BY: Liliana Rocio, Senior Editor for World Liberty TV
New York’s Village Halloween Parade is committed to the cultural and imaginative life of New York City and to the advancement of large-scale participatory events in the belief that such events, when artistically inspired, can play a major role in the resurrection and rejuvenation of the City’s spirit, economy and the life of its people.
Dr Abbey with Jason Feldman as Popeye
The Halloween Parade plays an important part in the life of the City. It is the only Parade in the country that has at its heart an artistic base.
Its generous spirit has nurtured hundreds of thousands of people who reach into their imaginations and take themselves physically out into public to perform and to celebrate. We believe public events of this sort give people the opportunity to claim the open spaces of their City for purposes other than work; to inhabit them with a sense of freedom and spontaneity; to play, thus renew their relationship to the environment.
Dr Abbey with Halloween Car
The Parade is a powerful event, for while it is happening, it animates all the senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, color and movement.
The emotional response that it generates has a lasting effect on how the participants and those who either watch or hear about the event feel about the places and the people of New York.
Guests doing the Thriller dance
Fleeting as it may seem, the Annual Village Halloween Parade provides a subconsciously experienced time structure that lends a sense of durability, continuity and community to New York City life.
Thousands in attendance
The Parade has won an Obie Award and been recognized by the Municipal Arts Society and City lore for making a major contribution to the life and culture of New York City.
Dr Abbey with Michael Jackson Impersonator
In 1993 the Parade was awarded a major NEA Grant for Lifetime Achievement and in 1993 and 1997—it’s 20th and 25th Anniversary Years— it was awarded Tourism Grants from both the Office of the Mayor of the City of New York and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in recognition of its economic and cultural contribution to New York City.
Dr Abbey with Mr & Mrs. Skeleton Characters
Additionally, the Parade has been the subject of many books, scholarly dissertations, independent films and documentaries due to its position as an authentic “cultural event.”
Dr Abbey being carved by Pumpkin man
This pageant evokes the muses. It explodes in a forest of colors and a sea of smiles onto blocks of dazzled onlookers.
Huskie dogs dressed in Halloween outfits
The New Yorkers lining the streets are doused in a living waterfall of freedom. The pageant is liberation for lifestyles, cultures, and individuals who are given the chance for one night to show themselves as they wish to be seen.
Mexican Mariachi band
It was World Liberty TV, teams 15th attendance at the Annual Village Halloween Parade, every year the parade keeps getting bigger, better and more creative, we met so many people dressed up in their costumes in attendance which you will see in our pictures and video coverage in our World Liberty TV, Cultural Channels and blogs by clicking here.