NYC Village Halloween Parade

New York’s 46th; My 1st Encounter With the Annual Halloween Parade

Thursday, October 31 was not marked as Halloween but rather as the Parade on my calendar after hearing about the iconic organization held conveniently (from campus) on 6th Avenue North of Spring Street to 16th Street. The distance itself was enough to convince me but the event was so highly promoted and advertised across platforms that not attending was not an option, and it was so for a good cause.

From customized head to toe metro card outfits and people in IT costumes looking creepier than the movie character to families dresses up as the Addams Family and out-of-this-world make-up skills displayed in various forms, you name it, the parade had it.

The visual feast opened with what felt like an immersive invasion of likeable skeletons so powerful for engaging the crowd that it certainly boosted everyone’s mood and righteously set the expectations high.

Even random passersby were dressed as if they have been working on their costumes for the past five months, which a considerable majority of them likely have. What separated this particular parade from any other is the fact that it is has its foundational basis on the involvement of the public. In other words, the people marching, singing, dancing, cheering, or just standing to watch and film were all New Yorkers showing off their extravagant and unique styles in the best platform humanly imaginable.

This is America so Hong Kong Protestors, Warren Advocates, and LGBTQ+ Activists were obviously immersed in the crowd yet their messages didn’t surpass the spirit of Halloween by any means. The rides provided lasting entertainment for the crowd through their much-needed providing of energizing music and interactive approaches. There was just the perfect balance between spookiness and joy; it was very colorful and inspirational yet also creepy and unexpected.

At the end of the day, the effort put into this organization and the extent to which the general public took Halloween seriously deserves to be respected and appreciated at the very least. The amount of freedom, the level of diversity, and the means of interaction were all very specific to the culture of New York and the parade really reflected the uniqueness of the city since a majority of the bold looks couldn’t be handled by most societies.

The Halloween Parade was certainly a benchmark on my process of Becoming A New Yorker as it was a great example of partial culture shock and major admiration of the city but more and more examples are yet to come so make sure to stay tuned!

Until next time,

Yaprak