Haunted Happenings:
Highlights For Halloween In Queens

By Stephen McGuire

Whether you’re into vampires and vodka while taking a boat cruise around the Big Apple or have a taste for tricks and treats of the neighborhood kind, there’s no shortage of things to do in Queens this Halloween.

The following is a quick Tribune look at a sampling of things to do in the city’s spookiest borough during the season of All Hallows Eve.

Take part in the city’s second largest line-up of ghouls and goblins at the 13th Annual Jackson Heights Halloween Parade on Oct. 31.

The parade begins at 5 p.m. at 89th Street and will continue along 37th Avenue to 75th Street.

The marshals of this year’s parade will include leaders from local houses of worship and feature appearances from several of the area’s elected officials, said Darryl Hoss, director of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group which organizes the parade.

Hoss said the Beautification Group is preparing for the parade by gathering goodies like candy, crayons and gift certificates to be distributed to the march’s younger participants.

The goodie bags will be prepared at P.S. 69 in Jackson Heights on Oct. 30.

To volunteer or learn more about the parade, call Hoss at (917) 450-3346.

Queensites searching for that perfect Halloween costume might want to give Rubie’s Costume Shop a try.

This Richmond Hill home is surrounded by ghosties and ghoulies. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

Rubie’s is the largest manufacturer and distributor of Halloween costumes in the world and specializes in the design and production of masks, boxed costume sets, make-up, wigs, hats, prosthetics, theatrical costumes and accessories.

Rubie’s worldwide headquarters is based in Richmond Hill and they maintain a local shop in Jamaica, at other locations throughout the United States and in places as far away as Germany and Japan.

This year’s most popular costumes are “Sponge Bob, Superman, Batman and Barbie,” said Terry Goldkranz, Secretary to the CEO and President of Rubie’s.

Kathy Rowe’s front yard in Astoria is filled with scary things that go “bump in the night.” Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen

“Anything that’s not too gory (is popular),” said Goldkranz who explained that sales at Rubie’s shops are about the same as last year.

“The mood” has remained about the same as last year, when the events of Sept. 11 put a damper on Halloween spirits, she said.

However, “Police and firemen and the Statue of Liberty,” remain popular costume choices, Gordkranz added.

Rubie’s headquarters is located at 120-08 Jamaica Ave, in Richmond Hill and can be reached by calling 846-1008.

Rubie’s Queens costume shop location is in Jamaica at 110 Van Wyck Expwy. and can be reached by calling 739-4602.

Queensites interested in the world of vampires don’t have to look far — Elmhurst is home to the one-of-a-kind Vampire Research Center, according to the website http://www.angelfire.com/ok/martianfromcydonia/research.html .

According to several internet sources, the research center is run by Roxanne Kaplan — the widow of the late Stephen Kaplan who founded the Center in 1972  — and is devoted to the study of vampires and conducting a vampire census.

According to 1997 estimates, there at least 1,000 vampires worldwide.

Stephen Kaplan, who authored several books on the subject, believed that vampires are not the “undead” as commonly thought of.

He once claimed that he discovered vampires are like normal living people – with the exception that they feel an urgent need to drink blood each day.

However, borough residents shouldn’t break out the garlic necklaces just yet.

According to vampire statistics from the 1990s, there are only two known vampires living in Queens.

The Vampire Research Center can be contacted by writing to P.O. Box 252, Elmhurst, NY 11373.

The World’s Fair Marina in Flushing will be the starting point for a Halloween voyage some participants may have a hard time trying to remember.

On Oct. 26, DJ Sandman whose alter-ego is Sandy Levine of Flushing, will be hosting a five -hour Halloween Booze Cruise to the Statue of Liberty.

Plenty of dancing, food, and a costume contest with a $150 first prize will be part of the festivities for the evening sail.

Levine said he expects over 100 people to attend the event, with revelers coming from several other states to be part of the East River boat ride aboard the “Half Moon.”

Tickets are $65 in advance and $75 the night of the cruise.

For more information, call Good To Go Disc Jockeys at 380-TUNE or log on to www.good2godjsent.com.

They’ll be harvesting a hauntingly fun time at the Queens County Farm Museum where a historic 18th century farmhouse will be transformed into a haunted house on Saturday, Oct. 26, Sunday, Oct. 27 and Thursday, Oct. 31.

Explaining that an 18th Century farmhouse can be an ideal setting for the spooky, Queens County Farm Museum Executive Director Amy Fischetti said this year’s theme at the haunted house will be “Frankenstein’s Wedding” with some scary surprises for adults and children.

A Halloween Fall festival is scheduled for Oct. 27 complete with pumpkins, hayrides and live Country and Western music.

The Queens County Farm Museum is located at 73-50 Little Neck Parkway in Little Neck.

The Haunted House will be open from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Thursday.

Admission is $3.

Sunday’s Fall festival begins at 1 p.m.

For more information, call 347-FARM.

Some believe when legendary escape artist Harry Houdini died of appendicitis on Oct. 31, 1926, he left behind a set of “code” words that he would use to contact friends on a future Halloween night if he found a way to communicate from beyond his grave at Machpelah Cemetery in Ridgewood.

After all, who better to make an escape from the afterlife than the greatest escape artist of all time?

Fans might have a tough time being around to see any form of “communication” from Houdini since the cemetery where he is buried will be closed on Halloween, according to staff there.

In lieu of other worldly contact, you can always send flowers, according to Connecticut resident Bob King who is soliciting donations for flowers on his website at http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Stage/3487/flowersforhoudini.html.

“I will use all of the proceeds to purchase Flowers For Houdini,” King wrote on his site. “The flowers will be placed on his gravesite in time for Halloween, the anniversary of his death. I live about an hour-and-a-half from Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, NY, and I will personally deliver the flowers.”

The annual Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Halloween Festival will take place from Oct. 25-27.

Now in its 20th season, this year’s festival will be held at the park’s Passerelle Building, and feature “Scary Fairy Tales”. 

Among the trick-or-treat bag of events will be a scavenger hunt, hayride, face painting, costume contests, a haunted house and giveaways.

“This is the biggest Halloween event in Queens,” said Andrea Kominski, a Parks Department representative.

“Last year, children’s costumes ranged from pumpkins to masks inspired by the movie ‘Scream.’  This time around, we’re going to have an arts and crafts section, so kids can make their own costumes,” Kominski said. 

On October 25th, Brooklyn-based hip-hop group Little Egypt will perform.

The festival is free and open to the public, and sponsored by the Parks Department.

Festival times are 4 p.m.-9 p.m. on Oct. 25, 3 p.m.-9p.m. on Oct. 26 and 12 p.m.-5 p.m. on Oct. 27.

For more information, call 520-5918 or 699-4236.

— Jonathan Kivell contributed to this story

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