Warwick to hold Halloween parade, costume contest

The Village of Warwick Recreation Department and the Warwick Lions Club will be hosting a spooktacular Halloween Costume Parade on Thursday, October 31. Line-up will take place at 4:30 p.m. on High Street. The parade will start at 5 p.m. and proceed down Main Street to Railroad Ave. A costume contest with prizes will take place on Railroad Ave.

This years’ costume contest will include the following categories: Most Original, Scariest, Best Group/Family, and Cutest. The contest will be divided into the following age groups: 0 to 5, 6 to 9, 10 to 14, adult, and family ensemble.

Refreshments are sponsored by ShopRite of Warwick.

Scare the mayor

Village residents are invited to try their best to scare the mayor for the Village’s eighth annual “Scare the Mayor” contest. This is a contest for the scariest, most frightful, scream-worthy Halloween-decorated house in the village of Warwick. The contest is free to enter, and Village residents are eligible to participate. If your home won first prize the previous year, you are ineligible to win first prize this year, but can still participate in the contest. To register your house, call Village Hall at 845-986-2031 or email clerk@villageofwarwick.org by Monday, October 28.

On Wednesday, October 30 starting at 7 p.m., all participants will receive a visit from Warwick Village Mayor Michael Newhard and guest judges who will rate the ghouls and ghosts who scare them the most.

First, second, and third prize winners will be posted on the Village’s website and earn bragging rights that, “I Scared the Mayor.” Additionally, one select home will receive, “The Karl Scheible Award for Exemplary Skill and Thematic Creativity” in honor of late Warwick Village Planning Board member Karl Scheible, who created the original ‘Haunted House’ on Oakland Court. Winners will be announced on Facebook. So, string those purple and orange lights with care, spread cobwebs as far as they can bear, creepy skulls and candy corn too, anything spooky really will do. The Mayor anticipates the delights from all the scary frights, and they look forward to celebrating the best that residents can offer.

Halloween house self-guided tour

This year the Village will be compiling a list of Halloween-decorated homes to be shared with the public as a self-guided tour. If you wish to participate, email Trustee Mary Collura at collura@villageofwarwick.org by Tuesday, October 15 to include your home (address only will be shared). Once completed, maps will be available on the Village’s Facebook and at Village Hall.

Halloween curfew, road closures

There is a Halloween curfew for all persons under the age of 18 unless accompanied by a parent or guardian on all Village streets and parks and other public areas in the village of Warwick between the hours of 9 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, to 6 a.m., Thursday, October 31, and again on Thursday, October 31, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Friday, November 1.

The Village will once again close off Oakland Court, Welling Avenue, Orchard Street, and Linden Place on Thursday, October 31 from 4 to 9 p.m. High Street will be closed on October 31, from 4 to 5 p.m. for the parade lineup.