With All Hallows’ Eve just around the corner, South Broadway will soon become a meeting point for Denver’s population of ghouls, ghosts and otherworldly spirits.

The ever-popular Broadway Halloween Parade will be back Saturday evening, featuring more than 80 parade floats traveling the 1.2-mile stretch between East 5th Avenue and East Virginia Avenue, said Luke Johnson, president of the Broadway Merchants Association. The event is expected to last at least two-and-a-half hours, starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s the most (floats) we’ve ever had,” Johnson told The Denver Gazette Friday. “We still capped it as best we could — there’s still tons of people who want to be in the parade that we just can’t accommodate.”

The increase in floats and popularity has also come with rising costs. Last year, because of additional permits and the need for safety barricades, the event was in jeopardy of not happening, Johnson said. This time around, a new sponsor — the Campos Foundation — stepped in to foot the bill for a “significant” amount of the event’s near-$100,000 cost.

“They wanted to basically save the event. They’ve agreed to a 10-year window to fund a significant portion of the parade budget, so we can ensure it continues,” Johnson said. “That was huge. We’re really thankful they were able to step in and help.”

The foundation did not respond to an inquiry about the contribution Friday. The nonprofit organization works at “elevating under-represented minority and female students through STEM education initiatives,” according to its website.

In addition to the funding, the exact amount of which Johnson could not share due to the partnership agreement, and contributions from other sponsors, the association also raised $15,000 for the parade from a bar crawl that included a handful of businesses in the area.

“We got feedback that people were thrilled,” Johnson said. “We’re already thinking about doing a holiday magazine or booklet that has a bunch of deals from everybody on the street to try and continue to activate Broadway, because the bar crawl was such a success.”

The parade has seen roughly 30,000 people in attendance in previous years, Johnson said. Given that this year’s event will take place less than a week out from Halloween — the parade occurred two weeks before the holiday in previous years — and Saturday’s weather looks to feature a high of 72 degrees, organizers are expecting the event’s biggest year yet.

“The parade route is also longer (this year),” Johnson said. “It wasn’t technically part of the parade route in previous years and the floats would still go down there, and there would just be people everywhere. We’ve now got pedestrian barricades going down to Virginia Avenue, a couple blocks south of Alameda.”

For those interested in attending the parade on Saturday, Johnson recommended attendees start showing up around 5 p.m. for the best spots along the route. Lawn chairs and blankets are welcomed and encouraged.