Nightmare on Normal

C’mon, everyone, it’s not perfect, but it’s fun! The people-​watching is great, with some amazing costumes. The costume contest is entertaining. Entry procedures and drink sales could use some work. Why should we need tickets to buy a drink? Parking is horrid, but that’s Hillcrest and if you’re drinking, isn’t walking or Lyft a better option?

Dont waste your time. Last yeat I bought VIP passes and was treated like @#$%…A total ripoff

Like everyone else has said, this is very underwhelming.
First things first: good luck looking for parking. That’s expected in the city, but they used an entire lot they probably could have charged for parking to handle this long line which I will touch on next.
It doesn’t matter at all whether you bought your tickets ahead of time or not, you still have to wait in the long line to get your ID checked. LONG LINE.
Once you go in, there’s one side for all ages and another side for 21+. Very confusing. The grown up side was obviously much more crowded.
There were 2 bars for drinks. One was a mob while the other was a really long line. We tried the mob first, but it was just not moving. So we moved to the long organized line. However when we finally arrived to the front they told us they ran out of beer and their specialty drink. Everyone has to go to the mob bar to get them.
This is right when we left. We paid $ 10 to wait in line and get nothing back.

People watching: Holy hell the things that can be seen
Having your friend dress like a cat post and watch men rape him with their eyes. Worth the price of admission
Other than that? Meh
I came here on Saturday after hearing that it is a pretty awesome block party and left thinking it was just hook up central for the mens. $ 10.00 a piece gets you in. You get tickets for drinks that are $ 1.00 a piece. Mixed drink is 5 tickets… Oh BTW the drinks? Don’t waste your money. Worse than the old days of TJ. Nothing in them
The contest is judged by audience. Bad idea… When you come as an evil tooth fairy nobody really wants to know you. You come as Big Bird with an anti-​romney sign. You are pretty much a shoe in. I do like how they limit the contest to a certain amount of people but there really should be categories. Funny, sexy, scary etc…
No smoking in an outdoor venue. What? Plus no one was enforcing it
Music was OK, but nothing really was going on… No food stands, additional entertainment (Sorry the runway show was B-​O-​R-​I-​N-​G) A ton of guys didn’t even dress up so it felt like they were just there to rub one out in a corner whilst looking at half naked men… Don’t get me wrong I love you Hillcrest. I just wished this party catered to a more diverse crowd… and it did not. Purely one note

I first heard about Nightmare on Normal Street from my hair stylist. He told me that it was an exciting Saturday event, staged on the Saturday preceeding Halloweeen, worthy of my attendance. I mentioned it to my date and he stated that he had gone to Nightmare on Normal the previous year and that it was a good time.
So late Saturday afternoon we found ourselves scrambling to find some costumes to wear. Fighting the frenzied throngs of eager Halloween goers at any local costume shop takes patience, especially when undertaken so late in the game. Nevertheless, when all was said and done, each of us settled on wearing hats, but silly, goofy, cute ones at that. An hour later we were walking into the sectioned off block on Normal St. to partake of the festivities.
Admission tickets were $ 10 a person. To purchase alcoholic beverages, drink tickets were sold separately in a different line. Each drink ticket sold for $ 1. The average cocktail sold for 5 tickets ($ 5). $ 5 for a cocktail wouldn’t have been too bad had they been made well. Instead, the cocktails that we were served were (1) obviously made/​mixed in advance, and (2) severely watered down to the point that no alcohol could be detected. Epic fail.
But we really didn’t go to the trouble in attending for the alchohol; rather, we were mostly interested in the annual costume contest that has garnered so much of the community’s attention over the years. I was amazed at how so many of the locals invest so much of their time and energy into constructing constumes. Halloween for some people is serious business. Scores of individuals, dressed in their elaborate costumes, lined up at the stage for their opportunity to parade themselves down the runway where they had a chance of winning a $ 1,000 grand prize. A drag queen MC’d the contest and entertained the audience by her pithy commentary as the contestants were being showcased. I found her humour spotty. Sexually-​charged jokes are fun, but 60+ minutes of it becomes tiresome at some point.
By the time the contestants had all had their chance to be presented for consideration, we were tired and did not want to stay for the judging and announcement of the winner.
Nightmare on Normal is certainly something different. If you’re really into Halloween and dressing up, this annual event will be right up your alley; but, if you’re a stick in the mud like me, it’s something that you will likely be content with attending just once in your life.

Horrible… No seriously this was ridiculous. So they are charging $ 10 to basically hang out on Normal street. Now I understand the money is going to a good cause but seriously I’d rather just give the money directly to the center.
After fighting the line to get in there is a separate line to buy drink tickets. The mixed drinks were seriously a joke. $ 5 for a cup that was barely the size of two Dixie cups. I’m sure you think I’m exaggerating but I’m not. There was little to no entertainment and last call was at 9:25. Seriously this was a disappointment.
I’m bummed because I wanted it to be good. Do not waste your time or money on this.