New York City's Village Halloween Parade is back for the 51st year with a new spin inspired by cultural politics and the movement behind the "childless cat ladies."
The annual spectacle garners over 100,000 costumed participants and an estimated two million observers, according to the official parade website.
Jeanne Fleming, a director of the parade for 44 years, explained in an interview with NBC 4 that the 2024 motif was originally titled "no sense, nonsense, nonsensical" until a previous 2021 Fox News interview resurfaced from former President Donald Trump's running mate Sen. JD Vance.
The new theme is "Meow!" and is usually chosen within the Zeitgeist or "spirit of the times."
Vance was outspoken in his disgust for the Democratic Party, blaming "childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."
The throwback clip spread like wildfire on social media. It led to the reemerging of other past controversial women-driven comments from Trump's running mate, such as expressing alarm over a declining fertility rate and suggesting giving higher voting rights to parents with children.
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Fleming reiterated to News 4 that the subject is not meant as a direct attack on any political party but rather a sign of the times. The black cat is a more traditional tie to witches during the spooky season.
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"We're playing on the notion of the black cat. We're not being political. It's very subtle, but we're playing with that notion," Fleming told NBC New York in an interview.
The parade does not endorse any particular candidate, but the nonpartisan message of getting out the vote is celebrated in the line-up.
A new addition to this year is the "Cat Ladies Unite" section, which will get visitors to march front and center in the parade with the Grand Mashal, actor André De Shields.
Plans are still in the works for the cost and what is included in the Cat Ladies ticket, but parade organizer Elissa Stein hopes this allows New Yorkers to stand together to represent groups being denigrated or called out.
"The Cat Lady represents people who don't have children, people who live alternative lifestyles and people who don't fit the normal view of what a family looks like. And so they've become symbolic and emblematic in a way of people not in the conventional, old-fashioned mold of what's titled as normal," said Stein.
The ceremony route normally runs on Manhattan's Sixth Avenue from King Street to 15th Street. The procession typically begins at 7:00 P.M. and goes until 11:00 P.M. on Halloween night.
Anyone dressed in costume is welcome to participate in the free general public line, but several paid options range from $100 to $400 to act as a donation to support the experience.
