Thousands join New York City's 51st Village Halloween parade with cat-inspired theme
GREENWICH VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Thousands of people participated in New York City's 51st annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade Thursday night with costumes inspired by this year's "cat lady" theme.
The NYPD was prepared as always when the sun goes down and the werewolves come out.
The theme this year was "Meow!" and celebrated the inner "cat lady" in everyone.
"The minute that the phrase was said about childless cat ladies - from Taylor Swift right down to the tiniest cat lady - everyone was on this," said Director of the Village Halloween Parade, Jeanne Fleming.
The parade brought to life a celebration of cat-inspired artistry, individuality and bravado.
Leading the Halloween parade this year as grand marshal was Tony Award-winning actor André De Shields, best known for his role as Hermes in the Broadway musical 'Hadestown' and recently as Old Deuteronomy in 'CATS: The Jellicle Ball.'
The parade was even being sponsored by Smalls, a cat food company.
Alex Kahn with Processional Arts Workshop said they made puppets including 32 larger-than-life cats for the parade.
Along with the cats, floats and women carry brooms which is a tribute to the sweeper puppets from the early days of the parade.
Ahead of the big event, the NYPD said security would be tight and there is expected to be a large turnout due to the unseasonably warm weather.
"A lot goes into this to make sure it's a safe night," said NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella said.
Some even traveled from across the world and country to bring their best costumes to the parade.
"We are from Whitley Bay in England," one family said.
"We actually live in South Carolina and we flew up here to New York just to be in the parade this year," said Mike Mullaney.
But before the annual tradition got underway, there was a special less-spooky event for the kids: the 34th Annual NYU Children's Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village.
The fun began at 3 p.m. in Washington Square Park. Kids and families were encouraged to come and show off their amazing costumes as they marched around the perimeter of the park.
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