Talk about a Coney Island freak show!
Hundreds of costumed tykes ran around MCU Park on Tuesday during a Halloween party that was as fun for kids as it was for kids at heart, according to a mom.
“It was absolutely amazing — it was a blast for the kids and the adults,” said Bay Ridgite Nicole Zamora, who dressed as a rainbow unicorn, and attended with her 4-year-old son, Matthew, who dressed as a dinosaur. “It was so adorable, there was so much to do, and we had so much fun.”
The more than 700 tots who turned out showed off their various disguises and chowed down on plenty of candy — calories they burned off by running between the bash’s bouncy houses and face-painting and caricature-drawing stations.
The kids also competed for prizes — that included trophies, tickets to the nearby New York Aquarium, and vouchers for Nathan’s Famous — in various costume categories, including “most creative,” “funniest,” “best handmade,” “best overall,” and “best group.”
An 11-year-old who dressed up as a missing boy on the side of a milk carton took home the top prize in the “best handmade” category — an honor he couldn’t have claimed without some help, according to his mother.
“He said, ‘How about I be one of those kids who are missing on the back of a milk carton?’ ” Coney Islander Madeline Crespo said of her son Taron Howard. “ So we designed it together.”
Other youngsters collaborated on costumes with their peers, including one sister-and-brother duo who dressed as Luigi and Mario from the Super Mario Brothers video game — getups they hoped would gain them attention, the girl who dressed as Luigi said.
“We wanted to do something different,” 12-year-old Diana Morales said of her and her brother Brian Vergara’s outfits.
