The festival also includes numerous forms of entertainment, carnival attractions, amateur talent competitions, and a parade.

[2] Although he lacked statistics to support his claim, radio host Paul Harvey once called it the second-largest street festival in the U.S. in terms of attendees, behind only the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

After three successful years of holding Halloween type Festivals, a handful of West Side businessmen decided, in 1921, to form an organization that would handle the duties of putting together successful Fall Festivals and “to initiate, promote, and support any and all movements which are for the betterment of the West Side of Evansville, Indiana; also for the betterment of Evansville as a whole.” The first West Side Nut Club Fall Festival was billed as a Halloween Night, Halloween Carnival, and masked ball.

The event was a one night affair and consisted of a parade of costumed people followed by a Halloween Mask Ball.

During most of those Festivals, the Nut Club coordinated the decorations, agricultural exhibits, and parades while the Burdette Post of the American Legion sponsored street dances.

In 1940, organizers incorporated three rides (Ferris wheel, merry-go-round & mini autos) and an exhibit of caged animals, concessions, and circus acts.

In 2016, Evansville native Lilly King, a two-time Olympic Gold medalist in the same year, asked to be grand marshal of the parade; the request was granted.