-By Anthony Paradiso
On October 31st, the annual Village Halloween Parade will start on Canal Street and travel up to West 15th street for the 49th year. According to the Halloween Parade’s website, this year’s theme is “Freedom” and the parade will feature the Brooklyn United Marching Band playing the song “Freedom,” that was written by Grammy Award-winning musician, singer and songwriter, Jon Batiste.
However, as it has in previous years, the Village Halloween Parade will feature hundreds of Giant Puppets, as well as more than 50 bands “representing music from around the world,” and of course thousands of participants dressed up as witches, ghouls, and zombies!
If you do not have a costume, there are other ways to get involved such as volunteering to animate a puppet or playing in a band. Those looking to participate in these ways must sign up by going to the Village Halloween Parade’s website, clicking on the “Participate” tab where they can scroll down to the “Other Ways to Participate” and clicking on the links contained in the text “Volunteer” next to a sentence written in bold that says “Don’t have a Costume.”
The Village Halloween Parade is an opportunity for people to express their creativity through their costumes as well as taking part in a celebratory event. However, the parade’s website does ask that everyone participating follow “six simple steps”. These steps advise those who are marching to wear a costume, to show up at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue between 6:30 and 9:00 PM, and to follow the crowd up Sixth Avenue but to not go down Sixth Avenue.
The Parade website also clarifies that the Parade is a “0 % tolerance for alcohol event.” Those who don’t want to wait in line to enter the parade can purchase a VIP ticket on the Parade’s website, which gives them access to a “more spacious place to revel in the parade.”
The parade is a night where people from all over the world come to the Village to celebrate Halloween. Those interested in finding out more information about this year’s parade can go to the Village Halloween Parade’s website. NYC Village Halloween Parade – The nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world! (halloween-nyc.com)
Happy Halloween everybody!!
