Bellport Halloween Parade

You had to be there.

Freddy Kruger and The Transformer were the hits of the day.

But among the scary and superheroes were ghosts, princesses, scarecrows, flying monkeys and all things strange and wonderful flooding Bellport Village’s Main Street, at least 1,000 strong, at Saturday’s annual Bellport Booport Parade.

And they came from all over.

“I had people in my store from Bayport, Manorville, Patchogue, Shirley and other areas,” said Pamela Lerner, of Pamela Lerner Home & Design. “When I asked how they found out, they said, ‘from the newspaper!’ (Ahem, meaning the Long Island Advance.)

But let’s go into who was there and what was there in costume and spirit.

For starters, The Gateway Playhouse brought a roster of characters: Gomez from “The Addams Family,” Piglet from “Winnie the Pooh,” Clicker from “The Last of Us,” a pirate and a clown.

And Freddie. Boy, did he take up space. (“It’s a 20-pound costume,” revealed Gateway’s Katie Cully.)

After Michael Baker, Gateway Playhouse associate artistic director and director of education for the Acting School, shouted the countdown, their costumed group led the parade. The uproarious event was arranged by the Bellport Chamber, Bellport Village and Bellport Fire Department.

Giovanni Nasca, owner of Bellport Apothecary, outdid himself in an elaborate regal costume wearing a crown and face makeup, with Nancy Lee resplendent in yards of sparkling black tulle as a stylish witch. The Flying Monkey, poised at the store’s entrance, really did… fly. Screaming Ghost Vinny Gonzalez took a photo next to this unusual Main Street addition.

“Only Gio gets these crazy things,” remarked a customer.

The Salting luxury-clothing owners, just off the corner of South Country Road on Station Road, even got into the spirit with their costumes. MVP Auto Dan Haynes did his DJ thing with spooky music.

It was Diamond Demetriadis’s first Halloween Parade. People stopped him left and right as he lumbered his way along Main Street as a gigantic pink Transformer. “It’s my dad’s first time,” said his daughter. “He’s so excited. He’s 70 years old!”

The Boogles returned this year as scarecrows, with family members Jacqi Barker with Beth, Sophia and Davey Jones.

And there was a flash mob.

“Stage Door School of Dance worked with school kids doing the flash mob dancing to “Thriller” on Bell Lane, and did a great job,” said Bellport chamber co-president LuAnn Thompson.

Thompson commented that the parade was their most successful. “We announced the scarecrow contest winners and people said, ‘We don’t want to miss the parade next year because of the all the great costumes.’”

Gateway Playhouse executive artistic director Paul Allan commented, “A lot of people came after the parade and had a good time,” he said.

Allan said they were thinking of renaming their Not So Scary kids walkthrough as the theme has evolved.

“It’s really a fun afternoon with fun activities,” he said. “We added the 3-D maze, the pumpkin bounce house, balloon animals.”

Allan said he enjoyed working with the chamber and all those involved. “If LuAnn wants to work together with us next year, we’d like to join them and improve on all the things we did this year.”