2023 Village Parade taken by Julia DeMairo

At the end of October, many fall lovers throughout the nation look forward to one holiday, Halloween! On October 31st, Halloween is celebrated throughout the United States through dressing up in fun costumes, trick or treating, carving pumpkins, or watching scary movies but one thing that many people in New Yorkers like doing is watching the Village Halloween Parade. 

Starting from 7 PM and lasting from 2 to 3 hours, the parade begins at Spring St and goes down to 16th Street through 6th Avenue. The parade is known to be the world’s largest Halloween parade and is recorded to have 50,000 costumed participants. A significant feature of the parade is its large puppets operated by hundreds of volunteers. Each year more than 50 different bands play through the parade.

Starting in 1973, the parade has been going on every year since then, and 2023 marked the event’s 50th year anniversary. People gathered to watch in big crowds eager to catch the dancing, costumes, and live music. The community brings lots of energy and excitement to the city on this night and unity between all the New Yorkers. The culture of celebrating Halloween together is kept alive through this parade and is a fun activity to check out if you plan to visit NYC during this time!