Skeletons, Sarah Palin star in annual Little Five Points Halloween Parade

[Above: Skeletons created by the Krewe of Grateful Gluttons march in the parade.]

Growing up, I always thought it was strange that the Little Five Points Halloween Parade didn’t happen at night. And now I wonder why it takes place on an early Saturday (this year, Oct. 18) and not on the actual holiday. Either way, the early date and daylight time-slot are really the least strange things about this cult event.

The cornerstone of a weekend of Halloween-themed events, which also included costume contests and kids' arts and crafts in Davis Plaza, the parade kicked off at 4 p.m. on Saturday as an enormous (and mostly non-costumed) crowd looked on. Hot dogs, gyros and beers were sold on every corner, music blasted out from various storefronts and drag queens held court on roof tops, shooting toys and T-shirts from those launcher guns usually only seen at baseball games.

The actual parade was tamer than years past and was mostly a mash-up of trucks, cars and marchers promoting local theaters, stores, bands and events, including Creepers Haunted House, Plaza Theater, Professor Morte's Silver Scream Spookshow and Sweetwater Brewery. Throw in a few big brands (Monster Energy Drink, Budweiser), a sprinkling of high school marching bands and a few zombies, and you’ve got half an hour of unbridled, kid-friendly mayhem.

My favorite part of the parade is always the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, a collective of arty friends who have participated since the parade’s inception in 2001. This year, the group was given money from the Fulton County Arts Council in order to get the community involved in producing more creative content for the parade. The Krewe then held a series of free parade art workshops and walked with their new participants (and lots of skeletons) toward the end of the line. Those skeletons are totally worthy of placement in the Center for Puppetry Arts, but something tells me they won’t give them up.