Kids in creative and cute costumes came out in droves for the Annual Ragamuffin Parade held on Sunday, Oct. 28, the afternoon before Hurricane Sandy. As the winds picked up, chilled families rallied for a final hurrah and marched from Clarendon Elementary School to Buchmuller Park to enjoy a petting zoo, bouncy rides, a pumpkin patch, music, and candy.
While the zombies and skeletons weren’t enough to spook Sandy away, she did not extinguish the Halloween spirit.
A range of characters came out to play, from Harry Potter to the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy to the ever popular ninja and fairy princess.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a brick wall that contained third grader Paige Quinones. Her crafty costume, which was put together with the help of parents Erin and Tom, included a small doll body whose legs hung over the edge of the wall and gave the appearance of a tiny body attached to an egghead.
Two-year-old Robert Malanka, Mayor Michael Gonnelli’s grandson, broke with the family’s Giants affinity and dressed as a tiny Buffalo Bills player.
Kylah Zito from East Rutherford carried her 3-month-old Lorelei in a bushel of apples that hung on her belly.
Before the parade began, kids got a sneak peek inside an old 1948 Chevy Bus that was converted into a haunted ride with skeletons and spiders. The dilapidated bus was once used in Kentucky to transport nuns from the St. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital and then became a tour bus at the Jack Daniels plant. Now Angelo Marra, who owns the local Batmobile, has added it to his collection.
Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.