Written by: Albert Terc
Photos by: Albert Terc
The annual Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village is a bucket list item for anyone that enjoys the festive tradition and has yet to attend it. No one does it like NY. This is where you can witness NY creativity at its best. Well over a million people came out on an unusually warm night to either scare or be scared. Parade organizers, Halloween-NYC, chose this years theme to be Cats and Cat Ladies. Some of it has to do with comments made during this years political season while some of it has to do with favoring the independent and frolicking character of cats. Either way, it was a big hit and one of the best Halloween parades I have attended and had the privilege to document.
The mood was festive with lots of high energy at the start of the parade where brass bands were getting prepared to march up the parade route. Typically, 6th Avenue is a busy commercial area but once 7pm arrives on Halloween night, all hell breaks loose for a few hours. Once the parade kicked off, brass bands and dancers got the crowd worked up for what would be a magical night. Aside from being the largest Halloween party on the planet, the parade has the largest assembly of puppets of any parade. A show stealer were the dancing cats that were just puuuurfect for the event. They were followed up a large group of cat ladies that made their point well known of who they are supporting in this years election.
This years floats and groups were all festive and filled with high energy. A perennial favorite is the Michael Jackson Thriller Dance group. They always put on a great show and keep the tradition going. This year might have been the largest Thriller dance group assembled. An all female drum group always rocks the parade. Fogo Azul made their thunderous drum beat known for blocks around. One of the more sizzling acts came from The Tailshakers with their primal dance performance. Rocking out each year is a group from Staten Island that brings the juice with their high energy. The crowd really got into their tunes. This years parade had some really creative costumes and one of the best turnouts ever. I hope you enjoy the photo roll as much as I had taking them. Scare Ya Next Year!!!
NYC Parade Life 