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Halloween Parade Goes On A Diet In '10

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Every year participants don their costumes and march in the New York City Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, but this year the sour economy is taking its toll.

Jeanne Fleming is the producer and director of the Parade, and she acknowledges the difference in 2010. "The parade is going to happen, but what we're able to present in the parade, the number of artists that we can hire, the number of puppets that we can make, the number of floats that there'll be, those kinds of things are really affected by the fact that this year the economy is so bad that we're not getting the same level of sponsorship," she said.

Fleming was fortunate to still have some larger sponsors for the Parade but has lost out on many local, smaller sponsors, and was asking for the public's help. "There aren't as many large sponsors, but I think even more than the large sponsors is the smaller sponsors are just not there. The people who come in for smaller amounts, that are more local, that are from the neighborhood, those businesses just don't seem to have the funds this year."

"Other arts organizations have their mailing lists. We don't. We have this amazing conglomeration, collection of creative people who participate in the event but we don't know who they are. So we're looking to them to come to our website and donate $10 and help us out this year."

Despite the drag from record unemployment, Fleming believed the participants would view the economic downturn as an opportunity. "When times are tough, New Yorkers become more creative. So I expect that people, instead of going out and buying a costume for Halloween this year, they'll pull something out of their closet and they'll make up a costume. Often the costumes that people come up with are better in lean years."

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