NYLC Group Activity: The NYC Halloween Parade! (by Kenza)

New York City is known for plenty of events, but one of the most important in October is the Halloween Parade, recognized as the Nation’s Most Wildly Creative Public Participatory Event. It started at 7 pm and ran on 6th avenue until 11 pm. This extraordinary event was not only telecasted live on two different channel, WPIX Channel 11 from 7:00 - 10:00pm and NY1 from 8:00 - 9:30pm, but it was also the time to dress up and be part of an amazing wave of people.

The school set the meeting at 6 pm in midtown to go to West 4th and enjoy the parade together. It took us half an hour to reach our destination, and the avenue was already invaded by people. We were lucky enough to find a very good spot with a clear view. The show began by an adaptation of this year’s theme which was “The i of the Beholder”. Therefore, a large group of people inaugurated the parade with different illustrations of the human eye. Some were holding balloons in the shape of an eye, while others preferred to be the eye by wearing a costume. From there, everything succeeded from surprise to surprise. The show was indescribably amazing. Every time you thought it was over, it started again and again. Either from the official competitor or from the general participants, we attended a great event where people where incredibly creative. Some of the costumes must have required a long time to plan and design them. From the official teams in competition, a large sample was presented. For example, you had the thriller band representing some of Michael Jackson video’s characters. Moving on the soundtrack of Thriller, you could see zombies, mummies, vampires, skeletons, corpses, and others all behind the look-alike of Michael.  Other teams preferred to advertise their own culture like the Salsa band, the Chinese Dragon, the Mexican sombreros, ect.

From all the dressed up people, the most common costumes were The Black Swan, the Marvel superheroes (of course), and the French court of Luis XVI.

I would like to highlight a very surprising and meaningful fact. At the end of the parade the organizers gave a chance to the Wall Street protesters to express themselves. The idea was great and allowed them to spread their message and to let the public be aware about the current situation. It was also a smooth coming back to the reality. The police closed the end of the parade in a solemn way. Then, all the courageous people who stayed until the end (and they were a lot) tried to reach their next destination for more partying! And New Yorkers had the choice between bars, clubs, and even streets. Everywhere was welcoming them to have fun!