20K Expected for Nyack Halloween Parade

Downtown Nyack will be jammed with spectators for the 25th Annual Halloween Parade this Saturday.

Hosted by the Nyack Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by leading local merchants, this event draws Halloween party fans from across the tri-state region and may be the largest Halloween bash outside of NYC. 

There will be dancing ghouls, award-winning marching bands, roller derby, wild costumes, celebrity contest judges and more than $2,000 in cash prizes.

The event is on Saturday, Oct. 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (rain date Sunday, October 28) in the heart of Nyack. Here's a Timeline of Activities

• Festivities begin at 3 p.m. with live music in the municipal parking lot on Main Street.
• 3 - 5 p.m. Live music, sponsor tents and novelty and food vendors in the municipal parking lot on Main Street and Artopee Way 
• 4 p.m. Marchers and floats will assemble in Memorial Park at the corner of Depew and Piermont Streets in downtown Nyack. 
• 4 - 8 p.m. Main Street will be closed

When the parade ends:

• Halloween revelers can go to the Nyack Center’s traditional “Monster Mash” party featuring live music, dancing, dinner buffet – and lots of spooky fun. The Center is located at Depew and South Broadway in Nyack.
• The much-anticipated prize awards ceremony will begin
• Live music and dancing will continue in the Main Street parking lot after the awards.

Building on a history of record-breaking crowds, over 20,000 spectators are expected to line the streets of Main and Broadway in Nyack for this fun-filled, family-friendly event.

Parade-goers will see a reprise of Therese Shorn’s “Festival of Ghouls” — 15-foot tall puppets worked by Nyack’s own Amazing Grace CIRCUS! performers. Five of Rockland County’s top marching bands will set the beat, including the newly reformed Nyack High School Marching Band under the direction of Mike Smith.

Additional parade highlights include the Suburban Roller Derby of Westchester, the H.O.G.S., Hudson Vagabond Puppets, and unicyclists and stiltwalkers from Amazing Grace CIRCUS!.

Returning this year in the municipal parking lot on Main Street and Artopee Way from 3-5 pm:

• Live music on the Orangetown Bandstand sponsored by Nyack’s Anjel Blue Rehearsal Studios
• Sponsor tents hosted by local businesses
• Novelty and food vendors

Sponsors include Oak Beverages/Guinness, Casa del Sol restaurant, Anjel Blue Rehearsal Studios and Nyack Music School, Provident Bank, Palisades Federal Credit Union, ACADA, Amazing Grace Circus!, Cablevision,  Rivertown magazine, Channel 12, WHUD, The Peak, Rockland World Radio, the Village of Nyack and the Town of Orangetown.

Marchers and floats will assemble at 4 p.m. in Memorial Park at the corner of Depew and Piermont Streets in downtown Nyack. All are welcome to march and to register for the costume contests and the Best Group and Best Float prizes. The winner of this year’s Best Float competition, sponsored once again by Casa del Sol proprietors Gina and Jorge Cambre, will take home a $1,000 prize. Casa del Sol also hosts a lively parade after-party later in the evening.

Returning this year to lead the parade will be Hon. Harriet Cornell as Parade Grand Marshall, along with Nyack’s Mayor Jen Laird-White, Village Trustees, and other local officials and celebrities. The Trustees, along with a special guest celebrity judge, will preside over the costume and float contests.

Main Street will be closed from 4–8 p.m. for the parade activities. The much-anticipated prize awards ceremony will begin immediately after the parade ends. Live music and dancing will continue in the Main Street parking lot after the awards. Also immediately following the parade, Halloween revelers can go to the Nyack Center’s traditional “Monster Mash” party featuring live music, dancing, dinner buffet – and lots of spooky fun. The Center is located at Depew and South Broadway in Nyack.

Details on participating in and viewing the parade are listed on the Chamber of Commerce’s website: www.nyackchamber.org. To register your float, join as a marcher or to contribute as a sponsor, go to our website or call the Chamber office at 845-353-2221.

Here's a look at coverage in past years:

• 2010
• 2011

Editor's Note: Some of this was user generated