A herd of dancing Firehorses built by puppeteer Basil Twist will lead the 53rd Village Halloween Parade up Sixth Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 31, with downtown performer Joey Arias as grand marshal. This year's theme is Body and Soul, and as always, anyone in a costume can march.

The parade steps off at 7 p.m. and runs until about 11 p.m., rain or shine. It is free to watch from the sidewalk and free to join.

Firehorses at the front

The parade is marking the Year of the Horse with a new opening performance called Firehorse. The puppets were commissioned from Basil Twist, the MacArthur Fellow and master puppeteer whose giant figures have appeared in the parade before. Performance artist Julie Atlas Muz choreographed the piece, and Barbara Busackino of Tandem Otter Productions produced it. The Firehorses dance at the head of the procession, clearing the way for the thousands of costumed marchers behind them.

Joey Arias, the cabaret and jazz singer, drag artist and performer who is currently appearing at HERE in the show Arias with a Twist, will ride at the front as the 2026 grand marshal.

The theme: Body and Soul

Each year the parade picks a theme for costumes and for its own puppet section. Artistic and producing director Jeanne Fleming framed Body and Soul around the skeletons that traditionally lead the parade: figures caught between the physical world and the spirit world. The parade is asking marchers to get out from behind their screens and into their bodies, with dance as the link between the two. It is also inviting people to come dressed as someone who has passed on, carrying a memory forward through costume and movement.

The theme section is again designed by Processional Arts Workshop, the team of Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles that builds the parade's giant puppets. Their piece for this year, Out of Body, imagines a dozen glowing sleeping figures in pajamas and nightgowns wandering through a tilting house where everyday objects come to life, a waking dream walking up the avenue.

How to march

Only people in costume can march. The lineup is at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue, and marchers can arrive between 6:30 and 9 p.m. The parade asks people to enter the lineup area from the east and south, via Sullivan, Broome and Canal streets; those coming from the west should enter only from Canal Street. Marchers are let onto the route in groups of 1,000 to 2,000 at timed intervals, then head north with the crowd. Groups meeting up should gather a block or two away and walk over together, since finding friends at the lineup is hard even with phones.

For those who would rather skip the wait, the parade sells a March Skip the Line ticket for $125, with backstage entry to the band lineup area between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. (a costume is required). People without a costume can still take part by volunteering to carry and animate one of the giant puppets. There is also a costume contest, with prizes including show tickets.

How to watch

The parade runs straight up Sixth Avenue from King Street to West 15th Street, and you can watch from either side of the avenue along the route. The parade notes that the sidewalks are most crowded between Bleecker Street and 14th Street, so arriving early or picking a spot farther south helps. Paid viewing areas next to the live telecast are also available: $250 for standing room and $450 for a reserved seat, both with snacks and nonalcoholic drinks.

Getting there

Leave the car at home. Open stations near the route include West Fourth Street-Washington Square (A, B, C, D, E, F, M), 14th Street-Sixth Avenue (F, M and L), Christopher Street-Sheridan Square and Houston Street on the 1, and Spring Street on the C and E, which is closest to the lineup. On parade night, downtown C trains will bypass Spring Street from 5 to 10 p.m., and the uptown side of that station will be exit only. The 16th Street side of the 14th Street-Sixth Avenue station will be exit only. Over Halloween weekend, from 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, to 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, A and C trains will be rerouted in Manhattan and Brooklyn, so check the MTA before you head out. PATH riders can use the 33rd Street line to the Ninth, 14th or 23rd Street stops on Sixth Avenue.

A Village tradition since 1973

Greenwich Village mask maker and puppeteer Ralph Lee started the parade in 1973 as a walk from house to house in his neighborhood with his children and their friends. Theater for the New City produced a larger version in its early years before the parade became its own nonprofit. Jeanne Fleming has directed it for more than four decades, keeping giant puppetry at its center. The parade is supported in part by public funds from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, and ticket sales and donations help keep it free.

The 53rd Village Halloween Parade starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, on Sixth Avenue. Marchers line up at Canal Street from 6:30 p.m.; tickets and volunteer sign-ups are on the parade's website, halloween-nyc.com.

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