Paisley Halloween Festival: Frankenstein and a parade

If you are looking for something to do near Glasgow next weekend, the Paisley Halloween Festival is back on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October, and it is free to attend. The town centre turns into what it calls Scotland's Halloween capital for the two evenings, with the 2026 theme 'Haunted House'. It is run by Renfrewshire Council in partnership with Cirque Bijou and Woodroffe Bassett Design, and it is free to wander around, so you can make of it as much or as little as you like.

The centrepiece is the parade at 7pm on both nights, with around 400 costumed participants moving through Smithhills Street, Gauze Street, Mill Street, Bridge Street, Cotton Street and Gilmour Place over about an hour. The Spark! LED Drummers and Uncle Doom and his Organ of Gloom are back, alongside new acts like Granny Turismo, Ember the Dragon, Mystic Mirror Globe and Sea Sphere. Before that, County Square hosts pre-parade entertainment from 4pm on the Friday and 2pm on the Saturday, with the RockUs Community Choir, Heriot Heartbeats Glee Club, St James Primary School Choir, Grim Visions Fire Show, Erin Hephzibah, Axels Street Magic, Graeme Kerr, Anya Vincent, Paisley Rock Choir and Cameron School of Dance. Go Radio's Zoe Kelly hosts the whole thing.

Beyond the parade, the streets fill with performances and light installations. Brad & Vlad Vampires, Mystic Mirror Globe, Ember the Dragon, Under the Sea Stilt walkers and right2dance set up on Gauze Street and at the top of Dunn Square, and the light installations are spread across town: a Giant Spider on the corner of Gauze Street and Cotton Street, a light show on Paisley Abbey, snakes at Paisley Town Hall, the Grollop Monster on the Piazza Shopping Centre roof and the Halloween Moon at the back of the Town Hall. In County Square, there is a Haunted House installation by Handmade Parade and a giant Frankenstein puppet by Bridgeman Arts.

If you want a better view of the parade, there is optional grandstand seating on Cotton Street at £15 a person or £54 for a group of four, both including the booking fee, which comes with a hot drink and a baked goodie from Coffee Mill. The grandstand is not accessible, but there is a ground-level accessible viewing area. For food, the Big Feed Night Market takes over the Bridge Street car park, with more food at the Cenotaph and Gilmour Place, a funfair at the Lagoon car park and East End Park, and a fringe programme of midnight shopping, family workshops and community events. Accessibility is well covered, with ground-level viewing, a quiet marquee near Bridge Street, accessible toilets, a Changing Places mobile unit on Cotton Street, Blue Badge parking and mobility support through Shopmobility Renfrewshire. For enquiries, email events@renfrewshire.gov.uk. The festival is based at Abbey Close, Paisley, PA1 1JG, and VisitScotland lists it as one of the best free family festivals in the UK, so it is worth a look if you are in the area.