Bones on Sixth Avenue, the Village Halloween Parade Picks Body & Soul

There is one night a year when Sixth Avenue below 15th Street belongs to the dead, and they are very good dancers. In three weeks the Village Halloween Parade steps off for the 53rd time. This year the theme is Body & Soul, and it could have been written for a city that spends its nights thinking about both.

The parade falls on Saturday, October 31. It begins at 7 p.m. at Canal Street and heads north to 15th Street, according to Time Out. The procession runs until about 11. Spectrum News NY1 is scheduled to broadcast live from 8.

A Theme With a Pulse

Time Out frames the theme around the link between our physical selves and the spirits we carry. Skeletons lead the procession, and artistic and producing director Jeanne Fleming had the best line on why.

Even those wandering souls need bones if they're going to dance up Sixth Avenue.

The organizers have not tried to police the idea. Hoodline reports there is "no costume rulebook for interpreting the theme this year." Bodily, cosmic, musical, spiritual or absurd all count. Skeleton, saint, disco ball and organ donor are on the same footing.

The puppets will do some of the heavy lifting. Processional Arts Workshop, the parade's official puppetmakers, are building luminous spirits and dancing skeletons inspired by Day of the Dead, per Time Out. More than 50 bands, dancers and artists are listed on the roster.

The Horse at the Front

The parade will be led this year by something new. A listing on NYC for Free describes a new puppet performance called Firehorse!, credited to Basil Twist, the master puppeteer and MacArthur fellow, with choreography by Julie Atlas Muz. The dancing horses are meant to clear a path for the costumed crowd behind them. The page says they will "conjure the positive energy the world needs now."

That is a lovely image for a parade in a city that has already had a long year. Giant horses first, then the rest of us. The same NYC for Free listing promises hundreds of giant puppets and thousands of New Yorkers in self-made costumes, which is a fair summary of the whole night. Listings differ on the end time, with that page showing 10 p.m. and Time Out saying about 11, so plan for a late finish and do not count on a tidy one.

The One Rule

The rule that matters is the simplest. Only people in costume may march. Time Out is blunt about it, saying spectators in street clothes cannot enter the route. Marchers join the lineup at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue between 6:30 and 9 p.m. and are released in timed groups, so expect to wait. Hoodline adds some practical advice. Take the subway, since parking on parade night is hopeless. Meet friends a block or two from the route and arrive together, because finding each other in the crowd will not work.

Watching is free. The stretch between Bleecker and 14th Street is the most crowded, and Time Out recommends spectators spread along Sixth Avenue between King Street and West 15th. Costume contest prizes include show tickets, per Hoodline.

Dress Like You Mean It

If you need a costume plan, the city has a few places to start. The Costume Institute's current show at the Met is built entirely around the body, and the city's fall fashion calendar, from the City Ballet gala at Lincoln Center on, shows how seriously New York dresses up. A skeleton is cheap. A skeleton in a good coat is not.

The parade has always rewarded effort over money. The best costumes on Sixth Avenue are the ones that someone clearly spent three weeks on in a small apartment. That is a good use of October. Start with the bones, add a story, and be ready to walk for a while.

Bring layers, bring water, and bring a plan for getting home. Sixth Avenue after the parade is a different kind of party, as costumed crowds go looking for the nearest bar. The after-hours is half the fun and the reason the subway advice is worth taking.

By the time the horses reach 14th Street, the avenue should look like a party that forgot the dead were supposed to be quiet.