Halloween in Downtown Delray Saturday: witches on bikes, a parade and Kidsfest
Downtown spends Saturday on Halloween while the CRA weighs a grocery plan and opens its vacant land in The Set to developers.
Downtown's Halloween parade has an open cast. Anyone in costume who shows up at 1 p.m. Saturday walks it from Federal to Old School Square, where Kidsfest is waiting.
- When
- Saturday, Oct. 24 · 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Where
- Downtown Delray Beach
- Price
- Trick-or-treating, parade and Kidsfest free
Hundreds of costumed witches are expected to pedal from City Hall to Old School Square between 8 and 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. It is the 15th annual Witches of Delray Ride, and it benefits Achievement Centers for Children & Families. Riders must register in advance; for everyone else it is a show from the curb.
The next stretch is aimed at little ones. Participating merchants hand out candy along Atlantic Avenue from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. At 1 p.m., a free parade heads from Federal to Old School Square, and anyone in costume walks in it. Kidsfest fills Old School Square from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with food, vendors, crafts and entertainment. The candy walk, the parade and Kidsfest are all free.
A proposed West Atlantic grocery store could move to the NW 800 block
The CRA board meets Oct. 27 to decide whether RH Development Group's grocery plan for West Atlantic Avenue is in the public's interest. That session is the second public meeting state law requires before the board can go ahead without competitive bidding. The developer's unsolicited proposal, filed Feb. 10, paired a full-service grocery store with commercial space, a parking lot and green space in the SW 600 block.
The site may not stay put. At the first public meeting in May, the developer was asked about CRA land in the NW 800 block. Its July responses initially said infrastructure limits ruled out other CRA sites. City staff later said planned work on nearby public rights-of-way could potentially be redesigned. On Sept. 15, the developer said the store could move to CRA-owned parcels in the NW 800 block. As of a Sept. 24 CRA staff memo, the developer was still finalizing conceptual plans for that site for formal submittal. The memo says the store and parking lot would stay largely the same.
Board members must weigh public benefits, the deal's financial structure, the developer's qualifications, fit with regional infrastructure plans and comments made at the meeting. Residents who speak that night become part of that record. The Oct. 27 decision is a public-interest call on the proposal, not a site-plan approval.
Halloween night bar crawl ends at a costumes-required after party
- When
- Saturday, Oct. 31 · 4 p.m. to midnight
- Where
- Check-in at Hawkers Asian Street Food; after party at THRōW Social Delray Beach
- Price
- Currently $15 per person, or $10 each for four or more bought together; $40 walk-up
A ticket gets you free entry at the three participating bars, vouchers for two or three drinks or shots, the after party and event photos. The crawl runs 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, and the after party lasts until midnight. Check-in is at Hawkers Asian Street Food from 4 to 6 p.m., where a ticket's QR code gets a badge and vouchers. Bars can be visited in any order, with a mid party at Delray Hideaway from 7 to 9 p.m. The last stop is THRōW Social Delray Beach, where costumes are required.
Tickets are currently $15 per person, or $10 each when four or more are bought together. Walk-up tickets cost $40 each, more than twice the current per-person price.
CRA wants offers to lease or buy its empty land in The Set
Proposals are due Dec. 2 at 4 p.m. on 7.54 acres in the SW 600, 700 and 800 blocks of West Atlantic Avenue, between I-95 and Swinton Avenue. Bids must be mailed or hand-delivered to the CRA office at 20 N. Swinton Ave., and late ones will not be reviewed. Written questions go to the CRA by email until Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. The CRA says it may move those dates earlier or later. The tract includes the SW 600 block, where the grocery proposal above was first aimed.
A "Cone of Silence" has applied since the request went out Oct. 7. Outside of written questions to the CRA's designated contact, bidders and anyone on their teams may not contact or lobby the CRA chair, board members or staff about it. The ban lasts until the board picks a proposer and awards a deal, rejects all bids or otherwise ends the process. Breaking it can get a bidder disqualified.