Halloween has always been such a wonderful time of year. With summer having passed, but the winter still not upon us, the perfect autumnal nights brought with it the crisp air and ever so light breezes. It was the perfectly timed breezes that brought forth the lovely reds, yellows, and golds drifting spookily down upon us while we would trick-or-treat under the old elm trees. Walking down the white sidewalks, which cut through the manicured lawns, we were always amazed by the amount of decorations on each house we passed. The houses, designed primarily by Mr. Wright, had orange lights delicately hanging from the over sized eaves. All the porches sported jack-o-lanterns with the real candles burning within. Each family had handmade witches, ghosts, and cobwebs strategically placed on their house and throughout their yard. All yards and sidewalks were well lit so that no little child would feel afraid in any way.
The neighbors decorated extensively for Halloween, however, each family had its own unique style. The Stewart family hosted pumpkin carving lessons weeks before the big night. Mrs. Stewart would sit each of us down with our own pumpkin, patterns, and carving tools with her name on them from Michael's craft store explaining in detail what we should be striving for. She was interested, too, in people expressing their true personality, as long as it conformed to her set of rules. This was fine with most of us, because we felt Mrs. Steward was always correct. She taught us how to carve our pumpkins in such a way that they would not rot before Halloween
"That would not be a good things," she would say.
Mrs. Stewart's home was always a symbol of perfection. Unnoticed, she did have a full staff working behind the scenes making it appear as if she did everything by herself.
Concerning costumes, each family would handmade their own, surrounding a central theme suggested by Mr. Gunn. Since, of course, all the mothers (and even most of the fathers) knew how to sew, this little competition lead by Mr. Gunn was always a lot of fun. I do remember the year my parents went as Mr. and Mrs. Dracula. Mom's naturally flowing black hair, formed the frame for the ghostly white theater paint she had applied to her face. Mrs. Klum, while visibly pregnant, applied Mom's make-up details. My parents wore matching costumes; white shirts, black trouser/skirt, and black satin capes. Dad had a red cummerbund, while Mom wore a red corset. I was a little vampire. I had my hair pulled back in a tight bun, and wore a rhinestone choker to "hide" my puncture wounds. I wore a long white dress with puffy capped sleeves, an a fake corset sewed directly into the dress. The dress was trimmed in black. My red accents came via my lips and cheekbones, thanks to Mrs. Klum. My brother, wanting to deviate from our vampire look, went with a pirate costume. He was still in the black, white, and red color motif. Unfortunately, his being a pirate, not a vampire, did disqualify us from the family costume contest. My brother was somehow able to keep his costume clean while he ran around with the other boys over the haystacks and through the pumpkin patch.
Each year, the block party committee would secure a permit for a Halloween Fest on our street. After the Michael Jackson video "Thriller" came out in December of 1983, Mrs. Abdul taught each of us the dance. Oh what fun we would have bouncing around the streets in our werewolf, mummy, and zombie costumes. That was always a real treat. After the traditional dance which signified the start of our party, we would proceed to speed pumpkin carving, candy apple making sessions, and apple bobbing contests to name a few of the organized activities. For those children who loved apple bobby, and honestly who doesn't, the barrel seemed endless We could get wet while bobbing, but couldn't be seen afterwards as wet at all. The secret, our parents always had a spare, dry costume ready. All of the food judging competitions would be conducted by Mr. Brown, even the homemade apple cider tasting. This was non-alcoholic, of course, because public displays of intoxication were just not tolerated. Speaking of drinks and food, we did have a wonderful array of sweets and savory dishes. Many of the families, lead by Mrs. Ray, would whip up a variety of meals, each taking no more than 30 minutes.
The evening would wrap up no later than 9 PM. The streets needed to be cleaned, food stored properly and children well rested for the next day.
Oh, Halloween, what wonderful memories ... or was it all just marketing I remember?
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