Notes on NYC Halloween ’22
Americans certainly take Halloween seriously. This is especially true in a city as grand and boisterous as New York, where many of the all-time great horror movies– from Rosemary’s Baby to Ghostbusters– have been set. October 31st this year fell on a Monday, but as early as a month before, the Halloween spirit was already palpable: commuters on the subway dressed in superhero garb, spooky, elaborate decor on brownstone porches across the city, and countless Halloween-themed events like haunted houses or pumpkin picking popping up across town. On the actual Halloween weekend, things grew exponentially intense: with more costumes, more parties, more of everything Halloween.
But nothing could have prepared me for the 31st. This was my first Halloween in New York and in my mind since Halloween was on a Monday, the 31st would be a relaxed day. The NY population had had their fun and festivities over the weekend and that things would now mellow out, perhaps even take on a somber note, as the city recovered from its collective weekend hangover, both alcohol or sugar-induced. Also, Monday is a work (or school) night, the beginning of the week — and people need their rest. My analysis, I would soon discover, was a grave underestimation of New Yorkers and their Halloween spirit.
I decided to saunter around the city on Monday, curious to get a feel for what October 31st in New York was really like, and frankly, I was blown away by the scale of it all. I was in Flushing Queens (also home to one of the grandest Chinatowns in the word) that morning to sample regional Chinese delicacies at the famous New World Food Court. The former is a place home to a nearly homogenous Chinese population, where many don’t even speak English. But even here, as I slurped on mouth-numbing beef tendon noodles, I witnessed Asian kids dressed in full costume, trick or treating themselves throughout the vast food court, as beaming dumpling vendors awarded them with handfuls of candy.
After lunch, things got serious, particularly throughout lower Manhattan where the annual Halloween parade takes place. The parade itself is a spectacle, with tens of thousands of mostly tourists and locals (and plenty of cops) alike lining the temporarily closed avenues as marching participants dressed in highly imaginative outfits strut past, even dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. But the crowd surrounding the festivities from the subway station, to costumed participants enroute to their respective Halloween parties, to the stoic police officers observing the revelry, were the real main event. The streets were teeming with energy and anticipation, and borderline claustrophobia, as countless adults, kids, and even dogs wore some of the most creative and hilarious costumes I have ever seen. Some of the outfits must surely have taken considerable time and planning to pull off–like the woman dressed as a Metrocard, or the group of guys wearing full medieval knight armor, or Sadako from the Ring, crawling on the floor in a highly unsettling manner, and so many more freakishly impressive characters.
Just as in any major city, in New York, there are myriad different subcultures, social classes, and skin colors. But people are generally accepting of their differences and manage to make things work — one of the reasons New York is so special. This spirit of tolerance and unity is perhaps best highlighted in celebratory fiestas like Halloween, when seemingly everyone, from Williamsburg, non-binary hipsters to Dominican immigrants in the South Bronx, have sizeable pumpkins on their front porches.
