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Park Slope Welcomes Back Halloween Parade with Literary Twist

By Leslie Albrecht | October 31, 2013 8:15am
 Scenes from the 2011 Park Slope Halloween parade.
Park Slope Halloween Parade
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PARK SLOPE — Calling all Boo Radleys.

Park Slope holds its annual Halloween parade Thursday night, and this year's theme is "To Boo or Not to Boo," with marchers encouraged to dress as their favorite literary character.

Believed by some to be the largest children's Halloween parade in the country, it's expected to draw roughly 2,000 participants. There's no registration necessary, Halloween fans simply show up at the start of the route at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue at 6:30 p.m.

"It's the most fun you can have any time of the year in Park Slope," said Kim Maier, executive director of parade sponsor the Old Stone House. "It’s the biggest community event of the year, where everybody, young and old, participates."

Entire families often get dressed up, even turning baby strollers into costumes, Maier said.

The All Hallow's Eve promenade, founded in 1987 by merchants on Seventh Avenue, usually kicks off with a brigade of "mysterious" roller skaters dressed in black capes and white masks. "I have no idea who they are," Maier said. "They're the Banksy of the Halloween parade."

They're usually followed by a bevy of local politicians — 11th Street resident and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has been invited — and the dance and jam band Paprika.

This year the parade will also feature a team of bagpipers who previously performed in the Williamsburg Witches Walk, which has moved to Greenpoint. Giant puppets from the Puppeteers Cooperative will also be on hand, and the Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps will bring up the rear, tossing candy at the crowd.

The parade, which is a fundraiser for the Park Slope Civic Council, was canceled last year for the first time ever in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. This year's sponsors include Park Slope Parents, the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID, and ironically, a dentist's office, Brooklyn Oak Dental Care.

The parade kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue. It moves down Seventh Street to Third Street, where it turns left, and ends on Fifth Avenue by the Old Stone House and J.J. Byrne Playground. The parade route will be closed to traffic from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.