Despite the doom and gloom of Wall Street, thousands of people have hit the streets of New York City to celebrate Hallowe'en.

The 35th annual parade descended on the city's west village, which was alive with elaborate floats and music on Friday night.

Thousands lined Sixth Avenue to watch revellers walk, dance, run, and float down the procession.

It started in 1973 as a neighbourhood event and now features as many as 60,000 costumed participants.

The streets were packed with goblins, ghosts and ghouls, witches and warlocks, vampires and other creatures - and even some hardly scary half-naked women.

The parade was a huge success, but organisers said the financial crisis spooked at least seven major parade sponsors to pull out this year.

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