NYC Families Still Celebrating Halloween Amid Pandemic
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Halloween in a pandemic may look different, but the spirit remains in New York City, where families still celebrated Saturday
An adorable event for pet owners was held Saturday afternoon at the Elizabeth Street Garden in Lower Manhattan.
New Yorkers dressed their dogs in costumes for the garden's first ever pet parade.
Organizers say usually a harvest festival is held this time of year, but they had to make some changes due to COVID.
"We wanted to do something that brought a lot of joy to everyone and brought the neighborhood together," Elizabeth Street Garden Executive Director Joseph Reiver said. "I think everyone needed this. I think everyone needed to have that happiness and have the dogs come out in their costumes."
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Riding around New York City on Halloween, you never know what you're going to see.
An Upper West Side display screamed 2020 with sanitizer, masks and a reminder to vote.
Trick-or-treaters passing by were excited to look the part and to feel somewhat normal.
"I thought that we wouldn't get any candy but turns out we did," said Fiora Hoffman, who was dressed as a dragon.
CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis met Angie Dolfini and Hannah in Forest Hills, Queens, collecting candy that was mostly individually wrapped.
"I think this is a really fun Halloween, even though it's, you know, COVID," Angie said.
Both wore creative COVID-era costumes.
"We do feel safe. This is perfect for quarantine and stuff," Angie said.
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"I think it's important for kids to have some normalcy in their life, or as much normalcy as possible, and they look forward to Halloween every year," Sharon Levy said.
That sentiment was echoed by Rachel Kellner, the owner of Aigner Chocolates. Her store was hosting an outdoor socially distanced Halloween experience.
"We have these spooky backdrops behind us. We gave away vintage bags of candy," Kellner said. "We wanted to drive traffic to the neighborhood, but as a chocolate shop, we couldn't not celebrate Halloween."
Sam Brocato Salon in SoHo was also getting creative, turning their yearly costume contest into a Halloween "mask"-over.
RELATED STORY: NICU Babies At NYU Winthrop Hospital Get Dressed Up For Halloween
The annual Village Halloween parade may have been canceled this year due to COVID, but some traditions still continued.
"The tradition is every night on Halloween, the big white spider comes down from the tower and scares all the little kids. Right, Jasmine?" spectator Omer Ozden said.
"It's actually pretty cool for me," Jasmine said.
Young Jasmine actually dressed up as a spider herself. She was among those crowding the sidewalk, most masked, gazing at the spider dangling from Jefferson Market Library Tower.
Nearby, there was a slideshow of pictures from previous parades.
A reminder that despite the pandemic...
"You are the party. New York City is the party," Sabrina Ozden said.
New York isn't dead, nor is the spirit of Halloween.
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