As Halloweek festivities begin to ensue, Hotel Congress prepares to party the weekend away with their annual two-day shindig, Halloweekend. Halloweekend is an indoor and outdoor, two-stage live music and dance event celebrating the spookiest holiday of the year.

Friday night’s Nightmare On Congress St. theme focuses on music and dance. Saturday night is themed Halloween Night at Hotel Congress, and party-goers have a chance to win $2,000 in cash, an iPad Air, costume contest prizes and other Hotel Congress goodies. In the past, Hotel Congress has teamed up with other businesses on Congress Street to host Nightmare, but this year, the torch has been passed back to Hotel Congress alone.

According to David Slutes, entertainment director of Hotel Congress, Halloweekend was originally called Halloweek up until now. Halloweek had two featured events on the weekend before Halloween and the weekend following to bookend the holiday. Since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, it was only logical to make it one big event on the same weekend. The Halloweek/Halloweekend event has been hosted by Hotel Congress for 15 years.

Halloweek started as a fun alternative to extend the holiday’s duration as long as possible.

“People tend to spend more time downtown on weekend nights during the month of October because of all the Halloween festivities,” Slutes said. “So we decided to take advantage of this and drag out Halloween by hosting these big parties.”

As an added bonus, Hotel Congress has a history of being one of Tucson’s many haunted hotels. This means partiers not only experience a Gatsby-esque gathering, but also learn and possibly encounter the hotel’s paranormal history.

“It’s always a joy to see people enjoying themselves and participating in the costume contest,” Slutes said. “It gets better and better every year. The event sells out early, so make sure to buy your tickets in advance.”

Hotel Congress is located on 311 E. Congress St. Tickets for day one of the event are $7 in advance and $9 at the door, and tickets for day two are only $7. To purchase your tickets in advance, go to hotelcongress.com/events/october/. Both nights start at 8 p.m. and potential party people must be 21 and over.

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