BY: ALFONSO ABREU
With the uncertainty over the park’s future now behind it, Coney Island’s Luna Park concluded its 13th annual Halloween Harvest on November 2. When the festival opened on September 19, Luna Park still faced looming plans to build a casino on the amusement park’s grounds Then, on September 29th, the Coney Island Community Advisory Committee (CAC) voted 4-2 to turn down Thor Equities’ plan to build a casino. What could have been the last Halloween Harvest instead became a celebration of the park’s future.
Voting against the casino were Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, 47th district Council Member Justin Brannan, and CAC member Marissa Solomon. The two votes in favor of the casino came from committee members, Portia Henry and Alex Sommer, who were appointed by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, respectively.
Real estate developer Thor Equities proposed the casino in 2022 and received both support and pushback from locals, community boards, and senators. If approved, most of the park would have been taken down to make space for the casino and a 32-story hotel, a 2,500-seat concert venue, meeting and event space, retail and dining establishments, and a public green space. Iconic rides, including the Cyclone, Thunderbolt, and Wonderwheel , would have been spared.
Local resident Yelena Makhnin opposed the casino plan. “The problem is many people see Coney Island as an amusement area, totally forgetting about the thousands of residents living in the area,” she said.
The main selling point for the casino was that it could transform Coney Island from a summertime attraction to an all-year round one. Jojo Lin is a part-time worker at the family-owned restaurant Ruby’s, which has been a Coney Island boardwalk staple since 1972. “It would affect my workplace by having more customers come in the off seasons,” Lin said. “Instead of receiving fewer hours and having to find another job during the winter, I can continue working there.”
The goal of the festival is to garner more foot traffic in the off-season. During fall and winter the park and surrounding area are devoid of a steady crowd. The festival aims to combat this: the park was dressed up with cobwebs and minimal Halloween-related decorations. Pumpkins were scattered around the park along with child-friendly references to horror themes. Workers dressed up in costumes and positioned themselves around the park, waiting to take photos with people.
This year’s Halloween Harvest featured special Halloween-themed events such as pumpkin decorating, tractor racing, and trick-or-treating. For tractor racing, kids rode tiny tractors on a makeshift hay bale raceway. The winner pf one of the races was grade schooler Liam Heckstall, dressed up as the video game and movie character Sonic. Liam came to the Halloween Harvest with his older brother Asher Heckstall.
“I used to come here for Halloween when I was kid, back in 2011. It was scarier back then for sure. I think it’s nice the park is still doing little events for the children even if it is for business purposes, everyone wins at the end of day,” the older brother said.