Feature Stories
Fright and delight
Bronx UFT throws Halloween fest for 1,300
Oscar Rivera
Kids are mesmerized by the magic show.
Oscar Rivera
PS 6 teacher Sarito Flores-Aponte (second from right) is all dressed up and ready to party with family members, including one dressed as the Mona Lisa.
It isn’t every day that ghouls, witches and the Bride of Frankenstein come together at the UFT, but they did on Sunday, Oct. 27, when UFT members and staff in the Bronx transformed their borough office for the ninth straight year into a Halloween horror show for the enjoyment of kids and parents alike.
More than 1,300 merrymakers — the most ever — braved the scary space, alternating between fright and delight as they took advantage of all the Halloween Family Fright Fest had to offer. The haunted house, which boasted cobwebs, bats and big red devils, was plenty scary, but there were lots of young Power Rangers on hand to tackle the monsters within. Superman and Spider-Man — in miniature version, of course — were on hand, too, as were pint-size clones of singers Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars.
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Oscar Rivera
A child has her face painted.
The kids weren’t the only ones dressed up: Bronx UFT staffer Susan Perez-Gonzales showed off her new Bride of Frankenstein hairdo and staffers Sharon Anderson and Nice Nia masqueraded as Angry Birds.
There were plenty of games and candy on hand for the fainter of heart, as well as a magician, face-painting and a movie area.
“It’s something we do every year because the UFT is here for the children and community and because it’s great fun,” said PS 463 music teacher Nelson Lucena, who played the role of a possessed woman inside the haunted house.
Parent Rebecca Maldonado, who volunteered at the event with her daughter, a sixth-grader at PS/MS 194, echoed Lucena’s sentiment. “Every child who came said they had a lot of fun and that they can’t wait until next year,” Maldonado said. “Parents said it just gets better and better.”
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Oscar Rivera
Staffers from the Bronx UFT are ready to welcome their guests.
UFT Bronx Borough Representative Jose Vargas, one of the ghoulish denizens of the haunted house, said events like the Fright Fest serve to strengthen the union’s ties with the surrounding community.
“The UFT is more than a labor union,” he said. “It’s a family, and that family includes our students and their parents.”
The event was organized in conjunction with the Parkchester branch of the NAACP.