PORTSMOUTH – A swarm of bees will take center stage among the crowd of creatures marching through downtown Halloween night, an expected blur of black and yellow at the request of the grand marshal of the 2024 Portsmouth Halloween Parade.

Mike Nelson, a staple of the city’s poetry scene, will lead this year’s Portsmouth Halloween Parade as Grand Marshal, a local honor that dates back to the march through the city’s streets in 2003. The parade itself was the first to take place from started in 1995 and in the years that followed has grown into a regional phenomenon, attracting thousands of participants and viewers from the sidelines.

Nelson, a hotel maintenance engineer who works in Portsmouth, is the former chairman of the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program and longtime host of “Beat Night,” a monthly open mic event for poetry in the press room.

Nelson’s first time participating in the Portsmouth Halloween Parade was around 2005. He hasn’t missed one since.

“To be asked to be grand marshal is an incredible honor,” he said. “You sit in the front. I’ve never been at the front before. Representing the city of Portsmouth and this community that I love is an amazing feeling. That’s the best part.”

In past parades, Nelson has dressed as a scary clown, but this year he’s wearing a costume that resembles an old fascination of his: a bumblebee.

At Nelson’s request, anyone who dresses as a bumblebee during the parade can come and march with him at the front of the line, providing a unique perspective among the crowd of costumes.

Bring pots and pans to bang together during the parade, he suggested.

“Bees are important to me personally. I paint bees. I’ve been fascinated by it for years and years and years. I just love them. I think they are super cool and very important,” Nelson added.

According to organizer Monte Bohanan, the grassroots parade will take place on Halloween night. This year’s edition is the 29th Portsmouth Halloween Parade, although technically it takes place in what would have been the event’s 30th anniversary year. However, as the coronavirus pandemic continued throughout 2020, the parade was canceled that fall, the first and only time in its history that it was called off.

The annual event has no ties to the city and has been run by volunteers since its inception. The parade is organized every year by a ‘coven’, a group adjacent to the board that pulls all the strings and involves volunteers in the mix.

Bohanan and Liz Scharf are two board members, both counting down the days until Halloween.

“That spirit of creativity and sticking it together with hot glue and duct tape kind of spirit of the parade really shines through. That’s one of the things I love about it,” Bohanan said. “The great thing about it is that anyone can march. That’s (another) one of the things I like about this parade. You can get in. You do not need to register in advance. It’s really about that inclusive spirit. We encourage anyone who wants to march to march.”

“I think the great thing about Halloween is that it’s the one day of the year where you can be whatever you want to be and no one will judge you for it,” Scharf said. “People actually celebrate it. I think Portsmouth really gets behind that and comes together as a community to celebrate everyone just expressing themselves through creativity.

According to Bohanan, between 1,000 and 1,500 people participate in the parade. Although weather dependent, he expects the timing of this year’s parade could result in perhaps 10,000 people watching along the route.

Nelson was named Grand Marshal at the 19th annual “(I Gotta) Rock Show” at The Press Room, held in early October, an annual custom as part of the Portsmouth Halloween Parade lore. The night before the parade, on October 30, Nelson will host ‘Undead Beat Night’ at The Press Room, often the most attended Beat Night of the year.

Come all out for Undead Beat Night, where participants dress up in costumes and Halloween attire and read uncensored poetry on stage while a band keeps the beat behind them.

“With Undead Beat Night it’s such a natural fit, because Beat Night can be quite wild anyway, so when that parade crew comes and everyone puts on their costumes, it just fits. It all ties together very easily,” Nelson said.

The open mic session is one of several fundraisers and benefits held prior to the parade. So far, a karaoke night, an art market and a tattoo flash sale at Grim North Tattoo and Piercing have already been held in support of the parade, with an urban farmers market pumpkin smash, a Peirce Island “spooky paddle” event and Undead Beat The Next Night is Coming.

This year, for the first time, Portsmouth Halloween Parade merchandise will be available for purchase on the evening of the event. Off Piste, a business on Congress Street, will stay open until 7pm on Halloween with a pop-up shop full of Portsmouth Halloween Parade-themed merchandise, including adult and kids T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and pint glasses.

The design for this year’s Portsmouth Halloween Parade shirt was created by local artist Leigh Anita.

“I’ve always enjoyed it,” Scharf said of the parade. “The creativity, the community coming together. I was very excited when they decided to ask me to join. It’s fun to walk to the center and the square and see everyone shouting and cheering for everyone.”

The Portsmouth Halloween Parade departs from Peirce Island on Thursday, October 31 at 7pm

Information: portsmouthhalloweenparade.org/

Street closures and parking bans are in effect for the Portsmouth Halloween Parade

The City of Portsmouth provides the following information regarding street closures and traffic bans on the day of the Portsmouth Halloween Parade:

Due to the parade, parking and driving are prohibited on certain city streets.

On-street parking is prohibited along the parade route: from Marcy Street to Daniel Street to Market Square, from Congress to Fleet Street, then State Street and back to Prescott Park. On Halloween, the parking ban applies from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM and the street closure from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Residents, business owners and employees within this route are advised that no vehicles are allowed to cross the parade route. Other areas in and around the event have limited access. Police officers, event volunteers, signs and barricades will be posted in front of these areas. All vehicles exceeding the parking restrictions after 5:00 PM will be towed at the vehicle owner’s expense.

Public parking is available at the Hanover Garage, Foundry Place Garage, Worth Lot and Bridge Street Lot, where regular rates apply.

The City of Portsmouth is offering ADA parking in the Prescott Park parking lot near Memorial Bridge for the evening of the Portsmouth Halloween Parade. For more information about this and other community accessibility tips, visit: AccessNavigators.com.

For detailed information on street closures and parking bans, visit: portsnh.co/halloween2024.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Halloween Parade 2024: What you need to know before you go