The theme of the annual Village Halloween parade this year was to have been a 2012 Mayan countdown. With the streets of downtown Manhattan already dark and apocalyptic in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, the parade was cancelled for the first time in its venerated 39-year history.

But on Wednesday night, more than a hundred determined revelers whooped and danced through the Village anyway, brightening the darkened streets with costumes fashioned out of blinking lights and glowsticks. More people joined as the parade wound a zigzagging route up from Prince Street, past 14^th and toward the brightly lit buildings uptown.

Photo by Emily Johnson

“Well apparently [the parade] is rescheduled, but the only time to come out for Halloween is Halloween night,” said Christopher Hardwick, whose white coattails and top hat were decked out with blue lights.

“You can’t come out the Saturday before or the night before, its always Halloween where it’s rocking,” Hardwick said. “And there were a lot of people in the neighborhood without power with cabin fever. I walked here from the East Village, which has absolutely no power, down fourteen flights of stairs.”

Hardwick, who belongs to a group of costume enthusiasts known as Kostume Kult, was one of the organizers of the informal event. He regularly emcees the group’s float in the annual parade.

Police accompanied the parade through the streets, and for much of the way, the flashing lights on the NYPD vehicles were the main source of visibility. On Christopher Street, the crowd spilled into the middle of the road and officers had to hem them in with megaphones. Some of the marchers pitched in to restore order.

“Onto the sidewalk, darlings, everybody onto the sidewalk,” trilled an imposing figure dressed as Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some people on the event’s Facebook page had expressed worry that even a small, unofficial parade would be an unnecessary distraction for the beleaguered city. Jim Glazer, another organizer dressed as a red dragon, acknowledged these concerns.

“We had a mixed reaction,” said Glazer, more commonly known as Costume Jim. “Some people didn’t like the idea because they thought it would take away resources. But the people who really get art, I think, understand that helping people’s morale is a very important aspect of aid for downtown.”

It seemed to be working. Smiling faces appeared at windows lit by candlelight, peering down at the street and beckoning more people to come and look. Motorists stopped their cars on the street to take pictures. “Halloween is not dead!” one man yelled from a passing cab, eliciting cheers from the marchers. And occasionally the parade came upon unsuspecting, delighted costume-wearing people who joined in, swelling the size of the crowd as it marched on.

A small band featuring a large tuba-like instrument, akin to something out of a Dr. Suess story, provided the soundtrack for the parade. Cyclists rode alongside, speakers blasting Lady Gaga songs and the theme from “Ghostbusters.”

For fashion designer Megan Bielli, 24, the mob of light and noise was a welcome relief after days of quiet darkness in her East Village apartment, where she and her boyfriend had been steadily working their way through all of their perishable food.

“It’s been really dark and dreary going outside, walking around my neighborhood,” she said, a pair of glowstick ears perched on top of her head. “It was nice to go to work today where there’s electricity and charge my phone, check the internet. That’s where I found out about this. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it.”

She said she intended to join the others in walking up to where the power was back on.

“The whole point is not to be a nuisance,” she said. “It’s Just to shine a little light on a dark time.”

Veronica Hoglund

The tots of Downtown Manhattan sporting their costumes while trick or treating on All Hallow’s Eve.

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Thursday 10/27
The Pumpkin Pie Show
Under St. Mark’s, 94 St. Mark’s Pl. (betw. 1st Ave. & Ave. A); 8 p.m., $18.
Its name derives from the Southern tradition, when true horror came through storytelling in the fields. Creators Clay McLeod Chapman and Hanna Cheek bring chilling tales of romance gone wrong. Stories include Lovey Dovey, Michelle, Condo Lothario and Ascending the Stairway, four tales that promise to terrify.

The Freakiest and Funniest Food Tour
New York Food Tours, 220 Canal St. (betw. Baxter & Mulberry Sts.); 2:45-5:15 p.m., $55.
Spend the evening walking through Chinatown and sampling some freaky (to those raised on American cuisine) foods, including chicken feet, Durian, and thousand-year-old, or Century, eggs.

Carsten Höller: Experience
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 235 Bowery (nr. Prince Street); $12.
The German artist behind the revolving “hotel room” in the Guggenheim in 2008 is back at it, this time transforming the New Museum into a highbrow and interactive fun house. Just in time for Halloween, the installation includes slides, perforated ceilings, a mirrored carousel, and a sensory deprivation pool called the Psycho Tank.

Friday 10/28
Blood Manor
Blood Manor, 163 Varick St. (betw. Charlton & Vandam Sts.); 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m., $25 advance, $35 at the door.
Take the tour, if you dare, of one of NYC’s best haunted attractions. Blood Manor features 5,000 square feet of themed rooms and a labyrinth of hallways designed to terrify. The tour is not recommended for children under 14.

Gotham City Ghost Tour
For reservations & meeting place info: 212-465-3331; 5:30 p.m., $20.
The walking tour explores the historic, infamous, eerie and macabre of Greenwich Village history. The group will see the spooky cemetery at St. Mark’s; the hanging elm, a 19th-century execution site; the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; the home of Edgar Allan Poe; and the burial ground at Washington Square, just to name a few.

Candlelight Ghost Tour of “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House”
Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E. 4th St. (betw. Lafayette St. & Bowery); 6-7 p.m., $25; 8-9 p.m., $30; 9:30 p.m., $40.
Tour the Merchant’s House Museum by candlelight and hear about the freaky and spooky occurrences from the people who experienced them.

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place (at 1st Place); $12.
Get yourself good and scared with some real-life monsters from our past. This exhibit takes a look at the Nazi regime’s efforts to alter the populations genetic makeup through “racial hygiene,” or eugenics.

Saturday 10/29
Halloween Drinkfest
Chelsea Manor, 138 W. 25th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.); 9 p.m., $15.
Look no further than Chelsea Manor for a good monster bash. Come dressed to impress and ready to dance. A guest DJ will be playing until 4 a.m., so break out your best costume and join the freaks that come out at night.

Halloween Haunted Pier Party
South Street Seaport, 89 South St. (at Pier 17); 9 p.m.-4 a.m., $20.
Dance the night away at this 21 and over costume-mandatory party with music by Hot 97 and Heavy Hitter.

Play Dead
Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal St. (near
Minetta Lane); $40.
Had enough of the run-of-the-mill ‘death-defying’ stunts performed by magicians? Check out Todd Robbins, an illusionist who prefers death-embracing stunts. The fake blood and real amazement flows plentifully at this show directed and written by Teller of Penn &Teller.

Sunday 10/30
From Parlor to Grave: Funeral Reenactmant
Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E. 4th St. (betw. Lafayette & Bowery); 3–5 p.m., $30 ($10 for graveside service and cemetery tour only).
The parlors will be draped in black crepe as the museum recreates the 1865 funeral of Seabury Tredwell. After the service, mourners are invited to follow the coffin to nearby New York City Marble Cemetery—rarely open to the public—for a tour. Nineteenth-century mourning attire encouraged; black crepe armbands will be provided.

Monday 10/31
FREE Village Halloween Parade
Meet at 6th Ave. & Spring St.; 7 p.m.
Every year, NYC’s weirdest crawl, slither and fly down to the Village in their most impressive costumes. Head downtown to march with the freakiest NYC has to offer or just watch the spookery unfold.