The Parade frequently attracts up to 50,000 giant puppets, musicians, dancers, and costumed marchers – with thousands more revellers lining the streets to watch the action.
Anyone can participate – the only rule is that you must be in costume in order to march. Although the event is pitched as a ‘family friendly’ affair, it is rare that any costumes or puppets are banned – so partial nudity and adult themes should be expected (these are New York streets, after all).
The Village Halloween Parade is the largest of its kind in the US and in 2013, the event honoured the first responders who helped the City get back on its feet after Superstorm Sandy, which cancelled the parade the year before.
And first to celebrate the Parade’s return to Greenwich Village were its traditional leaders, the dancing skeletons, first introduced to the line-up in 2001, a month after the 9/11 attacks. As the Parade Director explained at the time, the dancing skeletons “know better than anyone what they have lost, and so they dance this one night of the year to celebrate life” - and the city still follows suit.
