There were heroes, villains, clowns, cowboys, princesses, dinosaurs and everything in between. Even Batman and Superman were friendly to each other.
It was a something that could only be seen on a back lot in Hollywood, or in this case, a park in East Williston.
Dozens of East Williston families came out for the annual Raggamufin Parade at Devlin Park last Saturday.
The children and their families took an afternoon stroll down and around Benjiefield Drive to the tune of Halloween classics, such as “Monster Mash” and “Ghostbusters.”
Back at the park the kids had many games and activities to look forward to, including temporary tattoos, pumpkin decorating and mummy wrapping.
“It’s one of our featured events of the season. One of those type of events people in East Williston look forward to,” said Village of East Williston Mayor David Tanner.
The scene of children running around and playing in the sun at this year’s event is very different from last year.
“We’ve had one of the largest turnouts this year. Last year it was right before Sandy,” said Kristin Iannone, one of the coordinators of the event along with Stephanie Keyf.
Iannone and Keyf set up the event, which featured lots of contests and lots of food.
Sometimes it was even a combination of the two, as in the case of the donut on a string eating contest.
Ryan, 7, who was dressed up as a cowboy, said his favorite part of the day was the cupcakes.
The Ragamuffin Parade featured a prize for the best family-themed costume that went to the Chus of East Williston. Ryan Chu, his wife Angie, and their daughter Evelyn dressed up as bacon, an egg, and a cinnamon roll respectively.
Angie explained that her pregnancy was the inspiration for dressing up as an egg and the rest of the breakfast motif.
“We live in a really special town where the community comes out to support these events and we appreciate that,” Keyf said.
