Coney Island offers something for everyone for Halloween. Parents can go to a family-friendly costume parade with the kids, or go to Luna Park for some fun pumpkin carving. Fido will look cute at the dog costume contest and parade.  Culturatti can take in an irreverent performance at the inimitable, funky, corny, fabulous Coney Island USA. You can "do" Halloween in lots of places, but everything's better in Coney....

 

9 THINGS TO DO IN CONEY ISLAND ON HALLOWEEN

 

1. Go on the amusement park rides before the season ends. Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park are both open weekends through the end of October. Take a roller coaster ride!

2. Bring the kids to the Children's Halloween Boardwalk Parade -- after a big party at MCU.Thousands of kids show up for this! Details:

• What: Coney Island Party Followed by Halloween Parade Started in 2010, the annual Coney Island Halloween Parade is a child-focused event. It includes a costume contest, giveaways and fun for about  2,000 people expected to be in attendance. Kids must be accompanied by an adult, and pre-register.  A variety of public officials will be in attendance.
• When: Saturday, October 25, 2014, 11 A.M.
• Where: It's a moving party. (Directions to MCU Park)
  
  • The entertainment begins at MCU Park, the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team, with food, games, giveaways and free entertainment. The first 1,500 children to register will receive a free 2-Hour, Unlimited Ride Wristband to Luna Park valid on 22 rides and a candy bag filled with treats.
    
  • A costume contest takes place at MCU Stadium. Judges will award 10 winners a trophy and prize package composed of items and gift cards from local businesses such as Coney Island USA and Deno’s Wonder Wheel
    
  • Finally, the  parade will kick off on the Riegelmann Boardwalk by MCU Park at 904 Surf Avenue with participating children and families marching along the historic boardwalk, and will end at the rear entrance to Luna Park. 
    

3. Have Harvest and Pumpkin Fun on Weekends Before Halloween, at Luna Park. Halloween Harvest features pumpkin picking and painting and free activities like magic shows, balloon twisting, face-painting, caricature portraits and more. Here are two special pumpkin events worth going to:

What:  Halloween Harvest Pumpkin Carving Contest.  Saturday, October 18, 2014.

What: Marc Maniac Pumpkin Carvers  See a giant pumpkin turned into a work of art. Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014.

4. Dress Up Your Dog in the Silliest, Cutest Costume Ever for the Coney Island Halloween Pet Parade and Costume Judging. Sunday, October 26, 2014. Get details.

5. Catch a show! GO to the THEATER. Vaudeville, to be exact. Coney Island USA will produce Dead End Dummybefore and on Halloween night. Written by lifelong Coney booster and the “unofficial mayor of Coney Island,” Dick Zigun, you can expect a wild ride.  The show is in turn silly and stagey; it "explores the uniquely American art form of Vaudeville, following Max Morinsky, an aging ventriloquist, who, upon the death of vaudeville, sets out to kill Thomas Edison." Get tix in advance.

6. If You Never Heard of the Brooklyn Bolts, and like Football, Go See What You Think.  Football has come to Brooklyn. The Bolts are part of the new Fall Experimental Football League. Players are recent college grads and NFL players cut during the final weeks of training camp. The season started on October 8th with three Bolts home games scheduled to be played at MCU Park on Wednesday, October 15th, Friday, October 24th and Friday, November 7th, 2014.

7. Say Hi to the Penguins and Sharks at the NY Aquarium.  The New York Aquarium is a wonderful year-round attraction. Alas, this Halloween they aren't doing  their annual Halloween event, "Ascarium at the Aquarium," because they're still fixing things up after huge damage inflicted during that real life terror, Hurricane Sandy. But you can visit, they' re  open!

8. Take a tour of Coney Island. Join Coney Island Tours founder and professional tour guide Michael Quinn for a guided tour of the sights. Book at coneytours@gmail.com or call 646-337-6755.

9. EAT. Go on. It's Brooklyn. You can pick from a bunchy of very Coney Island places: Gargiulo’s, Grimaldi’s, Nathan’s Famous, Peggy O’Neil’s, Tom’s Coney Island and Totonno’s pizzeria.