For three days starting tomorrow, the Upper East Side's events will be on its side streets. On Friday, East 78th Street goes car-free for the afternoon and Asphalt Green opens its field on East 90th. On Saturday, a block of East 92nd Street hosts a Halloween block party. On Sunday, First Avenue turns into miles 16 through 18 of the 50th-anniversary five-borough TCS New York City Marathon. For most of the day it divides the neighborhood, and NYRR has designated only four places to cross it, all between 69th and 86th Streets.
The Halloween events and the marathon belong to the same weekend plan, and Sunday's crossings are the one part of it set in advance by someone else, so it helps to plan for Sunday first.
Friday Puts Two Blocks to Work
The first car-free block of the weekend is on East 78th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. The Allen-Stevenson School is hosting a Trick-or-Streets event there on Friday, October 30, from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. It is part of NYC DOT's Trick-or-Streets program, now in its fifth year, which turns Open Streets, plazas and other corridors into car-free Halloween space throughout October. The block is west of Lexington, well away from anything the marathon touches.
The bigger Friday event is on the far east side of the neighborhood. Asphalt Screams, which Asphalt Green bills as the biggest Halloween event on the Upper East Side, takes place on Litwin Field at the Upper East Side campus, 555 E. 90th St. It is presented by Asphalt Green and City Council Speaker Julie Menin. Here is how it runs:
- Cost: free, but you get tickets through Asphalt Green's site
- Street fair: 2:30 to 6:00 p.m., and the line closes at 5:45 p.m.
- Main event: 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
- Entry: come in costume and bring a clear or small bag to get in faster
- Field rules: no outside food or drinks on the field
The 5:45 line cutoff is the detail that catches families out. If you are coming from the East 78th Street block, leave by 5:00 p.m. or so.
Saturday Splits One Block Into Two Moods
On Halloween itself, the main event is in Carnegie Hill. Carnegie Hill Neighbors holds its free Annual Spooktacular on East 92nd Street between Fifth and Park Avenues from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., with no RSVP required. The organizers have divided the block in two:
- High-Energy Block, Madison to Park: games, dancing, music and upbeat Halloween fun
- Chill Zone, Fifth to Madison: a calmer, low-sensory space
The event lasts ninety minutes and ends around dusk. That leaves Saturday evening open, and Sunday starts early.
Sunday Gives First Avenue to the Runners
This year's race has more history behind it than usual. NYRR is marking 50 years since the five-borough course was first run on October 24, 1976. This year also brings the first course change in 15 years. The change is in the Bronx, not Manhattan. After the Willis Avenue Bridge, runners will go along East 135th Street, Alexander Avenue, East 141st Street, Third Avenue and East 138th Street to reach the Madison Avenue Bridge. The Upper East Side stretch of First Avenue is unchanged.
The crowd is bigger, though. NYRR expects nearly 60,000 participants in 2026 and more than 2 million spectators.
The start schedule shows how long the avenue stays busy. According to NYRR's start page, the wheelchair men go off at 8:00 a.m., the wheelchair women at 8:02, the professional women at 8:35 and the professional men at 9:05. The open waves follow at 9:10, 9:45, 10:20, 10:55 and 11:30 a.m., and NYRR notes these times may change. The last wave leaves Staten Island at 11:30, and First Avenue begins past mile 16, so runners will keep coming up the avenue well into the afternoon. The organized cheer zones on the Upper East Side are scheduled to run until 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.
Four Crossings, and the Gaps Between Them
NYRR's 2026 course guide lists the designated pedestrian crossing zones. Brooklyn gets two. Manhattan gets four, all on First Avenue:
| Designated crossing | Next designated crossing to the north | Blocks between |
|---|---|---|
| First Avenue and 69th Street | 72nd Street | 3 |
| First Avenue and 72nd Street | 83rd Street | 11 |
| First Avenue and 83rd Street | 86th Street | 3 |
| First Avenue and 86th Street | None listed in Manhattan | n/a |
There is also no designated crossing between 59th Street, where the course comes off the bridge onto First Avenue, and 69th. So the crossings come in two pairs, 69th and 72nd at the south end and 83rd and 86th at the north end, with an 11-block stretch between them.
How much this matters depends on which side of First you live on. If you live east of First and your day takes you west, to the Q train, the Carnegie Hill blocks or a Sunday table on Lexington, your route will bend toward one of those four streets. In Yorkville above 86th Street, 86th is the northernmost designated crossing on the list.
NYRR does not publish operating hours for the crossings, and the course is busiest during the morning waves. Leave extra time on Sunday, and build your plans around the crossing nearest your block.
Where the Cheering Is Organized
NYRR's spectator guide calls First Avenue at miles 16 to 18 a stretch where spectators line the sidewalks and the avenue's bars and restaurants add to the atmosphere. It lists the N, Q, R, 4, 5, 6 and F trains for getting there. Two Upper East Side cheer zones have published addresses and hours:
- Shokz Cheer Zone, First Avenue at East 75th Street, mile 16.9, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is part of the brand's NYC marathon week program, according to its Marathon Weekend listing.
- Brasil Run Club NYC Marathon Cheer Zone, 1741 First Avenue in Yorkville, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It is free with an RSVP, and RSVPs opened October 18, according to its Marathon Weekend listing. Brasil Run Club is a Brazilian running community based in New York.
The Shokz zone at 75th sits in the 11-block gap between the 72nd and 83rd Street crossings. If you plan to watch there and then go west, the 72nd Street crossing is three blocks south.
If you want to follow runners past the neighborhood, NYRR lists a Charity Cheer Zone at First Avenue and 120th Street, miles 19 to 20, reachable by the 6 train. At the finish, the ticketed East Side Grandstand looks onto the final 200 meters. If you are staying home, WABC-TV Channel 7 carries the race live from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m., with pre-race coverage from 7:00 a.m.
The Closure Hours Arrive Friday
The exact hours for First Avenue have not been published yet. The city's 311 marathon page currently gives a citywide closure window of 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on November 1 for many streets and bridges, without hours for individual segments. For comparison, the city's 2025 closure notice closed First Avenue from 59th Street to the Willis Avenue Bridge from 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. That was last year's schedule, and it does not confirm this year's.
NYC DOT posts a preliminary Weekend Traffic Advisory early in the week and its final notice on Friday. This week, that is Friday, October 30, the same afternoon as Asphalt Screams and the East 78th Street block. NYRR also recommends checking mta.info before you travel on race day. If a car, a delivery or a guest is arriving on Sunday, the Friday advisory will give you the hours to plan around.
Questions about how a race-day block or a cross-street address works for you day to day are the kind Elena answers for clients across the Upper East Side, from the 70s to Carnegie Hill. If you're thinking about a move in this part of Manhattan, Work with Elena at Elena Smirnova.
