Friday, November 4, 2011

My Favorite Night in Wonderland!

We plan for this, in small ways, all year.  Collecting costume bits and pieces...having lunch meetings...making trips to wig shops and fabric stores.  It's a joy that's hard to describe, for we creatives who participate.  New York City's Village Halloween Parade, is an annual event that can't be compared to anything else. 

This year, was the 39th annual and my fourth time participating.  I would be walking with my daughter, Natalie...along with  more than 6000 others.  With an estimated 2,000,000 spectators, you can bet that the energy in Greenwich Village on October 31st, is weird, wild, and wonderful! 


Natalie and I managed to get a little video.  It was difficult, because all we wanted to do was play and dance and make the always-amazing connection to the huge crowd from all over the world.   In years past, we have been elbow to elbow with the thousands of other ghouls, demons, zombies and ghosties, marching in the rain and cold....but it didn't matter.  Once the adrenaline kicks in, you're "on" and nothing exists but the sights and sounds of one of the most exciting annual events on Earth!  This year the Halloween Devas were smiling on us and somehow, we made it to the front of the parade and found ourselves wandering among giant skeletons and towering eyeballs!  I had conversations with puppeteers, posed for the paparazzi and had a lovely photo-op with the Spider Monkey, one of the most recognizable and beloved puppets in the parade.

 

Natalie Miniard as a Clown Fairy


Natalie was magnificent!  Her own creativity, along with my other daughter's (Sarah Johns who did Natalie's make-up.  She stayed home with my new grandson this year, but was well represented by Natalie's beautiful face!) artistic brilliance, made for a stunning and colorful Fairy Clown costume that the photographers just couldn't get enough of.  I was an Unseelie Faerie, this year, and couldn't have had more fun making my tu-tu, customizing my wig and wearing contact lenses for the first time! 

I suppose there is more I could tell of our Halloween Adventure in Wonderland...stuffing our wings into cabs, enjoying a Michael Jackson Tribute Concert at Rockwood Music Hall, after the parade...but I have a lot of clean-up and recovery still to do, so I'll leave you with this:
Halloween Commute

 Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!  I'll be looking for pictures!

(  While doing a little research for this blog, I came across a wonderful interview from 2004 with Jeanne Flemming, the Artistic and Producing Director of New York's Village Halloween Parade.  I enjoyed it so much that I want to share it with you HERE.  )


(c) 2011 Bettina Makley, aka Fairywebmother






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