From Stroll to Spectacle: The Evolution of the Village Halloween Parade
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s flying puppets on Sixth Avenue? The beloved Village Halloween Parade is an annual, time-honored tradition known for its avant-garde costumes, floats, and street performances. And while these days the longtime New York ritual looms large as the biggest Halloween parade in the world, with over 50,000 participants and 2 million onlookers, the spooky spectacle actually had quite humble beginnings. In honor of Halloween, we’re looking back at the parade’s funky, rag tag origins in our neighborhood. Join us, if you dare.
The parade was founded by puppet sculptor and extravagant mask maker Ralph Lee in October 1973. The original parade was much more of a Halloween stroll Lee’s family, friends, and neighbors participated in and enjoyed. Like many whimsical and innovative creations, the parade emanated from Westbeth Center for the Arts, a unique West Village housing complex that has offered artists affordable permanent housing and workspaces since the its opening in 1970. Westbeth has served as a home for a myriad of artistic and cultural institutions, including Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham’s dance companies, the New School for Drama, and even the first LGBTQ+ synagogue in New York, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah. Lee is one of many artists who lived, worked, and created in the industrial-turned-residential halls of Westbeth. (You can read more about Westbeth here.)
While Westbeth remained the starting point for a few years, the parade soon outgrew its courtyard. After only two years, in 1975, Theater for the New City adopted Lee’s parade as part of their City in the Streets program. And in its third run in 1976, the parade became a stand-alone nonprofit organization, staging the spectacle on its own accord. After a few years at the helm, Lee retired and the parade ushered in new leadership: Celebration Artist and Producer Jeanne Fleming, who came from the Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont. For the past five decades, the parade cruised ahead under Fleming’s watch. Today, the parade starts on Canal Street (only for those in costume) and travels just under 1.5 miles up Sixth Avenue to 15th Street.
While spontaneity and candor are integral to the parade’s essence, the preparation and performances are anything but. In its 51 years, the parade won an Obie Award and has been recognized by the Municipal Arts Society and Citylore for its cultural contributions to New York City life. The show embodies New York, through struggle and triumph. In 2001, less than two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the parade forged on and as the band played Sinatra’s cinematic New York, New York. Fleming remembers how one could feel the city coming back to life.
New Yorkers and beyond from all walks of life come out to dress up, celebrate, and dance with the spectacle, and escape the constraints of everyday life. The parade is integral to the Village’s eclectic identity, and is an opportunity for individuals to rejoice, let loose, and indulge in their most creative selves.