Tim Gunn Judges a Literary Costume Contest — See Exclusive Photos from the New York Public Library's Halloween Parade

The annual event, held this year on Oct. 25, encourages guests to dress up in literary-themed costumes

• Book lovers and library patrons attended the Rooftop Happy Hour: Halloween Edition with Tim Gunn and costume parade in New York City on Oct. 25

• The event encourages guests to dress up in literary-themed costumes. Gunn and a panel of librarians from the New York Public Library pick a best costume winner

• This year’s event saw costumes inspired by books like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

New Yorkers showed off their love for literature at a spooky costume parade this month.

On Oct. 25, the hosted their annual Halloween costume parade and Halloween-themed rooftop happy hour with Tim Gunn at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library Event Center in New York City. The event invites guests to dress up in literary-themed costumes, inspired by their favorite books, poems, authors and fictional characters.

“It’s an absolute blast,” , former host of Project Runway, tells PEOPLE. Gunn has judged the event’s costume contest since 2017. Along with a team of librarians from the New York Public Library, Gunn picks the best get-ups before narrowing down from a list to pick an ultimate winner.

“It’s enormous fun,” Gunn says. “It’s always a surprise to see what people do and how creative they are. And the people who attend this event couldn’t be lovelier. They’re just warm, open people with great stories.”

“It’s a great escape, and we need an escape these days,” Gunn adds.

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The event has been a longtime favorite tradition, says the New York Public Library in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

“The full restoration of funding for public libraries has allowed The New York Public library to resume hiring and vital programming, as well as seven-day service at locations that previously offered it,” the statement reads. “Our with Tim Gunn is one of many beloved events that members of the public and our patrons look forward to year-round.”

This year’s event brought a wide selection of creative costumes, with some of the judges’ top choices inspired by books like Maya Angelou’s and Ray Bradbury’s .

“My feeling was that this book, even though it is from a few decades ago, has become — unfortunately — a little bit more relevant in recent times,” said the contestant inspired by Bradbury, who wore a fiery headpiece and a red dress adorned with banned books like Toni Morrison’s and George Orwell’s .

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Other costumes were inspired by children’s book characters, like Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins’ , and the monsters from Maurice Sendak’s — the latter group costume ended up winning first prize.

And though not everyone who attended the event participated in the parade, lots of attendees still showed up in costumes that held special meaning. For friends Kendall Latimer and Amanda Steyer, who dressed up as greasers from S.E. Hinton’s classic novel , it was a way to show off their love for a story that connected them.

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“I read [The Outsiders] in middle school and it’s one of my favorite books ever. So I made her read it,” Steyer tells PEOPLE. “And then we did a book club together this summer.”

“We’d meet up, we’d read the book, we’d go on walks to talk about it, we’d go out to eat, really kind of immersed ourselves in the book.”

“It really made this book one of my favorite books,” Latimer adds. “I’m a pretty harsh critic when it comes to what makes this book special, and I think doing it with a friend and reading it within the time span of a week … was a lot of fun.”

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As for those thinking about joining the celebration next year, Gunn has some words of advice for how to make your costume shine.

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“Just own what you’re doing, make certain it’s literature-referenced, appropriate and have a good time,” Gunn says. “In terms of don’ts, don’t be lackluster, really go all out. It makes a difference.”

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