With spooky season in full swing, the Village Halloween Parade is set to return next week with a truly unforgettable night of Halloween fun.
Celebrating 50 years of this highly anticipated event, the parade is expected to feature tens of thousands of New Yorkers in their best costumes, dozens of marching bands, hundreds of Giant Puppets, and so much more. The parade kicks off at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31 at Spring Street and 6th Avenue, and will continue down 6th Avenue to 16th Street.
“The Halloween Parade, in its 50th year, is a unique celebration of spirit, creativity, and unity. It continues to inspire young creatives in NYC, bringing them together in a procession of imagination and transformation. Simultaneously, the Parade embraces the true essence of Halloween, where the boundary between the living and the dead is the thinnest, allowing spirits to briefly walk the earth,” said Jeanne Fleming, long-time Director of the Parade. “This year’s Parade not only commemorates its own 50-year history but also pays tribute to those lost to various events like 9/11, AIDS, and Covid, as well as those who have been part of the Parade throughout the years.”
This year’s parade theme will be Upside Down/Inside OUT, which reflects on the return to a “new normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people spent lockdown inside, and the parade will celebrate the freedom of coming out into a whole new world.
This year’s Grand Marshal will be world-famous performance artist Laurie Anderson, with the parade honoring Lou Reed as the posthumous Grand Marshal. The parade will be led by The Young Fellaz Brass Band, a New Orleans-based second-line band that plays for the traditional funeral processions through the streets of New Orleans.
Costumed New Yorkers who want to participate in the parade should head to the parade entrance at Spring Street and 6th Avenue. Like always, the parade is free to attend for all spectators, but there are VIP ticket options (including options to not wait in line to enter the parade, a VIP viewing area and options for riding a float) are available for purchase online at halloween-nyc.com/tickets. Those who can’t make it in-person can watch it on NY1 starting at 8 p.m.
For more information about the parade, visit halloween-nyc.com.
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