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The Village Halloween Parade has always been a haven for rebellion. When it started in 1974, it was just a collection of puppeteers, wandering the neighborhood. Now, it's a massive cultural event — the city honored the parade in 1994 for its cultural impact. Every year, New Yorkers swarm the Village, coating the neighborhood in a layer of defiance. As the home to the Stonewall Inn, the Village is already an emblem of bohemian resistance. Add Halloween to that, and the night is raucous. Then, add in the fact that it's 2017, the year during which all our personal freedoms were suddenly in jeopardy. It's a potent recipe for a Halloween evening.
For a year that's been dominated by Donald Trump, there were surprisingly few imitators at this year's parade. In 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton masks were a popular Halloween costume. This year, there was nary a Clinton mask to be seen, and those who dressed as Donald Trump opted for costumes with more of an angle, like the naked Donald Trumps who marched near the front of the parade. Spectators didn't seem to want to see Trump, either. (Who would?) Those who looked too much like the president earned boos from the crowd.
The outfits that made statements were the winners. A man dressed as a Donald Trump tweet had to keep stopping for photographs. Another dressed as Fake News seemed perturbed that everyone was so fascinated by his costume. Not everyone came in a political costume — many went for plain zombies, or Game of Thrones gear — but the political costumes garnered the most attention. Maybe it's a metaphor for our societal attention span.
Ahead, see the most powerful ways New Yorkers took on Donald Trump and the current administration at this year's Village Halloween Parade.
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