If you’ve taken a gander at our rundown of Halloween parties and decided that sweating into your Babadook costume at a bar or warehouse rave is literally your worst nightmare, consider one of these action-packed outdoor throwdowns instead.
Black Label’s Bike Kill
Oct. 31, from 12pm to 7pm at Central Avenue and Chauncey Street, Bushwick; afterparty starts at 9pm at Chicken Hut, 169 Spencer St., Bed-Stuy.Â
If you saw our photos of last year’s bike kill (yes, that is a CitiBike tallbike you see), you know this annual demolition derby put on by the proud scuzzballs of Black Label Bike Club can get hairier than a Sexy Grumpy Cat costume. This year, they’re gathering at Central Avenue and Chauncey Street– a suitably derilect intersection right next to a cemetery– for a block party that starts at noon and goes till sundown. Shit. Will. Be. Smashed. The afterparty will be at the Chicken Hut at 169 Spencer Street, where there’ll be sets from Unstoppable Death Machines and Howardian as well as DJ sets by Dirtyfinger and Haruka Salt. Ian Vanek of Japanther and Howardian, which will also be playing, rightly notes that “The ‪#‎chickenhut‬ is world famous for it’s truly epic after parties and Bike Kill is the biggest of them all.”
North Brooklyn Boat Club’s Haunted Canoe Tours
Oct. 31, 7:30pm to 11:30pm at Broadway Stages Boatyard, 437 McGuinness Blvd., at Ash Street next to the Pulaski Bridge; party is free and open to all, canoe rides are $35.
The waters of Newtown Creek are haunted by many a ghost– I mean, is there anything more hair-raising than the words “black mayonnaise“? As if the waterway weren’t forbidding enough by day, the folks at the North Brooklyn Boat Club are once again taking intrepid travelers on creepy canoe rides down the River Styx. Snag up a ticket before they disappear and it’ll be good for one drink at the party at the Broadway Stages Boatyard, where there’ll be a bonfire and “fried troll-skin treats.” Yes, environmentalists are notorious for their sense of humor, and the Boat Club promises this’ll be “the most superfun(d) Halloween experience in NYC.”
Theater for the New City’s Halloween Ball
Oct. 31, 4pm onward at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue; tickets for the ball are $20, street fair is free.
Even if you’re not attending TNC’s lavish costume ball, which’ll cost ya, you’ll want to cruise by its free street fair, which starts at 4pm on East 10th Street, between First and Second Avenues. This year, there’ll be bluegrass and jazz bands, stilt dancers, fire eaters, jugglers and, um, “storyweavers.” On the tail end of things, there’ll be a torchlit performance of The Red and Black Masque, a “Medieval ritual show.” Color us intrigued.