Hallowbaloo Festival

Hallowballoo is the perfect warm up for Halloween in Waikiki the next week. They close off Nuuanu, Hotel Street, and part of Bethel Street so they can set up various stages for the bands and acts like Burlesque and Pole Dancing (this ain’t a kids event).
On Hotel Street near Manifest, Nextdoor, and Bar 35 is the busiest and most fun part of the festival and its gets the craziest because this is where the clubrats go. It gets extra crazy after 10 PM. Everybody is wearing costumes, drinking, dancing and socializing so it’s a great time you shouldn’t miss!

2014. Nothing was fun about this event except the crowd in the costumes. Performance at the streets was boring and uninteresting. They charged $ 20 for free access to the clubs but the things is that it took about 40 minutes to get in each clubs, lines are super long… Plus music in those clubs was horrible. Drinks at the streets are plain and overpriced in a tiny cups! Worth going only for free to see people’s costumes. Waste of my money and time. P. s. Bouncers were taking bribes to let the people in without standing in line, which made waiting even longer. Horrible and unorganized. Never going there again and you shouldn’t waste your time as well!

While Halloween is a great excuse to play dress up, having block parties like these allows those people who cosplay for life to exercise and display their skills. When you’re like me and you have so many costumes, so much so that I call them outfits, additional costume parties means that I can wear more than one a year without committing that Halloween faux pas of wearing the same costume more than once. Those things are expensive!
Hallowbaloo is a fun block party to go to. If you really want to make the most out of your experience then 1) catch a cab, parking will take too much of your time unless you plan to arrive early, 2) drink, 3) dance. It’s a one time cover fee for a bunch of places so why pay that price if you’re not going into a club?

10.26.13.
Like Chizu P. writes, «a huge block party in Chinatown!» …and no kidding, it really is. I believe things start going down at around 5:30 pm and the atmosphere is more like a street festival with live entertainment (e.g., dance performances, music, etc.), pop-​up bars, food vendors… I think this is the part where it’s ok for kids to be around… and you will see families around.
FYI you will need to purchase a ticket to at this event (look for tents) or pre-​purchase through their website. I believe pre-​sale is $ 10-​$ 15 and go up from there as tickets run out. If you pre-​purchase bring your ticket, hard copy or via your phone & you’ll need to get it scanned at one of the various tents around the block; this will get you your wristband, which will give you access to any of the participating bars on the block!
…as the night goes on the wild things come out to play… it’s amazing how many craaaaazy & genius costumes, people & personalities you will come across. If you come early, pick a bar to go to & get in line – it will get long. But if you’re stuck waiting why not take pics with your fav costumed person!
Overall, a fun place to attend to celebrate Halloween. Just make sure you go before 10:00 pm… we showed up around 10:30 and had a hard time getting wristbands!
Unilocal 365 Challenge: #298/​365

A huge block party in Chinatown! Everyone wore amazing costumes and partied on. Wristbands were required to purchase if you wanted to drink. Personally, I think it should have been free since drinks were already costing an arm and a leg for a cup!
Ladies remember to wear real comfy shoes because the roads are so uneven and not forgiving!

Julia ‘nem are having loads of fun with the photo booth on Nuuanu St! Come on down to see them!
Its a muggy evening, but at least the weather is dry… so far, things are still pretty kid-​friendly, but soon… Good times, great oldies… Hallowbaloo in Chinatown!