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Boo!!!!
So Shivery Delicious: Halloween Parades
It will be a long Halloween season this year. It is time to make
fiendish plans. For
soon it will be time to switch off the Box That Glows
Softly in the Dark, step back out into the world and find a spot
where it is O.K. to moan, holler, laugh like a hyena, slink like
a mummy, shuffle like a zombie, gawp and point rudely at passers-
by, dragging the little monsters by their sticky claws so that they, too, can scream it all out before the Bush twins
make the cover of People again Better to find a big, BIG party now, and paint the town orange.
It
is definitely worth making a trip to savour Halloween at
its very best. But the ancient Feast of Samhain comes in many
flavours. Will you choose fizz, fun and frolic, mordant social
satire, hours of mindless fun for all the family, or a profound
emotional epiphany?
The
four Halloween parades profiled here all welcome kids.
All are safe and attract surprisingly little crime. And you can
dress in costume and walk in the parade or watch from the
sidelines in your civvies. But there all similarities end.
Delirious
Dreams and Hilarious Screams Key
West, a town that soaks in sun and a ridiculously sultry,
sulky beauty, puts on a Halloween parade prettier than any in all
the world. It is the little island's reply, in advance, to New
Orleans' Mardi Gras; as with Mardi Gras, you can go to Key
West way before the day of the big parade and find the party has
already begun. There's a week-long open haunted house, yacht race,
pet masquerade where you dress to match your
critter friend, a mask and costume-making class, costume competitions, balls, toga parties, beach
concerts, and cook-outs.
(A fat full moon on 21 October lights it nicely!) The Twilight Fantasy Parade at sunset, is merely the "Conch Republic's" gaudy climax.
Expect to see a lot of twenty foot high Rio/Vegas style feathery showgirl costumes,
sequins, spangles, chiffon and satin. You might see the Key West
Southernmost Point buoy waddling down Duval, "90 Miles to
Cuba" painted on
her pumpkinesque belly, walking hand in hand with
Fidel Castro. And beware of two-headed alligators, block-long,
fire-breathing serpents and the sickly, lethal Rumrunners poured
cool in darkened bars. Music is mostly tropical---Carribbean
steel pans and reggae---and there's also the Key West High School marching band. Cuban dance troops will lead you right
past the good old El
Cacique restaurant at 125 Duval Street, favoured by
locals for superior Cuban food and exotic shakes made with any fruit from Banana, Sapodilla,
Mamey, Guanabana, to Zapote.
And
you can always fall upon on the usual island delights:
short cruises on the Gulf of Mexico, the homes of Tennessee
Williams and Ernest Hemingway, Mel Fisher's Museum, exquisite
restaurants, heartbreaking sunsets, the clean, sweet bright air,
and the opportunity to fend off unfamiliar feelings of lassitude
and bien-etre with rigourous strolls past pretty churches and
lacy Conch houses, dark bars and front yards overflowing with
lilacs and brilliant hibiscus. Key
West always plans a Recovery Day, with Children's Day activities at Bay View Park.
But
if you're coming to Fantasy Fest, book early, as the
tiny town (it's only 2 miles by 4 miles big) "almost tips a
little" when probably 50,000 people will show up all at once.
KEY
WEST WHAT Captain Morgan Fantasy
Fest Parade P.S.:
2005
Fantasy Fest will be For all the details, click here Ghostly Gotham "Every
day is Halloween in New York," the saying goes.
So it figures that the world's wittiest Halloween parade will draw
nearly one million people this year. Arrive early to get a
good spot, well before 6.30 pm. The parade's at seven. The parade route keeps expanding uptown from Greenwich
Village in order to
accomodate the crowds; you'll get the best view if you
stand along Sixth Avenue (known only to tourists as Avenue of the
Americas) between 14th and 21st streets.
You
will see "celebrities": "Barbara Bush" in pearls and
stretch limo, flanked by "Secret Service" men, carrying
her broccoli bouquet,
going walkabout to work the cheering crowds. In previous years you might
have seen John Sununu, a pregnant Bruce with
a pregnant Demi, a billion Saddam Husseins and a trillion Pee Wee Hermans. This year, expect to see gazillion Princess
Dianas tearing their
hair out, unrepentant Fergies, furious Queens,
(many, many Queens), every political candidate imaginable, and lotsa John Gottis. Real celebrities conceal themselves
in costumes on this
egalitarian evening, when all creatures,
especially the unloved and the unlovely, get to be the stars.
Then
there are the six steel bands (48 different bands in
all), hired comedians telling jokes along the parade route, 100
huge puppets, at least 40 bejewelled dragons, and a special
environmental extravaganza with the Bread and Puppet Theatre,
funded by a recent NEA grant, yet. But
the most awesome eye-food here will be the "group
costumes", where people club together to create zany,
unsettling tableaux. Look! There's a six-pack of Bud, with the
plastic rings around
each "can" to keep the group together...a loaf of Wonder
Bread, slices solemnly marching in tight formation...inept scud
missiles, always missing their sidestepping targets...the Revenge
of the Fuzzy Dice, furiously attacking a car...Imelda Marcos' shoes, 101 Dalmatians, an entire chess set, 52
self-shuffling cards,
Three Blind Dice, and that socko favourite, the New York
Skyline. One year, as the Twin Towers, Empire State Building and
a stunningly beautiful Chrysler Building strolled by, I heard two
visiting Russian officials behind me gasp. "This democracy is
really something," one mumbled, shaking his head.
Creeping
back to your crypt straight after such lurid
foolishness would be ghastly indeed: call Roseland if you wish
to sneak uptown to do the dance macabre (proceeds benefit the
environment, 212-247-0200). Or snake back down into the nooks and
crannies of Greenwich Village where you may run into thirteen Princess Dianas looking for a jazz joint after a
scrumptididdlious din-din. And
elsewhere
Chicago is celebrating Halloween with tricks and treats. The Navy Pier is home to the “Navy Fear & Fun Fest” (October 3-November 2) with haunted house and trick-or-treating. A special CTA train, “The Haunted ‘L” is on the rails October 9–30. It wears its costume of Halloween decorations. Riders get to hear ghost stories from Chicago’s history. The Haunted Village at Pumpkin Plaza located at Daley Plaza, October 10 – 31. offers performances by Midnight Circus, pumpkin decorating and ghostly tales. On 18 October, there’s the Field Museum’s Harvest Festival (18 October) with workshops and live performances; and the State Street Halloween Happenings Children’s Costume Parade. And in Washington Park, October 31, The Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch at will be a Halloween center with fun, treats, and games.
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