Tompkins Square Dog Halloween Parade 2012

tompkins square halloween ms piggy

Costumed dogs promenaded through Tompkins Square Park once again this past Saturday in the 22nd Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. This year’s hot costume themes were the presidential race—including a vengeful Seamus Romney and an unemployed Big Bird—as well as space exploration and bondage bestseller 50 Shades of Gray. A woeful corgi firetruck, spunky Ms. Pacman, and dramatically posturing bat-dog were all making the rounds, as was a frightening yet cuddly Bane from The Dark Knight—which amounted to more cognitive dissonance than I’d bargained for in a puppy parade.

tompkins square halloween dog parade ms pacman

Throughout the usual mayhem of photographers I was on the lookout for Gracie the rescue pug, who dominated the 2010 parade as Scarlett O’Hara. She was hard to miss. Dolled up as Evita in a diaphanous gown, jeweled necklace, and blonde wig, she perched on a podium before three cardboard microphones while her owner stood by holding a miniature boombox that wailed “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.”

tompkins square halloween dog parade evita

It was no surprise that Gracie took first place again this year. Surveying the crowd zen-like indifference, pink tongue in perma-flop, she handles the leading lady role with grande dame aplomb. As her owner mentioned, Gracie doesn’t like to move much, so it’s pretty easy to put a costume on her.

tompkins square halloween dog parade scarlett o'hara

Gracie as Scarlett O’Hara in 2010

tompkins square halloween dog parade marie antoinette

Gracie as Marie Antoinette in 2008

So start with a sedentary pug, add a tragic heroine, and apply some costume design wizardry and you have a formidable Halloween Dog Parade team. Take note, people.

tompkins square halloween dog parade bat dog

tompkins square halloween dog parade big bird

Big Bird

tompkins square halloween dog parade bane

Bane

tompkins square halloween dog parade fifty shades of grey

50 Shades of Grey

tompkins square halloween dog parade firetruck

tompkins square halloween dog parade leaf pile

tompkins square halloween dog parade repugzel

Repugzel

tompkins square halloween dog parade revenge of seamus

Revenge of Seamus

tompkins square halloween dog parade space pup

tompkins square halloween dog parade turkey