Mingling with drag queens, Michael Jackson impersonators and wearing pounds of glitter will be the norm on Saturday, when more than 400,000 people are expected to flock to Santa Monica Boulevard for the annual West Hollywood Halloween Costume Carnaval.
The brazenly flamboyant festival is the largest Halloween celebration in the country and the second largest event in Los Angeles, eclipsed only by the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena.
“It is a great thing that the city is not, for a second, contracting, but expanding the event, which shows the progressive spirit of West Hollywood,” said Liam Lynch, lead coordinator.
The event will be celebrating its 22nd anniversary with a vaudeville theme, playing off a genuine carnival atmosphere featuring three main stages showcasing music, an aerialist troupe, drag and burlesque acts, contortionists, illusionists, magicians and fire dancers. Performers expected to rap the audience include self-proclaimed “Queen of the Internet,” Jeffree Star, burlesque artist Lux LaCroix and 18-piece vaudeville ensemble, Vaud and the Villains. DJ pods will also be set up along the route for those who fancy random spurts of dancing whilst frolicking down the parade.
The event will commence with the new Carnaval March at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Drive, and will be led by the West Hollywood City Council and a bevy of animated performers, some of whom will be eating fire and stilt-walking down the boulevard.
Jessie Fan, a first-year environmental sciences student, will be attending the event for the first time.
“I’m a freshman, so I’m trying to do new things here. I’m expecting a big crowd of people and crazy decorations,” Fan said.
The decorations won’t be the only craziness on display as the costumes take center stage at the legendary costume contest, where getups have vacillated from perennial favorites such as Cher and Madonna to truly intergalactic ensembles that make Lady Gaga’s sartorial choices look tame by comparison. Varying degrees of nakedness and innuendo-fueled costumes are also prevalent at the Costume Carnaval, so the night is specifically an adults-only celebration.
“One year, there was a group of five men in drag called the Twister sisters,” said Andy Keown, director of communications for West Hollywood, citing the event’s most extreme costumes. “They wore dresses made out of Twister mats, like from the board game.”
Those who attend are expected to dress up in full regalia. Those who aren’t dressed up are usually the odd ones out in this congregation of drag queens, police trollops and celebrity impersonators. This year’s hit costumes will be a sign of the times with impersonators in the likeness of Michael Jackson, disgraced financier Bernie Madoff and sparkly vampires in the vein of the “Twilight” films.
“Expect vampires. Tons of them,” said Keown, who also expects there will be many dressing up as Kim from the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” pointing out that “(Kim) already has the wig.”
While impersonators inundate the streets, each year, a real-life celebrity is crowned the Queen of the Carnaval. Past celebrities have included comediennes Margaret Cho, Chelsea Handler and Kathy Griffin. This year, the Queen of the Carnaval will be entertainer Ricki Lake, whose sauciness exhibited in her talk show and VH1’s “Charm School” will surely cater to the sassy masses.
The attraction of Halloween in West Hollywood is also more of a draw to people because of its economic sensibility.
“It is a completely free event, unless you buy a hot dog,” Lynch said. “There is no greater value than five hours of free entertainment and shows.”
The Carnaval is an undeniably audacious event from beginning to end, which may startle those modest at heart.
“It’s a bold event,” Keown said. “But there is a whole range of lifestyles represented here. It’s a nice experience.”
Lynch said he owes the success of the Carnaval to the people who attend the event and the people of West Hollywood for truly embracing all the festivities.
“The highlights will be the diverse range of music, performances and talent,” Lynch said. “But the biggest highlight of all will be the diversity of the people attending the event.”