By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — The 38th annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade is set to march down Sixth Avenue again this year, even as the economy stumbles along.
With fewer small businesses sponsoring the 2010 parade, organizers lost about half of the procession's budget, according to parade director Jeanne Fleming.
"I would say this is the worst time we have ever seen," said Fleming, 64, who has volunteered with the parade for 36 years.
Even the restaurant that provided food for the 2009 parade's wrap party is out of business, she said.
As a way to cut costs, some businesses have opted out of having floats and musicians have agreed to play for less money, Fleming said.
Clowns with butterfly nets will collect donations from spectators on the day of the parade to help pay parade musicians, Fleming said.
Adding insult to injury, the parade spent $3,000 in an effort to win the $50,000 Pepsi Refresh grant, but the money was awarded to another group.
Other nonprofit groups vying for the monthly grants via an online voting process have since sued the soda company, arguing that the winners were involved in politics, a violation of the rules of entry, the New York Times reported.
"They won legally in the sense that they got a lot of people to vote for the project, but it wasn't really fair," Fleming said of the vote.
The moribund economy will also play into this year's parade in a more overt way with this year's theme: "Memento Mori," latin for "Remember your Mortality".
"The message in that is, 'so you better dance now'," Fleming said of the theme.
Despite the financial stumbling blocks, Fleming said the joy in the parade remains the creativity and sense of humor of parade-goers.
"You know if you have no money and times are tough come out and play with us, we're going to have a great time," she said.
The 38th Annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade will proceed along Sixth Avenue between Spring and 15th Streets from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 31.