Friday night, we, among thousands of others, headed downtown to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Even though we received countless moos and Chick-fil-A comments, we were actually dressed as Cruella de Vil and her DIY dalmatians. As we had never been to the parade before, we were blown away by the massive crowd that showed up not only to participate, but also to spectate the parade. The street was filled with a constant procession of floats, bands, street performers, and average Joes looking to spread some Halloween spirit (yours truly). It was truly a celebration like no other. Spectators lined the entirety of 6th Ave, from Spring to 16th, cheering and dancing while the parade passed by.Â
Of all of the crazy costumes that we saw, we took note of some dominant trends. From Dia De Los Muertos-inspired skulls to Twisty the clown from AHS, everyone in Greenwich seemed to be a makeup artist for the night. Alongside the makeup, we noticed a large number of realistic-looking special effect add-ons (horns, wounds, blood, you know). Our favorite, though, had to be the costumes that we know had to have been slaved over all year for this event. We saw Stormtroopers straight out of Star Wars, Abraham Lincoln, and a human interpretation of fall; but our favorite had to have been a recreation of the ever-mysterious Daft Punk.Â
Like us, many people attended this parade with a group of their friends and used their strength in numbers to show off creative costumes. Something we caught on to, however, was just how captivating a single person in costume could be. There were various parade-walkers who concealed their faces with masks that got numerous frightened reactions. We also saw an impressively accurate hippie-costumed man strutting down 6th Avenue. It was instances like those that made us realize just how unique of a city we are living in. The originality is endless in New York City, and we are glad we were able to be a part of it this weekend.Â