Exclusive: the best spots to watch New York City’s Halloween parade in person, according to the woman in charge

Jeanne let us in on the secret of where attendees should go to get the best views of the parade. She revealed: “I would approach from the west side and I would come, walk west, from 5th Avenue to 10th Street, and I would be right there, which is near the television spot.” According to Jeanne, the filming area is a go-to because not only do you see all the costumes, but you will also see all the dances.

She added: “The reason why I would do that is it’s well-lit and you can see a lot of people [who] stop to perform for the cameras. So in a way that is the best spot.” Jeanne also shared a location that provides the best of both worlds, revealing: “But actually a favorite spot of mine is right in front of the Waverly Theater, right there, because it’s the heart of The Village. And so there you feel the old parade. You feel [what it was] like when it started. If you’re in The Village and you feel The Village feel, I think that matters, and so those are the two spots that I like, along the parade route.” 

She graciously added a third location sharing: “Another place that actually isn’t bad is around 12th Street on the east or west side of 6th Avenue. And the reason for that is, again, its old Village and people have just left the television spot at 10th Street and they’re relaxed and happy, and it’s their last moment before they get to the end of the parade. So that’s also a nice place; I like the places that feel like The Village.”

Most may believe that the best costumes arrive at the top of the parade, but it’s quite the opposite. Jeanne revealed: “People talk about wanting to be at the front of the parade, but in fact, a lot of the best costumes come at the end. And the reason is, there are people who come to the parade every year, and they know the front is crowded, but they really want to be seen. They want to be able to interact with the audience. So they come at the end when there are fewer people. [One year] I finally saw one guy whom I’ve seen pictures of for years and years and he was at the end, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I get to see you finally. I get to meet you and find out who you are.'” 

The theme is “potluck,” and the city’s wonderful culture ties into that. Jeanne explained: “The parade. It’s a potluck made up of all the things that people bring to it, and so what we’re doing is making giant doors that will face the audience and the door will open to invite everyone in to the feast. That’s what this parade does. It says, ‘Yes, you can come.’ The doors open and they turn into tables filled a feast and there’s a space at the end that invites the audience to take a seat. Then there’s also a lot of giant, fascinating characters because they represent all the people of New York who will sit down at these tables and enjoy this feast from a puppet perspective.”

She explained that 50 people in total made the large puppets, with one person making the eyes, another the nose, and so forth. Jeanne loves the symbolism of that and added: “So the puppets will be the strangers who were invited in, like Elijah is invited in, and they are made up of their characteristics [which] are made up of a jumble of the eyes and noses. So in other words, no one of these puppets is made by a single person. So the eyes are from one and [the] nose from another. And that way they represent everyone.”

Jeanne emphasized that the Big Apple wins when it comes to diversity and representation. She expressed: “The other thing that is cool about the Halloween parade, which is different from others, is it’s not one ethnicity. We have the music of 38 different ethnic traditions, because in New York City, there are 64 languages being spoken right now and of those 64 languages, about 38 or 40 of them have traditions of carnival parades. They’re all in the parade, and so one of the treats when you come to the parade, is you hear rara from Haiti, you hear samba from Brazil, you hear Italian carnival music.”

The high energy of the parade has remained the same over time. Jeanne explained: “The parade has not changed. In one sense, its heart, its soul, what it’s about, is exactly the same as it was when it started, and that is to support the individual imagination and give you a large stage on which to perform and share what you create with fellow New Yorkers.” 

Jeanne emphasized that only the size of the parade has changed. She explained: “The scale has changed. The parade is bigger than it ever was, and this is our first Friday night since COVID, so I expect there to be a lot of people there. I think it will be larger than ever because on Friday night you see people don’t have to get up for work the next morning, so it makes a difference. In terms of the costumes, there are 80,000 people in the event.”

Jeanne believes that creativity teaches us some of life’s greatest lessons. She shared: “I want people to make their costumes and the reason is, I really believe that when you engage in a creative act and you decide to make something with your own hands, you experience something that can change your soul. You begin to realize that you’re a creator, and that you hold your life in your own hands. You can be whatever you want to be. And also, when you’re making things, you experience that sense of a time out of time. You forget everything around you, and you just focus on that sparkly thing or whatever it is that you’re making. So I believe that the part of what the parade does is it offers the opportunity to open people’s hearts.”