Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade Makes A Comeback

EAST VILLAGE, NY — This procession of paws is getting a change of scenery.

Local leaders and a television network are stepping into revive the canceled Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade and host the event in a new space. Community group Good Old Lower East Side and ESPN are teaming up to bring the 28-year-old march of dolled up doggies to East River Park on Oct. 28., announced Councilwoman Carlina Rivera at a Thursday news conference.

The parade was cancelled after the city's Parks Department, which owns Tompkins Square and East River parks, told organizers they would need to take out a larger, $1 million insurance policy for the growing event — some 500 pups and 25,000 humans attended last year's procession.

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It became a matter of finding a sponsor who would be willing to carry the liability of the insurance policy and to raise funds, said Rivera.

“The costs were too great so we really tried to come together to find, not just the finances, but a community organization that’s going be able take out the liability and also allow the parade to come forward with its kind of original, funky, fun theme," Rivera said at the conference with her pug Yoshi in tow.

"So we wanted to make sure we didn’t have a big sponsor coming in and essentially highjacking the parade.”

Residents crowdfunded for the parade and ESPN donated $10,000 to the City Parks Foundation and Good Old Lower East Side, which will fund and hold the insurance policy, according to Rivera. Katie Nolan, the host of "Always Late" on ESPN+, will host this year's parade.

The event is a fundraiser for the Tompkins Square Park dog run, which was the first dog run built in a city park, and has helped raise thousands for the space's upkeep. It has ballooned into a mecca for the city's dog community, said the parade's lead organizer.

"It’s the foundation of the dog community and the event has become an icon not only for the pet community in New York City but in other communities in the United States," said Ada Nieves, who dresses up her five chihuahuas for the parade.

East River Park is only a temporary home for the march. Local leaders plan to have the event back at Tompkins Square Park for next year and aim to organizer a parade that more thoroughly addresses the city's overcrowding and logistical concerns, said the communications and legislative director for Councilwoman Rivera's office.

"There won’t be the street concerns, there won’t be just the general issues of last year," said Jeremy Unger. "And that will give us the time going forward to think about how we can create a safe and fun parade that people are really going to enjoy in Tompkins Square Park."

The dog parade will be held on Oct. 28 from 12-3 p.m. at the amphitheater in the Lower East Side's East River Park.

Photo courtesy of Mario Tama/Getty Images