Giant insects are expected to invade the Bug Apple tomorrow evening in the 26th Annual Village Halloween Parade.
But don’t worry about the infestation.
These large creepy crawlers and winged pests are only puppets – part of the parade’s theme: “Y Not 2K?” – a reference to the much-anticipated millennium computer bug.
“Halloween is the last night before New Year’s Eve when you can really have fun with the notion of the millennium,” said Jeanne Fleming, the director of the parade.
Parade planners foresee more than a million people gathering to gaze at 30,000 costumed participants and the 15- to 20-foot-high puppets.
This year they include a mosquito, a praying mantis, a fly made of helium balloons, moths that join together to form a shadow-puppet screen, and, of course, a cockroach.
Another featured creation will be Anne Becker’s 25-foot-long inchworm.
“This is the first puppet I built,” the 29-year-old sculptor from the East Village said. “I’m excited to see what people’s reactions will be.”
The parade was originated in 1973 by New York puppeteer Ralph Lee, who wanted to create a safe Halloween environment for his children. Rather than go trick-or-treating, Lee marched around his West Village neighborhood with puppets and collected 25 to 30 friends along the way.
Tomorrow’s march kicks off at 7 p.m. Masked merrymakers will travel up Sixth Avenue, starting at Spring Street and ending approximately three hours later at 22nd Street.