Most Elmhurst residents who requested block party permits on Halloween last year weren't throwing parties. They were barricading their streets.

That's what city staff found after visiting all 20 Halloween 2025 block party sites, Deputy Police Chief Brett Kaczorowski told the Public Affairs & Safety Committee at its Monday, June 22 meeting. In most cases, no party was happening. Residents had simply used the permit system to close their street to car traffic for trick-or-treating.

The practice created real problems. Kaczorowski told the committee at its Tuesday, May 26 meeting that the barricades generated a wave of resident complaints, forced overflow parking onto adjacent streets, and produced pedestrian hazards on blocks never designed to handle the extra cars.

"Many requested block parties do not actually have a party, but only request barricades in attempts to block their streets on Halloween," Kaczorowski said. "This has caused a significant amount of resident complaints to the front desk, a 911 call last year that results in a disturbance between residents, and forces additional cars to be parked on adjacent streets causing visibility issues for pedestrians."

Children darting into traffic between lines of parked cars was among the specific dangers Kaczorowski described. Some residents on adjacent streets could not access their own driveways because nearby blocks were closed without permits.

The city's response

City staff presented a draft policy report to the committee on Monday, July 13, the next step after the committee directed staff to prepare recommendations at the June 22 meeting. The committee also requested data from other communities on how they handle similar Halloween permit issues.

City Manager James Grabowski told the committee on May 26 that the problems are specific to Halloween and have not appeared on other dates. The current permit process requires at least 10 days' lead time before an event.

The committee is chaired by Alderman Mike Brennan, with Vice Chair Karen Sienko and Alderman Brian Belanger. Belanger noted at the June 22 meeting that Halloween 2026 falls on Saturday, October 31, which he said may increase the number of permit requests and the scope of the problems.

What's next

The full text of the draft report has not been publicly released, so the specific policy changes under consideration are not yet known. Any new rules would need approval from the full City Council before taking effect ahead of Halloween.

Residents with questions about the block party permit process can contact the Elmhurst Police Department's non-emergency line.