Nightmare on Chicago Street this year will be a two-day event, with a concert stage being the main attraction on the first night.
“The event is expanding into a full weekend experience, with programming on both Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, in downtown Elgin,” Elgin spokesperson Josie Beecher-Crotty said in an email. “The main difference is the event footprint. Friday’s experience will be concentrated on Chicago Street, while Saturday’s Nightmare on Chicago Street will be the full downtown footprint from past years.”
The zombie-themed street fest has drawn as many as 15,000 people in a single night so the goal is to build upon what they’ve already established.
On the first night, a concert stage presenting live music on East Chicago Street near Riverside Drive will be the main draw. With tickets costing between $50 and $75, the event is expected to generate about $300,000 in revenue, according to what Amanda Harris, director of cultural arts and special events, told the Elgin City Council in November.
The second day will be for the traditional event, which takes over a large portion of the downtown district.
An email sent to subscribers on the city’s Nightmare on Chicago Street mailing list said that while the Friday night activities will not include everything available on Saturday, it will feature a haunted house and performances from nationally known acts in addition to live music and will make for “an entire weekend of immersive horror in downtown Elgin.”
Friday night also will provide access to bars in the zoned area, tents selling alcohol, seasonal vendors, circus performers, and sideshow and burlesque acts.
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The names of the bands being featured on the concert stage “will be released in phases,” Beecher-Crotty said in the email.
The Friday Nightmare programming will build on what Elgin has offered for the last two years on the Friday prior to the big Saturday gathering. In 2024, the city and downtown merchants began offering a variety of music and performance art acts inside establishments and on streets where the big party takes place the following day.
Nightmare on Chicago Street made its debut in 2010 and drew about 3,500 people in its first year, according to city officials. Other than being canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has consistently been one of Elgin’s most popular events.
The ghoulish gathering is intended for attendees 17 and older. Those who are younger will only be admitted if accompanied by an adult.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.