The street of Woodward Parkway is transformed into a race track.

No wait a jungle.

Actually now it’s an arcade.

Dinosaurs parade down the street, followed by an entourage of Avengers. Barbie dolls come to life. Escaped criminals are escorted by a police car.

It must be Halloween at Farmingdale High School.

There are many things that set Farmingdale High School apart from other high schools on Long Island. I mean, I am biased, but our school spirit and student body participation is nothing short of incredible. Halloween is no exception. For seniors at Farmingdale, Halloween is a right of passage.  Over the past three years we have looked on in awe at the creative, brilliantly executed costumes seniors show up to school dressed in on October 31st at 7:30am. For the students who attended Woodward Parkway Elementary school, they have been looking forward to marching in the Halloween parade since kindergarten. Some students even have parents who marched in the parade decades ago. Basically, Halloween is a legacy. This year it was our turn.

Preparation for the parade begins months ahead of time. Groups are formed for some as early as the end of junior year and especially during the summer months leading up to senior year. That’s the easy part. The true test is deciding what on Earth to be! As I’ve mentioned…Halloween is no joke. It’s high stakes with the best individual costume award gaining the principal’s parking space for a week, and other categories winning gift cards– and bragging rights of course.  That being said, finding the perfect costume is a challenge! Students go hardcore, reenacting movie casts, toys from childhood, favorite characters, basically anything you can think of and then some. A month prior to Halloween, it is crunch time and groups still unsure scramble to think of an original idea. Pinterest is scoured, Google has run out of “halloween costume idea” pages to scroll through. And once you have found your costume, you DO NOT share your idea with any other groups until you know they have an official costume– yes it is that intense for some of us (I may not have had a competitive bone in my body when it came to sports most of my life– but for Halloween I was definitely making up for lost time!).

The best part about Halloween at Farmingdale is that every group truly goes the extra mile. I’m talking hand-made costumes. That’s right. In the age of Amazon-freaking-PRIME (TwO dAy ShIpPiNg!1!1)– a bunch of teenagers built halloween costumes from SCRATCH. We’re amazing, I know. Paper mache, paint, a ton of hot glue, you name it… we probably used it. Hours are spent working on these, and honestly I don’t think a single minute spent on these costumes is wasted; it really is worth it.

On Wednesday October 31st, when the seniors all met in the cafeteria to have their costumes judged, it truly looked like something out of a movie. The costume departments of Hollywood have nothing on us. Seniors of competing groups supported one another and were all equally amazed at the creativity of their friends and peers. Teachers throughout the school came down to judge. I felt like I posed for about 100 pictures throughout the day. Students from other grades peeked in from the commons, excited to see their favorite costumes this year… and of course already starting to brainstorm what they will be when it’s their turn.

We marched the short walk to Woodward Parkway, some of us stumbling around (Barbie boxes really are NOT easy to walk in), and were met with nothing but excitement from the elementary schoolers and teachers who lined the bus circle of the school. The kids yelled out when they saw a costume they liked, high fiving the seniors, all to the tune of the fifth grade band’s rendition of Thriller.  A lot of the seniors’ parents came out to see the costumes their children have been talking about making for years. It’s particularly sentimental for the parents because they were attending our kindergarten Halloween parades “just yesterday.” The parade is over pretty quickly, not lasting more than 45 minutes tops; however, it was everything the grades before me have hyped it up to be. Some schools might get excited for the holidays or for summer… but in Farmingdale Halloween is a tradition that can’t be beat.

* Photo courtesy of Lifetouch