By Shelley Smithssmith@salisburypost.com
Nicole Benton married her sweetheart of 13 years, Dale Burgess, in a spooktacular ceremony at Club 315 Halloween night.
The bride and groom were both dressed as vampires, complete with fangs. Nicole had on a black and red gown, adorned with a rhinestone spider. She wore a red and black veil and carried a bouquet of black roses. Dale wore a suit, top hat, and topped it off with a black cape.
“We appreciate Halloween and horror movies,” Nicole said. “We’ve always wanted a Halloween wedding and have been planning it for the past three years, waiting on Halloween to fall on a Saturday.”
The couple originally wanted to have the ceremony in a graveyard; however, Dale’s band, “Whiskey Hell Child,” ended up playing at Club 315 this Halloween.
“We play a lot of Halloween shows, and it just worked for us,” he said.
Dale and Nicole hosted a haunted trail for several years at the Moose Lodge and used the leftover decorations to decorate the bar.
Nicole’s bridesmaid was her sister, Julie Sweeney, who is also engaged to the minister, Steven Zollars, who was dressed as Satan.
Also among the guests was Dale’s 82-year-old grandfather, Otto Burgess.
“This is something different,” he said. “I believe they’re meant for each other.”
Dale’s aunt, Janet Burgess, also attended, and even dressed up, as a cat.
“I think it’s great fun, and if this is the way they want to do it, we’re here to support them,” she said.
Nicole is originally from Landis and now lives with Dale in his hometown of Kannapolis.
“We love 315,” she said. “Dale’s band plays here all the time, and we just knew it would be a great place for the wedding.”
“We’re going to stick together,” Nicole said. “We really love each other.”
“We have always been big fans of Halloween, and vampires have that romantic thing going on now, so why not,” Dale said. “We have had a great relationship. You don’t find somebody too often you can be around for such a long amount of time.”
Dale and Nicole’s hearse was parked in front of the club; hopefully they made it home before the sun came up, being vampires and all.
Halloween elsewhere
The wedding wasn’t the only strange yet happy happening on Halloween.
Salisbury Parks and Recreation hosted its annual Halloween FunFest in downtown Salisbury. Elaney Hasselmann, marketing and community relations manager for Salisbury Parks and Recreation, said even though the festival has been going on for more than 10 years, the number of downtown trick-or-treaters has grown.
“There are more merchants participating in the downtown trick-or-treating, and every year that gets stronger,” Hasselmann said. “We had a steady flow of people coming in from the FunFest grounds.”
Children and adults were lined up for nearly the length of one block waiting at different downtown merchants. Some businesses even ran out of candy, not expecting such a large crowd.
Hasselmann estimated there were more than 300 or 400 children and adults at the FunFest.
The Salisbury Fire Department had an engine and its smoke house there for fire safety education. Hay rides and trolley rides took costumed children around town, and game tickets were available for 25 cents. There was also a costume contest, with four categories of winners in each age group.