"New this year, the parade will begin in uptown Towson and make its way through town before arriving on campus."
That line comes from Towson University's Homecoming page. It describes a change bigger than one new event. TU calls this a new tradition, and it means a week the university usually holds on campus now starts on the same streets the Towson Chamber of Commerce and the Towson Main Street Collaborative use for their own October events. Put the two calendars side by side and you get two weeks of Uptown events from mid-October through Halloween. The university and the town take turns, and they meet on a Saturday that is both Homecoming and October 31.
A Parade That Starts Where the Town Is
The inaugural Towson University Homecoming Parade is set for Tuesday, October 27, 2026. Lineup begins at 3 p.m. at StarTUp at the Armory, 307 Washington Avenue, and the parade steps off at 4 p.m. The route goes from the Armory through Uptown Towson and ends on campus.
If you're planning around the time, TU's two pages disagree. The main Homecoming page lists "3 p.m. Parade," and the parade page lists 3 p.m. for lineup and 4 p.m. for step-off. The parade page has the more detailed schedule. If you want to watch the procession pass, 4 p.m. is the safer time to plan on. If you want to see floats and marching groups gathering on Washington Avenue, come closer to 3.
This isn't only a student event. TU opens participation to university departments, student organizations, and alumni groups. It also opens it to community partners, local schools, businesses, civic and nonprofit organizations, and individuals and families. Participation is free, but you have to register in advance by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 20. Watching from the sidewalk requires no registration. TU's suggestions for participants include decorated floats, banners, candy, beads, costumes, and "plenty of black-and-gold pride."
After the parade, the celebration moves to the Tiger TUesday Bash at 5 p.m. at Tiger Plaza and Towsontown Field. TU's Homecoming pages don't say whether the Bash is open to the public. The university's general Tiger Tuesday page invites community members to take part in the weekly spirit tradition, but that doesn't settle who can attend this particular event.
Two Calendars, One Stretch of Weeks
The parade matters more once you place it among everything else on Uptown's calendar this month. Here are the second half of October and the start of November in order, with the organizer for each:
- Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17, 5 to 9 p.m. Towson Ghost Tours, organized by the Towson Main Street Collaborative. The Eventbrite listing gives Prospect Hill Cemetery Road as the location, without a street number, and shows prices from $0 to $23.18.
- Saturday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Italian Heritage Festival at the Baltimore County Historic Courthouse, 400 Washington Avenue, organized by the Towson Chamber of Commerce. The 2026 flyer places it on Courthouse Square and the adjacent streets. Admission is free. The lineup includes Monaldi Brothers and Great Train Robbery, Italian food, a beer-and-wine garden, a sausage-eating contest, an Italian Culture Garden, a children's area, and local vendors.
- Tuesday, Oct. 20, 5 p.m. The registration deadline to march in the parade.
- Friday, Oct. 23, 5 to 7 p.m. Uptown Towson Trick or Treating. The Main Street Collaborative's flyer says participating businesses will hand out treats.
- Monday, Oct. 26. TU's "Flip the Switch" kicks off Homecoming week with a social media scavenger hunt.
- Tuesday, Oct. 27. The parade, followed by the Tiger TUesday Bash.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 7 p.m. TU's Got Talent in the University Union Ballrooms.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m. Dance the Madness at SECU Arena, which TU describes as free. The Distinguished Alumni and Deans' Recognition Awards are the same evening in the University Union.
- Friday, Oct. 30. The Homecoming concert. TU says the headliner will be announced in the coming weeks.
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 1 p.m. TU vs. Hampton, the Homecoming game.
Before this stretch, the Chamber's Fall Movie Night is Friday, Oct. 9, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Patriot Plaza. TU's Family Weekend game against Stony Brook is the next afternoon, Saturday, Oct. 10, at 4 p.m. The pattern holds there too, with a town event one night and a university event the next day.
Under the old setup, Homecoming happened on campus and Uptown's Halloween events happened downtown. With the parade starting at the Armory, the line between them is gone for one afternoon, and the Main Street Collaborative's trick-or-treat night comes just four days earlier.
A Weekday Afternoon on Uptown Streets
The Italian Heritage Festival falls on a Saturday, and so do both home games on this list. The parade steps off at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, a regular workday afternoon.
As of early October, a few things haven't been published yet. TU's parade page includes a route map as an image, but the text doesn't list the streets. Nothing in the TU, Baltimore County, or Chamber material reviewed for this post announces road closures or parking restrictions for the parade. Baltimore County's live road-closure page showed no reported county closures when checked, but that page covers only county roads, not state routes, and the county updates it often. Check that page again the week of October 26. TU's Homecoming page is also the place to watch for a route description in writing.
Long-term construction is a separate issue from the parade. The Maryland State Highway Administration and the Baltimore County Department of Public Works are partway through a $9 million joint project. It replaces the water line under York Road and rebuilds sidewalk ramps and business driveways between the Towson Roundabout and Newell Avenue. Crews began at Newell Avenue near the university and are working north toward the roundabout through 2026, with completion targeted for late fall 2027.
That project's lane closures are scheduled overnight, Sunday through Thursday, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., and two lanes stay open throughout. A 4 p.m. parade falls well outside that window. If you're still in Uptown after the 5 p.m. Bash, a Tuesday night is one of the nights closures can start at 9. The state also warns that on-street parking in the work zone may be temporarily restricted, and it suggests the Towson Bypass for through traffic. That parking limit could matter more on parade day than on a normal Tuesday.
Two Saturdays That Pack Two Events Each
October 17 and October 31 each stack more than one event on the same day.
On the 17th, the Italian Heritage Festival runs at the Historic Courthouse until 6 p.m., and the second night of Ghost Tours starts at 5 p.m. The hours overlap by an hour. A full afternoon on Courthouse Square can flow straight into an evening tour, as long as you've bought tickets.
October 31 is the clearest sign of how the two calendars have merged. TU bills the Homecoming game against Hampton as a day of "tailgating, traditions, Tiger football, trick-or-treating and plenty of black and gold spirit." Parking lots open at 9 a.m. for tailgating, gates open at 11:30 a.m., and the first 1,000 fans get a free Halloween-themed Doc hoodie. A 1 p.m. kickoff should put the game's end in the afternoon, before evening trick-or-treating. That's the closest the schedule comes to keeping the two events apart.
Where the Food Fits In
Two restaurants that opened this year are in Uptown.
Lib's Grill opened at 210 W. Pennsylvania Avenue on June 1, 2026, according to local coverage by Patch and WMAR. The Towson Torch's September 22 business roundup reported Tarin Thai Cuisine open at 419 York Road.
The Towson Farmers Market is also still running. It's open Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Allegheny and Washington avenues through November 19, 2026. Thursday, October 29 is Homecoming week. You can shop the market at lunch, a short walk from the Armory where the parade lined up two days earlier, and Dance the Madness starts at SECU Arena that evening.
The schedule gives this year's late October a different rhythm. Uptown's own events take the Fridays and Saturdays through October 23. TU's week starts the following Monday, puts its first public event on Washington Avenue that Tuesday, and ends with a game on Halloween.
Event weeks like this one shape how a home near Uptown or the York Road corridor feels and functions day to day. They're part of what Carolina Cronin talks through with clients deciding how close to the center of Towson they want to be. If you're thinking about a move and want a clear, data-informed read on what location means for value here, Let's Connect.
