Halloween in Queens, New York

Rarely mentioned in the diverse demographics of Queens are the otherworldly goblins and ghouls who appear every October 31. The dead do outnumber the living more than two to one in the borough once called the Land of Cemeteries.

See below for events in Western Queens or continue to the next page for Halloween in Eastern and Central Queens.

Costume Shops in Queens

Not satisfied with the prepackaged monsters at the drugstore or party store? Find your dream costume at:

• Rubie's Costume Company, 120-08 Jamaica Avenue, Richmond Hill, 718-846-1008

Halloween in Western Queens

Everybody Loves a Parade
The Jackson Heights Halloween Parade is the second-largest Halloween parade in New York. It's all about the neighborhood kids and their costumes. And a few over-the-top grown-ups too.

• October 31, 2007, 5 p.m.
• 37th Ave, starting at 89th St, ending at 77th St, Jackson Heights
• Sponsored by the Jackson Heights Beautification Group (JHBG)

Halloween Harvest Festival in LIC
The Halloween Harvest Festival is great chance to check out the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. Join the Halloween costume workshops where kids can learn from Socrates artists. Or enter your dog in the Canine Costume Contest. Plus there's face-painting and art-making, pumpkin-painting, and harvest foods from local restaurants.

• October 20, 2007, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; free
• Socrates Sculpture Park, 3134 Vernon Blvd at Broadway, Long Island City, 718-956-1819

Visit Houdini's Grave in Ridgewood
What better way to celebrate the spooky season than to visit the grave of Harry Houdini? Before his death on Halloween in 1926, the famous contortionist, it has been said, left behind a code with which friends could contact him on a future Halloween night at his grave in Machpelah Cemetery, Ridgewood. Unfortunately, there's no chance to see the escape artist's ghost escape this Halloween. The cemetery will be closed on October 31.

• Machpelah Cemetery, 82-30 Cypress Hills St, Ridgewood, NY, 718-366-5959

Highland Park's Fall Harvest Festival
With a pumpkin patch, face-painting, hay rides, games, and music, it's a fine day for the kids to run around the park.

• October 21, 2007, 1-4 p.m.
• [Note - Highland Park is on the Queens-Brooklyn border, and more accessible from the Brooklyn side.
• Highland Park, Jamaica Ave and Elton St, Brooklyn 718-235-0815
• NYC Parks on Highland Park's Fall Harvest Festival

Cemetery Tour at Highland Park
Billed as "Scary Cemetery" this tour is more about walking and learning the histories of the 17 cemeteries that surround Highland Park. The Urban Park Rangers lead the tour of this cemetery land that straddles the border of Queens and Brooklyn.

• October 27, 2007, 6 p.m., free
• See NYC Parks website for more
• Meet at the steps on Highland Blvd and Vermont Pl

Boo at the Zoo - Queens Zoo in Flushing Meadows
For the Halloween animal in you: bring the kids to the Queens Zoo's Haunted Habitat for the costume parade, face-painting, pumpkin painting, and a visit to the "extinct species spooky graveyard."

• October 27 and 28, 2007, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Free with regular zoo admission ($6/$2 children), 718-271-1500
• Queens Zoo, 53-51 111th St, in Flushing Meadows Park, the Corona side

Shocktoberfest at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Come on out to the Playground For All Children at Flushing Meadows Corona Park for its annual Halloween festival. There will be games, costume and dance contests, candy, and fun for the kids - all free, courtesy of NYC Parks.

• October 27, 2007, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., free
• Playground For All Children, 111-01 Corona Ave, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Corona, NY

Halloween Family Celebration at Queens Museum of Art
Celebrate Halloween at the Queens Museum with an afternoon of arts and crafts, free family portraits, candy, pumpkin painting, stories, and both a costume contest and an eating contest. Sponsored by MetroPlus Health Plan.

• Family Day - October 27, 2007
• Queens Museum of Art - Visitors Guide
• Details at QMA

Halloween Magic Show and Workshop
Magicians from Philip and Henry Productions performs magic tricks for the crowd and teach some old-time magic tricks in this Halloween show at LaGuardia Community College.

• October, 27 2007, 2 p.m.
• LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center - Mainstage Theater, 718-482-5151

Halloween Costume Party - Country Style
It's a honky-tonk Halloween at the local country music society's costume bash, with music by Mary Lamont. Prizes for the best costumes.

• October 13, 2007, 7:30 p.m. doors open, 8:00 free dance lesson, 8:30 band starts; $10/$12
• Glendale Memorial Building, Myrtle Ave and 72nd St, Glendale
• Hosted by New York Metropolitan Country Musics Association

. . . More Halloween Events in Eastern and Central Queens