Halloween in the Village

My wife and I met in Greenwich Village this evening for an outing to the annual Halloween parade. This event is the highest attended Halloween event in the country (and possibly the world). My wife, who has a real nose for a bargain, recommended we try Mamoun's Falafel. We got a baba ganoush and felafel for $2 each and it was probably the most filling, low-budget meal I've ever had. Not to mention, delicious.

We found a spot near the police barrier at Avenue of the Americas and Bleeker. It was a great location and we soon found ourselves pressed up by the crowd behind us. Our spot was in a small cul-de-sac and shortly after we arrived, the police decided to move the barrier forward so that we could better see the parade. At this point, the couple next to us decided to take the opportunity to push past us and elbow their way to the front. The woman made it up to the barricade but I blocked the man. I could hear him grumble because he wasn't with the woman who was obviously a guest from out of town. She kept offering for him to come up and join her in front and I managed to position myself to keep him from getting by me. It was a very satisfying experience to irritate them in such a way. The real corker? A young woman tried to elbow her way to the front and the guy said to her, "What are you trying to do? We've been waiting here for a long time and now you want to just cut in? Go somewhere else! You should have got here earlier!" My wife and I could have throttled the man. It really cast a shadow on the evening.

Soon, the pararde started going by. It began with giant skeletons that were about 15 feet tall. There was a person at the base of the marionette controlling it. The skeleton would walk down the street and shake hands with people. 25 feet dragons came flying by, being held up by a row of people. They were a highlight for us. After that, we noticed that, for the most part, the parade was a bunch of everyday folk with costumes on. There were the occasional marching band, but it seemed like most people were just walking along with the parade. Only the occasional inspired costume made a real impression.

My mind inevitably compared the evening to a wonderfully freaky event called the Pumpkin Festival in a rural part of New York. At that event, there was an assortment of odd-balls that only come out for the big events in small towns. In this case, the Village Parade felt very similar only bigger and flashier. It was one of those moments where I thought that, in a way, New York City is the world's biggest "small town." It isn't exactly what I thought it would be, yet I found that rather comforting.