Does "costumes" mean "people who wore festive costumes?"

Context:

“I wanted everyone to put down their cell phones and cameras and just look at the thing with their own eyes,” said Meghan Gordon, who ran out of her office just in time. “It gave me chills.”
There were costumes, there were cheers and of course there were tears.
At the at the National Air and Space Museum and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly — Discovery’s new home — 8-year-old Alex Corica wandered the parking lot wearing an orange shuttle flight suit and a helmet too large to fit his head. He was ready not just to witness, but to fly.

MOre:
NASA’s Discovery shuttle wows Washington in 45-minute flyover

You could infer 'people wearing costumes', but the word could just refer to the costumes themselves.

5jj said:

You could infer 'people wearing costumes', but the word could just refer to the costumes themselves.

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Well. The costumes is unlikely referring to the costumes in the clothing shops there... it is irrelavent... the description seems tilted to me unless people wearing them to cheer the spectacle of the Discovery riding on a 747 Boeing. Simply saying there were costumes seems quite weird to me.
Could you explain a bit more?

NewHopeR said:

Well. The costumes is unlikely referring to the costumes in the clothing shops there... it is irrelavent... the description seems tilted to me unless people wearing them to cheer the spectacle of the Discovery riding on a 747 Boeing. Simply saying there were costumes seems quite weird to me.
Could you explain a bit more?

Click to expand...

"There were costumes", as 5jj said, means simply that. If you understand it as "people wearing costumes" (which is a possible meaning), that's fine but it doesn't say that.

NewHopeR said:

Well. The costumes is unlikely referring to the costumes in the clothing shops there... it is irrelavent... the description seems tilted to me unless people wearing them to cheer the spectacle of the Discovery riding on a 747 Boeing. Simply saying there were costumes seems quite weird to me.
Could you explain a bit more?

Click to expand...

Did you read the bit about the 8 year old boy wearing an orange flight suit and a space helmet?

He's not really an astronaut. He's a little boy wearing a costume.