Halloween on a school night? To Michael Jackson — or really to Ethan King, 9 — it was no big deal.

“I’m feeling good and I think my teacher is going to be a little bit loose with us tomorrow because everyone is going to have a sugar rush,” King said as he stood among the crowd filling Elm Street in Padanaram for the annual Halloween Costume Parade Thursday, Oct. 31. 

However, Harper Schmitt, 8, who was dressed as a dragon, said she was excited to get a jump start on her homework.

“My homework is basically candy,” she said with a big smile, adding how she has to bring in one candy wrapper to school for Friday.

While waiting for the parade to begin, which was sponsored by the Padanaram Community Coalition and Padanaram Business Association, attendees filled up the New Bedford Yacht Club parking lot. 

Brynn Silva, 9, who was dressed as a squirrel, said she was excited for the parade because “it’s my mom’s birthday and I know afterward I’m going to get cake.”

Maddie Pankowski, 9, who was dressed as Cruella de Vil, said “I’m feeling really excited about this cause I love doing this. It’s like my favorite thing to do. Halloween is just my favorite season.”

Vera Bancroft said she loves giving and receiving candy as well as seeing all of the different costumes people have on.

There was certainly a large variety in Padanaram Thursday night — from princesses, to superheroes, to traffic lights, animals and favorite musicians.

A lot of the costumes were also coordinated among families, one parade attendee, 9-year-old Zana pointed out how she saw a couple, with the mom dressed as a mustard and the dad dressed as a hot dog.

But that wasn’t the only thing Zana saw. 

She and her friends, including Amelie Philip, 8, who was dressed as a deer, Colby Philip, 9, who was Taylor Swift, Ella, 9, who was a witch, and Carina Verissimo, who was a cat, shared their eventful night, which involved reunited a little dragon back to his family.

Zana said he dropped his candy and as they were helping him pick it up, he accidentally spilled Ella’s candy, too.

But soon enough he was reunited with his family.

Regarding the parade overall, the girls said they had a lot of fun.

Carina said, “It was a great idea to have a parade because I already saw like five of my school friends.”

Kathy Pallatroni, owner of the Village Sweet Shoppe in Padanaram, said last year she participated in the parade, but this year, it seems much bigger.

“It seemed like a lot more kids,” she said as she passed out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. 

She added she loves to do it for the kids.

 Molly Calzone, who was at the parade for the third time with her daughter Piper, 3, said, “It’s so cute. I love that the parade is literally just everyone walking down and it’s like the start of Halloween.”

[Editor’s Note: Captions for this story will be updated over the next several days. See yourself or someone you know? Let us know and we’ll update it: editor@dartmouthweek.net.]