©Smileus

The American tradition on October 31 -- imported from Ireland a century ago --- finds costumed kids strolling neighborhoods collecting candy. But the holiday has several cities celebrating in diverse ways from New York's annual parade to Key West's Fantasy Fest, and Ozzy Osbourne joined by bands from Muse to MGMT in New Orleans.
Here are some highlights for adult-aged kids across the US on Halloween:

Village Halloween Parade
October 31 at 7 PM
New York City, New York
For the 37th year, 50,000 costumed participants take to New York streets to celebrate the Halloween Parade strutting up through Soho, the Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods. With an audience of two million viewing the show it's the largest celebration of its kind on Halloween. Hundreds of puppets, dozens of live bands and dancers are joined by New Yorkers donning creative and fantastical costumes. Televised on WPIX-TV.
www.halloween-nyc.com

Voodoo Fest
October 29-31
New Orleans, Louisiana
In New Orleans, voodoo takes over the city with events including Pumpkin-Palooza, the Queen of the Damned Ball, Boo at the Zoo, the House of Shock. It all culminates in VoodooFest, the place to play music on Halloween weekend with six stages and line-ups that include Ozzy Osbourne, Weezer, Drake, Florence and the Machine, MGMT, Muse, and more.
thevoodooexperience.com
Halloween Costume Carnaval
October 31, 6 PM to 11 PM
West Hollywood, California
Halloween night is less ghoulish and more garish as hundreds of thousands of revelers flock to the famed pageantry along Santa Monica Boulevard in the gay enclave of Los Angeles. Closed to traffic, the spectacle in West Hollywood's parade rivals New York's event.
http://www.weho.org

Fantasy Fest
October 22-31
Key West, Florida
"Habitat for Insanity" is the theme for this year's Fantasy Fest, a series of wild parties every night that attracts 70,000 visitors. Every bar and restaurant offers events from pet balls to a Pirate Bash. There's a Living Airbrush Contest, a street fair and promenade with thematic floats, marching bands, dancing groups, and outrageous costumed partygoers on the route.
www.fantasyfest.net

Halloween in Salem
Salem, Massachusetts
October 1-31
Theatrical presentations, walking tours and a psychic fair help participants relive the legacy of the city's infamous 17th century witch trials and burnings. A Pub Crawl and a Haunted House are among the events leading up to October 31. There's also a séance planned for the Hawthorne Hotel.
www.salemweb.com/hh/

If you need to get further afield to the multitude of celebrations held in the US, Canada hosts some impressive community Halloween celebrations, such as that in the village of Snug Cove on British Columbia's Bowen Island, where hundreds of islanders and tourists watch fireworks and see Morris Dancing performances.
In Ontario, Canada's Wonderland theme park has several attractions just for the festival, with the park open in the dark and hundreds of actors on hand to scare the living daylights out of guests.
Ireland boasts a packed program too, from the traditional torch-lit Celtic procession to Hill of Ward near Dublin to the huge Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival of Lights in Derry, which welcomes over 40,000 revelers.
Travel blog Ciao Bambino has highlighted some of its best things to do in London, including the Wicked Day at London's St Pancras Station (very Gothic) and ghost story readings at Harrod's, one of the city's most famous tourist attractions.
In Paris, Disneyland is promising that its Halloween Festival will be even more spooky and scary, with a Halloween Showtime featuring Disney villains and a special Halloween Party on October 31.
Halloween Australia has a list of events in Australia, where Halloween is becoming more commonplace -- highlights include the Magique Halloween Circus in Sydney's Luna Park, a club night under a big top that includes magicians, hypnotists, sword swallowers, fire breathers and burlesque dancers.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Published 27.10.2010