Surviving the NYC Halloween Parade.....barely

What could be scarier than the impending doom of climate change?

The heads of the Survivaball corporation came out to rep their new line of Survivaballs to the NYC parade-watching public. Not that they could afford one.
Yes Men apprentices Rupert Waltham and Whitney Black led an army of 12 Survivaballs up 6th avenue, dressed as Yes Men spokemen Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano and carrying the glistening Survivaball banner. Hopefully the real Yes Men won't sue us for impersonating them.

The brave Survivaballs battled through torrential downpours, evil Halloween paraders, and over a mile and a half of treacherous terrain marching up the Avenue of the Americas. And what is America without people trying to rob you? Like hungry lions after a sickly zebra, parade-goers separated one of the balls from the group while grabbing at the suit, evidently seizing their opportunity to try and steal one. Who could blame the lowly minions of the society for wanting one of the best products to date for fashionable protection against climate catastrophe (which they normally couldn't afford)?

After wading through the masses of people and inches of water, we had to give props to one of our newest volunteers, Lauren Heath for being the last ball standing. Even after everyone else had de-balled, she was still deflating and inflating in order to weave through the street gates and fend off the masses. Only on Halloween could a Survivaball get a picture with the cops giving a thumbs up.

But what is a Yes Men experience without some kind of protest and battle with authority? It wasn't until after the parade that the real fight started, as 12 survivavolunteers and "Mike" and "Andy" found themselves at Parson's School of Design, aka "the office", only to be locked out and stranded in the rain. We fell into a conundrum as we were anxious to party, but our keys were inconveniently upstairs. Rioting was off the table as Halloween is no fun in jail, so we decided to stage a sit-in. After an hour of spam-calling the head of security emergency number and harrassing the guards while falling victim to pneumonia, the New School finally bent to our will and allowed us access.

Signing off, wet and soaked,

Rupert "Special Sauce" Waltham and Whitney "Hey where's your bike?" Black

Check out the video on YouTube.

Check out more photos on Survivanet!