The Costumed Crowd Again Floods Main Street

By Shannon Hicks

It was another photo perfect Halloween for Newtown, with a crisp sunny day leading into a chilly but clear night… just the kind of weather that kids of all ages want to head out for a few hours for some good-spirited fun. Once again it was the Main Street scene that attracted the largest number of Trick or Treaters, up to 3,000 by one count, from the youngest babes-in-arms to teenagers and even a fair number of adults turning out in their costumes of choice.

By far it was the classic Halloween costume of a witch that seemed to be most prevalent on Wednesday, although there were also a fair share of SpongeBob SquarePants, Thomas the Tank Engine, pirates, gypsies, devils and she-devils, brides, princesses, and skeletons.

Families working together this year was also a popular theme. One family was dressed as The Incredibles (from a recent Pixar movie) and another was dressed as a clan of vampires. Two friends were seen dressed as mustard and ketchup containers, and one a father and son went dressed as Frankenstein and Frank Jr.

There also seemed to be a percentage of Boston Red Sox fans of all ages still celebrating their team’s recent World Series win. One young girl was wearing a cheerleading costume with the team’s name and logo stitched across the front, while many folks proudly wore Red Sox T-shirts, jerseys and ballcaps as their costumes.

Ginny Lathrop was seated in her dining room with large bowls of candy for her visitors, the Hillbrow house once again boasted a its huge spider and web (complete with the occasional screams from visitors when the fluorescent spider rolled down the web toward those gathered on the lawn of the Mulligan family home), and staffers were handing out candy at C.H. Booth Library.

Thankeful House, further down Main Street, had a themed display of pumpkins, hay bales, ghosts, black cats, and plenty of characters for the evening. Many other homeowners had also taken time to decorate their property with dozens of carved pumpkins, spider webs, and even one house whose front had been turned into a pirate ship straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Some of the homeowners on Main Street decided to forego handing out candy, instead leaving self-serve candy bins on their doorstep and hoping for the best. With parents keeping an eye of their kids, most Trick or Treaters seemed to be adhering to the honor system and taking only one or two pieces of candy. The police department also had a large bin of candy set out for Trick or Treaters at 3 Main Street.

Police officers were also out on Main Street, with officers stationed near the PD, at the flagpole and at Currituck to slow motor vehicle traffic and help pedestrians safely cross the busy roadway all night.

At The Dana-Holcombe House, Jane Vouros was dressed as a witch and handing out raffle tickets for a free night’s stay at the bed and breakfast she and husband John own. Thursday morning Mr Vouros reported that the couple had handed out 1,600 tickets, which is up 200 from the number of tickets they handed out last year.

Across the street Lina and Gordon Williams, who live at 32 Main Street, also saw at least 1,600 costumed visitors at their front door.

“I bought candy for about 1,050 kids, and then had more candy given to us from friends, Trinity Church and a variety of sources, which covered for another 500 people,” Mrs Williams said Thursday morning. “We finally ran out of candy at 8:30, and that was after everything started early.”

Mrs Gordon said their first Trick or Treater arrived at 4:45, and she and her husband saw a stream of visitors for the next four-plus hours.

“We had someone at the door all night,” she said. “It was a steady crowd all night. There really wasn’t a lull.”

Further up Main Street, at the home of Saba and Joe Fiala, a record number of visitors were received.

“We were one of the last ones open, at 9 pm, and we had about 3,000 people show up at that point,” Ms Fiala said Thursday morning. Her husband had kept careful count all evening, sitting on the steps of the couple’s 49 Main Street house. “That’s well up from the 2,300 we had last year.”

Others weren’t so tenacious. By 7 pm a handful of the homes on Main Street had run out of candy and front porch lights were turned off, signaling their end of Halloween.

Thanks to the efforts of a pair of Girl Scout troops this year, many Main Street homeowners were given a helping hand. The members of Hawley Girl Scout Troops 891 and 599 hosted a candy drive during recent weeks and on Wednesday as Miriam Rhyins was welcoming visitors to her home, she reported that the Scouts — including her daughters Nina and Sophia — had collected more than 320 bags of candy this year. That stock was then distributed among 40 homes, she said.