A Marine Park Halloween tradition came back from the dead.
State Senator Martin Golden (R-Marine Park) revived Marine Park’s All Hallows’ Eve celebration on Oct. 24 — marking the neighborhood’s first Fall festival since a lawsuit two years ago forced the group to cancel amid fears its liability insurance would skyrocket. Locals couldn’t be happier that Golden’s stepped up to resurrect the frightening fete, one parent said.
“I thought it was awesome!” said Mill Basin mom Maria Chin, whose son Edward, 8, won a best costume award for his getup as Freddy Fazbear from the popular horror game Five Nights at Freddy’s. “I love it when they give back to the community and have events for kids.”
The ghoulish gathering featured games, rides, and candy for the kids, and was littered with little creepy details that made the night come alive, according to Chin.
“They had snakes in the grass, some great decorations, and even a cauldron that kids took turns stirring,” she said. “It was actually really thought-out and cute.”
Saturday’s festivities marked the return of the neighborhood’s Halloween party, which the Marine Park Civic Association called off in 2013 after someone filed a lawsuit against the association and raised concerns about the high costs of insuring the event, according to then president Jim Ivaliotis.
Ivaliotis also cited financial woes in the face of a possible drawn-out legal battle in his decision to call off the beloved monster ball.
Stuart Street native and long-time fan of the event Matthew Hosty said at the time that he was shocked the group cancelled the heavily attended Marine Park tradition.
“Yeah, I’m upset,” he said. “It was so much fun. A lot of people go, I couldn’t even give you a number.”
But contemporary members contend that the event’s cancellation had less to do with the group’s legal woes, and more to do with its aging membership, which wasn’t equipped with the physical capacity to handle the long-hours of volunteer work necessary to produce the eerie afternoon event, according to long-time Marine Park Civic Association member Paul Link.
Golden, who approached members of the civic association and asked how he could help, not only sponsored the event, be arranged for dozens of volunteers from Madison and Edward Murrow high schools to pitch in and revive the dead event, Link said.
“We had a lot of support to help Marty keep this thing going,” he said.
