Southend’s free Halloween parade has came back again for a spooktacular evening .

On the 28th October 2023 , Southend's Halloween parade took place at 6pm starting from the eastern esplanade car park and ended at around 7:30pm With over 70 acts and a finale of fireworks from along the seafront .

Performers were seen dressed in spooky costumes and spectacular outfits accompanied with music and dance performances ; some performers decorated their vehicles to accompany their acts (this could be seen by the returning Southend ghostbuster’s who showed up in their decorated vehicle ). The performers heavily interacted with the crowd to bring their characters to life .

Local artists who have created puppets got involved to show their great creations . This includes Tim Davies , who created the arachnobot ( a large spider puppet) which led the parade .

One performance , XR Chelmsford and XR Norwich, bought along an impactful message on climate change as they wore outfits resembling trees while spreading their message of ‘ the trees die we die’ alongside the use of instruments to create music .

Thousands of people could be seen watching the parade all along the pier with some showing up in spooky outfits and umbrellas to beat the rain.

As the free event attracts thousands, this meant that parking was a struggle and traffic was expected . The Southend-on-sea council made an above order under section 16(A) to facilitate holding the Halloween event on Saturday 28th October in preparation for the event .

Ending off the event, fireworks could be seen lighting up the sky along the seafront at 8pm to bring the parade to a great finale