Halloween in the Big, Razor-Free Apple

Observation on October 31, 2004 on Halloween in New York:
-The crowds full of normal people intermixed with a few costumed people calls attention to the costumes New Yorkers wear every day: Hipster, ho, Hasid, high-stakes money manager, everyone's got a look tonight just as every night.
-Down in the Village, Halloween night is Halloween. Up in the Upper West Side (ie: The Toddler District), it's repurposed for greater convenience: Yesterday, Sheryl and I saw a Hispanic nanny leading a little Batman and a little Bob the Builder out for a more time-efficient Saturday October 30th afternoon trick-or-treat.
-And, earlier in the day, at the 100th St. school fundraiser street fair, where the costumes were already being put to good use, I witnessed an all-politics-is-really-local moment, when I was waiting to buy some mac-and-cheese with my four ($10 for 1o) tickets. A gray-bearded man in a Montessori T-shirt chided the food vendors for charging way-over-market prices for these cheap foods. They kind of sputtered, completely not expecting this, until I went to place my order. Suddenly, despite my silence, I was a part of the dispute. One of the women pointed to me and said, "See? He doesn't think it's too much." I continued to hold my tongue, but she then correctly identified my motivation, "because it's for a good cause." To which he replied, "No it isn't - because that school doesn't involve the parents." They replied, "We are the parents." After he walked off, one of them said he was hired by the city to challenge such activities as theirs. I couldn't quite figure out: was it because parental fundraising makes the city look bad, or was it a teachers'-union-versus-parents power struggle? All I know is, I enjoyed the mac-and-cheese and thought I really got my four tickets' worth.
-My favorite costumes spotted:
*A full-body, headpiece-included, plush "Red Hook" bottle
*A girl in a white robe and a helmet that was either a papal mitre or a Power Rangers helmet. ("I smite thee in nomine patria, Rita Repulsa!")
*a sleek-black-coolie-hatted "The Good Earth"-era-ninja, and his belly dancer girlfriend
*a guy in an Andy Warhol wig waiting impatiently outside a liquor store to see if it would open, stalking off when it didn't (in the future, we will all manage to stay off the wagon for 15 minutes.)
-A variety of headgear-only, otherwise too-cool-for-costume New Yorkers, but with headgear that's perfectly outrageous: rainbow wigs, huge outsized hats (in one case, a couple with pink-and-blue his-and-hers plush derbies), massive afros (one on a scowling guy, his scalp-based whimsy clearly not trickling down). This year's hot head item: electric flashing devil horns.
-In front of "Krust," a Caribbean fast food place, an orange-wigged woman portraying a Western-type witch to entice passersby in. Ironically, an authentic Caribbean witch costume might have proven more of a lure.
-Also amusing: My taxi driver (taking me home from just seeing the coincidentally zombie-themed "Shaun of the Dead") is unusually pissed at the traffic backup due to the imminent Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, grumbling, "I fucking hate this shit." At first I think, "That's not in the holiday spirit." But then I think more of what the holiday represents, and I realize, "Yeah, I guess it is."
-But the evening's biggest irony: I was unable to go to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade -- where Sheryl and I started dating -- because Sheryl felt it was unsafe, in New York in this pre-Election Day weekend, for me to be at such a large public event. Actual fear was hindering participation in our culture's elaborate pageant of fear.