Toms River Gearing Up For 78th Halloween Parade

TOMS RIVER, NJ — As float planners prepare their designs and bands rehearse their marching music, the Toms River Volunteer Fire Company 1 is making its plans as well.

This year, the plans for the 78th Halloween parade, scheduled for Halloween night, Monday, Oct. 31, include more intensive security efforts to protect parade participants and spectators parade officials said. The raindate is Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Carl Weingroff, adviser of parade operations, said he and parade chairman Matthew Duell have been talking with township and county officials to expand security for the parade, which draws 6,000 participants and thousands more spectators. It is the second-largest Halloween parade in the world, behind only the Greenwich Village parade in New York, parade organizers said.

With the bombing in Seaside Park along the route of the Semper Five 5K, a charity race to aid members of the Marine Corps on Sept. 17, Weingroff said parade officials and law enforcement are taking a much closer look at all aspects of security in and around the parade area.

"We will have extra uniformed and plain-clothed officers on the road as well as K-9 units throughout the entire route," Weingroff said. He and Duell have been working with the Toms River Police Department, the Toms River Office of Emergency Management, Toms River Fire District Chief John Gonzalez and Toms River EMS, as well as seeking help from the New Jersey State Police, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office and the Ocean County Corrections Department. Weingroff said.

The parade has been moved back to Halloween permanently after a two-year experiment with holding it on the last Saturday of October resulted in a significant decline in participation and spectators. The parade was canceled in 2012 due to Superstorm Sandy.

If you are planning to participate in the parade, information packets can be picked up at the firehouse on Robbins Street on Tuesdays after 7 p.m. They also are available online; click here to read them.

There is no advance registration for the parade; all registration is held the day of the parade beginning at 8 a.m. and running until 5 p.m. at the firehouse. Registration and participation is free but donations to the fire department are welcomed.

Weingroff said the most important part of security efforts is citizen awareness, and he reminds all who plan to come to the parade and take part to be vigilant. A report of a suspicious backpack caused a delay in the start of the Seaside Park race and resulted in preventing people from being nearby when the pipe bomb exploded in a garbage can at D Street and Ocean Avenue, the FBI has said.

"If anyone sees something suspicious to please let one of the police officers, firefighters or EMS personnel in uniform know and they will notify the proper authorities," Weingroff said.

For more information, check the fire department's Halloween parade Facebook page and the parade website.

2015 Toms River Halloween parade, by Karen Wall/Patch staff