30 Minutes: Duration of KKK Costume Ride in Indiana Town

Huntington officials formally condemned a Halloween parade featuring Ku Klux Klan attire after residents identified a couple riding horses through residential streets for approximately 30 minutes.

The incident occurred on Saturday, November 1, while children and families were trick-or-treating in the city. Photographs and videos of the riders circulated rapidly on social media over the weekend, prompting immediate responses from municipal and state leaders.

Huntington Mayor Richard Strick released a statement early in the week to address the situation. The Huntington County Commissioners followed with a joint statement on Sunday, publicly criticizing the behavior. State Senator Nick McKinley, who represents Senate District 17 covering Huntington, Grant, and Wabash counties, also issued a formal response.

Rob Miller, the president of the Huntington County Commissioners, spoke to 21Alive News on Sunday. He argued that the community should not treat the event as a harmless prank. "I think it’s something that we can’t disregard as just a Halloween prank," Miller said. "I don’t know how anybody could come up with this and not know that this was such a dark chapter in this nation’s history, and to reenact, in costume fashion, this type of racism and violence that plagued this nation for years. I think it is unconscionable that somebody would think that that was OK."

The female rider, who declined an on-camera interview, communicated with 21Alive News via Facebook messages on Monday, November 3. She had previously posted in a local community group that the group consisted of one ghost from the KKK, two ghost horses, and one regular ghost. She apologized to parents whose children took photos with them but maintained that the costumes were acceptable for the holiday.

"I think there’s not much wrong with it being a costume on Halloween. Lots of Halloween costumes are controversial," she wrote to the news outlet. "And yes I do fully understand that some people were offended it just doesn’t give them the right to attack people when we didn’t attack anybody." She added that the pair are not Klan members and did not physically harm anyone.

The rider stated that the backlash has escalated into targeted threats against her family and animals. She cited doxing, defamation, and death threats, including claims that people threatened to steal their horses. She described the reaction as being blown out of proportion, suggesting the group was not trying to send a specific message.

Roderick Parker, founder of Big Hearts Community Projects, proposed a different approach. Parker, whose daughter grew up in Huntington, described the display as shocking and hurtful. "It represents racism. It represents hatred of humanity," Parker said. He argued that reacting solely with anger creates a cycle of hostility rather than solving underlying issues.

Parker invited the woman and her boyfriend to sit down with him and other local leaders for an open discussion. "I would love for you guys to come sit down at a table with myself and a couple of the leaders in the community, so that we can have an open discussion, so that we can try to do some educating, so that we could try to bridge some gaps," Parker said.

When asked on Monday if she and her boyfriend would consider the meeting, the woman expressed willingness. "It would have to be something me and him discuss but a possibility," she said.