On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. So what possible bearing could this have on the 18th Annual Children’s Halloween Parade in Jackson Heights, Queens in 2007?
Because of this new policy which called for Daylight Saving Time to be extended starting in 2007 (clocks will fall back an hour on the first Sunday of November as opposed to the last Sunday of October), parade participants—as a first—were able march under a holiday-appropriate orange-hued sunset.
The act was implemented as a national policy effort to save energy, but for parade participants here, it provided the incidental benefit of having the sun take a little longer to set as the parade followed its westward course through the Jackson Heights neighborhood along 37th Avenue.
Sponsored by the Jackson Heights Beautification Group (JHBG), the parade was to be a family-friendly event, and that intention was in full evidence. Toddlers, teens, and everything between marched down 37th Avenue, punctuated by local schools and marching bands throughout the line. I had caught a glimpse of an Optimus Prime here, a few Spider-Men over there, many princesses, a baby Cookie Monster, and the list goes on.
The wee little ones went in style as their parents pushed them along in wave after wave of strollers. Most parents opted for the plainclothes-chaperon look (as most busy parents probably do on Halloween night), but a few made the extra effort to also wear costumes with their kids. But even parents that didn’t dress up were sometimes stuck with the incongruous appearance of carrying their kids’ costume props, e.g., I spotted one mom in business-casual attire dutifully holding her child’s rather unwieldy (even if only plastic) double-bladed axe as he concentrated on gathering treats for his loot bag.
As the parade progressed, many local merchants kept their doors open in anticipation of annual trick-or-treaters who moved from shop to shop. For Octavio, co-owner of Lety’s Bakery (named after his wife), this is his first Halloween in Jackson Heights, having only opened up his bakery six months ago on 37th Avenue.
Octavio rarely comes out from the back kitchen, working hard to put out a fresh assortment of Italian pastries for the store’s display cases, but on this Halloween night, he stands in the seating area (although never far from the kitchen) in order to take in all the sights from his storefront window. Two of his staff take customer orders as usual, pulling double-duty by also giving out candy to incoming trick-or-treaters. He apologizes for his limited English but smiles as I ask him what he thinks of the neighborhood. “Jackson Heights is beautiful. Yes.”
Moving further east, I ask the new owner of Monika’s Polish Meat & Deli, whose store is also along the parade path, how much money she had to spend on candy in preparation for trick-or-treaters. She chuckles, “I’m not entirely sure, but at least $40!” According to her, the store has been around for about 10 years, but this is also her first year experiencing the parade.
Back in the parade, a man in a dark fall coat bears a festive orange sash indicating “Parade Marshall” across his shoulder. He enjoys a lollipop (indeed, why should the kids get all the treats?) while waiting at the corner of an intersection for his students to come along the parade route.
Before his students arrive, one child in the parade exclaims (loudly enough even to overwhelm the music of one of the nearby marching bands), “You’re the guy from the church!” Indeed, that “guy” is Dr. Ronald Tompkins, Senior Pastor of the Community United Methodist Church in Jackson Heights. But this evening, he will be greeting his students as Chair of the Board that supports the 82nd Street Academics, a local after-school program.
Walking into the middle of the avenue to greet them all, Dr. Tompkins finds himself standing waist-deep in a flow of children who continue along the parade route. His face beams with amiable pride. After the last students walk by, he returns back to the side of the parade to declare, “They’re 100 of the best kids in Jackson Heights.”
Throughout the entire parade event, police officers were at every intersection from 89th Street to 77th Street to manage the crowds, maintaining a firm but polite tone towards individual pedestrians who were wandering or dawdling where they shouldn’t be. They set up fairly elaborate barricades in the concluding block of the parade, where volunteers for the JHBG volunteers waited on hand with 3000 plus loot bags (they refer to them as “goodie bags”) to hand out to the children who participated in the parade.
For Richard Mirro, a local resident dressed as Harry Potter’s Professor Severus Snape, he estimates this is 6th time attending the parade. In comparison to previous years, he says, “The parade has grown quite a bit,” but happily notes that it still retains a local flavor and remains dedicated to the children.
It’s Carl Eden’s 8th time (he’s sporting a beanie with devilish horns), and even with the conclusion of the parade, his Halloween won’t end until he’s distributed candy to all the trick-or-treaters he expects will come around to his apartment complex later in the evening. For some of his over-eager trick-or-treaters, he posts a sign, “You can come by once, but the second time you might be cursed!”
Putting aside the temptation of going for seconds at the same doorstep, the children of Jackson Heights are fortunate to receive the community support that they do on so many levels, and not just this one day out of the year. And as for the piles of candy the children will have accumulated from this Halloween night, it’s good to know that the Jackson Heights community also has its fair share of dental offices (or scary to know, depending upon how you feel about dentists)! Brush those teeth, kids.
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