheduled for the Boise area in 2023, so chances are your kids have already gotten a chance to show off their costumes at least once. But anyone who’s lived in Boise for at least one Halloween knows nothing can compare to October 31 on Harrison Boulevard in the North End. 

The Ada County Highway District predicts that more than 10,000 trick-or-treaters will head to the North End this year. That’s why they’re closing the famous street to traffic. Beginning at 3 p.m. on October 31, Harrison Boulevard between Hill Road and Resseguie will be limited to pedestrians only. That road closure will remain in place until 11 p.m. on Halloween night. 

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The tradition of closing the street is still relatively new. The North End Neighborhood Association started working with ACHD to close this section of Harrison Boulevard to motor vehicle traffic for the first time in 2017. In 2021, there was still a lot of uncertainty about the pandemic so there was no coordinated effort to hold “Halloween on Harrison” and the street remained open. They closed it for the first time since 2019 last year. 

Meanwhile on the Boise Bench

One of the Bench’s favorite scary displays is back on Halloween night. For the past eight years, the yard at 2029 S Columbus Street has been home to the Haunted Backyard Zombie Toyland. On October 31, the Pence-Brown family transforms their backyard into a playland filled with the creepiest-looking baby dolls you’ve ever seen. 

Throughout the year, the family searches for unwanted, unloved baby dolls being cast aside in piles at garage sales or thrift stores. They bring them home and give them a horrifying makeover. Armed with paint brushes, the family, friends and neighborhood kids spend weeks zombifying the dolls for setting them up in the yard for Halloween night.

Each year the collection of dolls gets larger. The Pence-Browns say that their collection has grown to at least 250 creepy dolls that will be part of the free display that will be open to Trick-Or-Treaters on Halloween night from 6-9 p.m. It's a kid-friendly Halloween display that was originally created by kids!

We love how self-deprecating the family is, calling their display the "thrift store version of Harrison Boulevard." It's just as good, if not better than some of the displays that will soon appear in the North End!