Sunday, November 2, 2008

Halloween Parade in Manhattan, New York

My husband and I attended the 35 annual Halloween Parade in New York City on October 31, 2008. When we saw "The Cat In The Hat" on the subway on his way to march in the parade, we knew we were going to have a lot of fun! (all phot0s enlarge when clicked on)

We made sure to get into Manhattan early in the evening so we would have a good spot to watch the parade -- an estimated two million people line the route which is on 6 Avenue from Spring Street to 21 Street to view it!

While we waited in a little park near Prince Street, we saw many people in costumes going to the gathering point. An unbelievable 60,000 people in costume march in the parade! Anyone can join in as long as you wear a costume.

The parade began at exactly 7 PM and many floats and marching bands, stilt walkers, jugglers, break dancers and other street performers marched by for two and a half hours!

I tried to highlight some of what we saw pass by, and as many photos as I could of people who stopped so that I could take their picture.











This puppet was hard to photograph, but it had a glowing face inside ...very eerie! There were many diaphanous puppets and ephemeral phantom projections as the theme of the parade this year was "Ghost!"





A steady stream of people went by in costumes -- so many unusual, imaginative, funny, frightening and fantastic costumes!

The Lion King!

I love these ladies in poodle skirts!

Aghhhh....the joker! He wanted to tell me a riddle!

Hmmmmm...a witch ?

A monster from the deep?

Oh No! Watch out Mr. Bill!



There were lots of Obamas, McCains and Palin costumes ..... but only this Sarah stopped long enough for me to get a good photo.

Many of these beautiful ladies were walking on stilts.

This "nightmare" bride and groom were a big hit with the photographers.

Darth and the Jedi Master dueling for us. Save us Obi Wan Kenobi --you're our only hope!

A pirate family with their children in the boat.

A witch band!

A group of Richard Simmons working out to music.

Pac Man!

I loved the pigeon sitting on this "policeman's" hat!

This duo did a little song and dance for us!

This year is the 25 anniversary of the Michael Jackson song "Thriller" and there was a very large group marching as the dancing ghouls from the video.

You can watch a YOUTUBE of them doing the Thriller dance!

Champagne person! Cheers!

Mr. & Mrs Shrek

These costumes were one of my favorites -- soft ice cream cups!

There were so many wonderful costumes that it was hard to see each and every one as they marched by, but here is a YOUTUBE of some more people in costumes from this year's parade, and the official 2008 photographer's gallery is HERE, just click on each album to see their photos.

Next year's theme will be "Pumpkins" so you have a whole year to prepare your costume!
Hope to see you march in parade in 2009!

27 comments:

Unknown said...

Pat,
Your photos are great. What a fun thing to share with us....makes me want to go there on Halloween! LOL

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Where were these costumes when I was trying to come up with something. I love the ice cream scoops, and Mr Bill!

Unknown said...

Hello Pat
WOW WOW!! Some march huh? I wish to be there, it looks like one big parrrty...

Elisa Day said...

Fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing. I cant even imagine how wonderful it must have been

Joanne Kennedy said...

Oh I should have known New York would not be a let down for Halloween. If it's a holiday New York does it up right!

Looks like so much fun. This is the first Halloween New York style I've seen before.

Thanks for taking us along.

Hugs,
Joanne

Naz said...

Those were some of the most orginial costumes I've seen this year. It looks like it was a fun time had by all.

said...

Pat, great photos! That was some parade!

In answer to your question, I did not do the blog layout myself. I hired Danielle from Blogs by Danielle to put it together and I purchased the elements from Jen Wilson Designs. If you go to my blog and scroll down a bit, you'll see a link on the sidebar on the right.

Theresa said...

What great photos of the evening. I'm sure it was a great nite. Thanks for sharing.

steviewren said...

The marching Richard Simmons made me laugh out loud. How do people think of all this stuff? What a great way to spend Halloween!

by Danie said...

Halloween is such a big and famous celebration in your country, not at all the same here where I could see only two groups of children knocking at the door.
So you enjoyed it tremendously I am glad you had such a good time, I wish I was there too!

Camille said...

"sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." Now I have that stuck in my head! (I think Mitzi Gaynor's waist was bit tinier than the one in the costume:)

The Richard Simmons group was a trip! How funny. Looks like the parad was a blast.

Anonymous said...

That was fantastic. I love all of the costumes. It must have been so much fun.

Judy said...

Oh my goodness...what a lot of effort put into dressing up! I'm with you...soft ice-cream cups are a fun idea.

Darla said...

Great costumes, great photo's great post. I'm just catching up with all the Halloween festivities and enjoyed this and your previous entry. What fun it must have been to be there.

Darla

Tracy said...

Such fun, Pat! Oh, I would have liked to have been there to see if for real! I love Halloween...It's been many years since I dressed up for Halloween or a party, but would love to. I'll take that pink poodle skirt! Did you go in costume?! ;o) Thanks for sharing the fun. Happy week, my friend ((HUGS))

Nola said...

That is so neat; thanks for taking me along to the parade!

Fifi Flowers said...

LOVE the creativity! FUN parade! Thanks for sharing!
ENJOY your day!
Fifi

Melissa Miller said...

Hi Pat, Thank you so much for stopping by and your kind welcome. It means so much! Your Halloween photos are amazing. It must be incredible to live in exciting NYC. I've never been but would love to visit one day. Please come by anytime. ~Warmly, Melissa

Anonymous said...

Yes, this was a most amazing parade!
Super pictures.
We're lucky to live in a city with such wonderful creative people in it!

Willow said...

What fun! I had no idea of this parade in New York! Thanks for sharing with us!

kari and kijsa said...

what a fun time!!! Great photos and costumes!!
blessings,
kari & kijsa

Gina said...

Fabulously fun photos Pat!!..I love that champagne person LOL!
Sorry you missed my give-away..I did mention on a comment in your post while you were away but should have sent you an email too! I'll have another one for Christmas :D
Wishing you a lovely week, Gxox

Tara said...

Hi Pat

My NYC college son was at the parade , of course He and his college buddies dressed up as army guys...he says there is nothing like it, and now, through you, I know this is true!

:0)

Tara

Proud Italian Cook said...

Sorry I missed this, I thought I commented! How fun! What a great city you have! Did you dress up too?

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Oh...you got up close! I haven't been able to get that close to the parade action for years. Nice work on positioning yourselves! :-)

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed looking at your photos. Looks like you and everyone had a fun time. ;-)

Paz

Anonymous said...

What amazing elaborate costumes! The imagination some people have! What a wonderful evening you must've had. Thanks for sharing it.