Derry Halloween sets sights on landmark 40th anniversary

Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Business and Culture Committee have endorsed proposed programming and financial arrangements to create an enhanced experience for people attending the city’s Halloween celebrations this October.

The 2026 celebrations will mark the 40th anniversary of Europe’s largest Halloween festival and a dedicated mural and large scale animation are among the options being explored to make the landmark year the biggest in the festival’s rich history.

With more visitors than ever expected this year, Council’s Festivals and Events team have been focusing on the issue of crowd management to enhance safety and ensuring a better experience for visitors.

Among the options being explored is a pilot ticketing system for a section of the Awakening the Walls experience to prevent queues and congestion including access to sections of the walls which has been an issue in recent years.

Aeidin McCarter, Head of Culture at Derry City and Strabane District Council, said that their priority was to safely deliver a high-quality programme that meets the expectations of local people and showcases the city’s most iconic landmarks for visitors.

“We have ambitious and exciting plans to develop a comprehensive programme to create an enhanced visitor experience and make our 40th anniversary celebrations the most successful in the history of the festival,” she said.

“A key element to those plans is a proposal to refine the Awakening the Walls experience so that it showcases all of the Walled City and allows us to manage the high evening footfall and pinch points along the trail.

“We are therefore proposing a ticketing system for an area of the Walled City that will alleviate crowd congestion by giving people a specific time slot to experience the installations and entertainment fully.

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“The wider city centre programme would remain a non-ticketed area with free flowing open access and programming content for everyone to enjoy on all these streets.

“A small fee for individuals or families to access that section of the walls would be to cover the associated service and crowd control costs associated with the ticketing system to that area.”

The proposed area for the 2026 pilot would be the upper Walled City - Artillery Street, Pump Street, Bishop Street, Society Street, Upper Magazine Street.

Members heard yesterday that Derry Halloween festival attracts around 120,000 visitors to the city each year, making it a significant economic driver for the North West.

In 2025 an average of 96% of hotel accommodation was booked out over the course of the festival, and there is a significant benefit to businesses in other sectors, from retail to hospitality.

Council works closely with the local business community to ensure the event programme offers maximum opportunity for businesses to engage with customers.

The event enjoys considerable attention in terms of media interest, and last year live broadcasts in the US alone reached 111 million viewers, a vital element in boosting the city’s international profile as a visitor destination.

It’s estimated that the additional crowd safety costs for this year could reach £70,000 and Council’s Head of Culture, Aeidin McCarter, said her team had extensively researched comparable UK and European illuminated trail events in considering the best approach to delivering this year’s festival.

Members were asked to also consider the increased expectation to deliver an even bigger programme of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the event, which is one of the flagship events in the Tourism Ireland Home of Halloween campaign.

Rising infrastructure, safety and delivery costs continue to place pressure on programming budgets, and to address these concerns an additional investment of £200,000 has been proposed, to be secured through rates support, she informed the committee.

The report outlined the benefits of introducing a proposed price of £2 per person or £5 per family, that would help cover the cost of the required infrastructure including additional staffing and stewarding costs.

The proposed charge would be set as low as sustainably possible to ensure that access to the event remains affordable, particularly for families, Ms McCarter stressed and any fee introduced would be to cover costs and not to generate revenue.

The report also gave details of exciting plans to commission a large, high impact mural within the Walled City.

The mural will function as a year-round cultural, visitor, and marketing asset aligned with the Derry Halloween brand which will reflect the city’s status as the home of Halloween.

Officers are also currently in the process of tendering for large scale animation that will be a fitting highlight for the 40th year celebrations and details on the programme will be revealed in the coming months.

Following the meeting Officers will now scope out the development of a suitable ticketing system for the Awakening of the Walled City experience and a further report will be brought to the Business and Culture Committee for consideration.

A further report will come back to committee members for endorsement before the full details for Derry Halloween 2026 are finalised.