Hill-O-Ween at Eastern Market

Hill-O-Ween at Eastern Market

Hill-O-Ween has run on Capitol Hill for about twenty years and it has stayed free the whole time. This year it lands on Friday, October 30 from 4 to 6pm in front of Eastern Market. The setup is a moon bounce park, face painters, photo booths, a main stage and a spooky dance party with a live DJ. Two hours is the right length for this kind of thing: long enough to get real mileage out of a costume, short enough that nobody falls apart the night before Halloween proper.

The early start is the thing to plan around. A 4pm Friday kickoff means school pickup runs straight into costume change, and it means traffic around Pennsylvania Avenue SE is at its worst exactly when you want to be arriving. Take Metro. Eastern Market station is a two-minute walk and you skip the whole problem. Organizers were still announcing vendors and activities through September, so check their site the week of for the final lineup.

Parent Tips 💡

• ✓Get there close to 4pm. It is a two-hour window and the moon bounce line only grows across it.
• ✓Costume over warm layers, not under. Late October evenings on the Hill cool off fast once the sun drops behind the rowhouses.
• ✓Bring a snack. Two hours of bouncing outruns most kids’ lunches, and the food options around the market get busy at 5pm on a Friday.
• ✓Check hilloweendc.com the week of. The activity list was still being announced in September and the schedule firms up close to the date.
• ✓Address: Eastern Market, 225 7th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Metro to Eastern Market station, then two minutes on foot.