In Tragedy’s Wake, Halloween Parade Carries On

PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO | On a beautifully crisp autumn day, the whimsical and faux-spooky spirit of Halloween was smashed by a horrifying terror attack on a Lower Manhattan bike bath that left eight people dead and at least 11 injured. In a city capable of almost unimaginable resilience, New York straightened its shoulders and let the show go on at the 44th annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade up Sixth Avenue from Houston Street, barely a mile from the real-world carnage.

The event was a tribute to the spirit of wonderment that children and all the young at heart treasure.

The parade was full of Trump monsters — and even a ghoulish Stephen Miller — the president’s Twitter account, Kim Jong-un, plenty of scary ghouls, goblins, witches, and spectral skeletons (including an undead Uncle Sam), but also several signs of hope or at least nostalgia with the likes of former President Barack Obama, the beloved late rocker Tom Petty, grand marshal and Brooklyn singer-songwriter Anjelica (with microphone), Gay Against Guns, and New York Harbor’s own Lady Liberty.