Huntington gets a head start on Halloween this week. The Town of Huntington's second annual Halloween at Heckscher takes over Heckscher Park on Wednesday, October 28, with a costume parade lining up at 3:45 p.m. at the Chapin Rainbow Stage and the party running from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free for the whole family.

The afternoon starts on the move. The parade gathers at the stage, then marches around the park to the main event, where the town has lined up a bounce house, trick-or-treating stations and music. Costumes are the point: the town's announcement invites families to come dressed, three days before the real thing on Saturday.

A new tradition in the town's front yard

This is the second year the town has thrown the party, presented by Supervisor Ed Smyth and Councilman Dr. Dave Bennardo. Heckscher Park, at Main Street and Prime Avenue on the edge of Huntington village, is the town's default gathering place: home of the Chapin Rainbow Stage and its summer concert series, the pond loop, the playground and the Heckscher Museum of Art, whose centennial of its student-bought Arthur Crisp painting Long Island Wave covered this month.

Putting a trick-or-treat trail inside the park gives families a daylight, car-free version of the holiday: a contained loop, no streets to cross, and an ending two hours before dinner. The weekday timing is deliberate, landing after school on the Wednesday before a Saturday Halloween, so it adds a second costume outing rather than competing with the real night.

The practical details

Lineup for the costume parade starts at 3:45 p.m. at the Chapin Rainbow Stage, the event itself runs 4 to 6 p.m., and there is no admission charge and no registration listed; the town says simply to come in costume. The town's news page carries the announcement and any updates if the weather turns.

For families mapping out the week, Wednesday at Heckscher is one of a string of Halloween events across the town's hamlets this week, and the one the town itself is throwing. The parade steps off at 4.

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