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There’s a special kind of crazy required to don a costume when it isn’t Halloween. It’s the sort of crazy of which this world needs more. Whether you’re generally a dramatic personality, have a theatrical inclination, or just enjoy acting silly, it takes that extra bit of gumption to take your act public. So when such folks conspire to meet and party together, there’s a certain magic about it.

This past weekend, I attended PirateCon, a gathering of folks who choose to celebrate “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” by dressing as said swashbucklers. We were organized by an unknown party and proceeded to make our party known throughout much of lower Manhattan. If I had to guess, there were something like two hundred participants; Wonderful, creative people who were determined to have fun in the carefree tradition of legendary buccaneers.

I was lucky enough to arrive in time to watch the group grow from a handful of enthusiastic but skittish members, to a mass of energetic pirate party people. Our crew marched from one location to the next, amusing tourists and New Yorkers alike with our blatant disregard for the mundane. We cheered and sang and chanted along the way. Pirate colors brightened the bustling crowds at The High Line, Washington Square Park, and the South Street Seaport.

Everyone was friendly and kind to each other, though most were meeting for the first time. As an example, someone found my digital camera and returned it to me after seeing my photos on it. We pirates shared drinks, stories, snacks, and laughs together.

My best friend and I had arrived by boat in true pirate fashion, and left the same way. In between those two boat trips, we got to participate in a truly amazing event. Not for its turnout, or the amount of alcohol consumed; It was amazing for what it represents in us, as people.

As silly as it may be for grown people to pretend they are pirates. It’s even sillier for us to forget about such things as dressing up, pretending, and keeping our minds open to imaginative play. The British, who tend to use the English language more elegantly than we Americans, don’t call what we were wearing “costumes.” In England, people attend “fancy dress” parties. This doesn’t imply that the behavior is strange or abnormal, but simply that a bit more care has gone into deciding what will be worn. The extraordinary clothing allows us to more freely behave in a way that may be outside of our everyday persona.

It amused me when bystanders on the street asked, “Why are you dressed that way?” The implication behind that question was that there must be a good explanation for why a large group of people have decided to shun conventional attire and take to the streets as a band of pirates. The natural reply of course, was to ask them why they were dressed as they had been. In my perfect world explanations for such things would never be needed. When in doubt, everyone should just assume that the answer to such questions would be, “Because we can, and it’s fun.”