Halloween hits downtown, park with flair
Published 12:10 am Sunday, October 30, 2022
The bouncy house, decorated like a pirate ship, was a new addition this year and its popularity was evident from the line that formed to get in.
Residents were invited to decorate luminaries in advance of Saturday's event to be displayed at the park during the Halloween festival.
Max, 14, a saavy, top-hatted skeleton, takes aim at the net in a soccer goal challenge during the Halloween event at BTG.
Twelve-year-old Wyatt takes aim at the target in an archery competition at Bell Tower Green Saturday at the Halloween party.
Uriah, who is almost 4 and who is more than ready for some Karate classes, had a blast tossiing horseshoes at the Halloween celebration Saturday afternoon.
Jayce, 7, takes a swing at the axe toss at Saturday's Halloween festival at Bell Tower Green.
Julie McIntyre, back left, and her daughter, Lilli, 11, join friends Patty Guidry and her children, twins Angelica and Violet, 13, and daughter Mikayla, 9.
A dinosaur makes his way toward the bounce house to try his luck getting in. Photo by Elisabeth Strillacci
SALISBURY — While ghosts and goblins will likely hit the neighborhood streets Monday night, on the official date of Halloween, they were out in abundance Saturday at the city’s Halloween FunFest.
The annual event at Bell Tower Green offered young and young-at-heart a chance to don their favorite costume or emulate a favorite character while tackling games, a bouncy house, a bit of dancing, and even some axe throwing — if you count velcro as wood. And don they did. Costumes ran the gamut from Cinderella to WonderWoman, from Spiderman to skeletons, from cowboys to birdmen and everything in between.
In addition to the games of skill, which ran from Connect 4 to horseshoe toss and soccer to axe throwing and archery, guests were invited to do some trick-or-treating throughout downtown where stores stayed open a tad later to hand out goodies and ooh and ahh over the best attire.
Patty Guidry and Julie McIntyre have been coming to the event “even back when the church was still here,” said Guidry. They brought four of their children to the event, and Guidry said she though this year’s might be “the best one yet. They have a number of new activities and I’m excited to ride the trolly.”
“And you could not ask for better weather,” said McIntyre. “Not too hot and absolutely not too cold.”
Guidry’s twin girls, Angelica and Violet, dressed in completely different costumes, and Angelica, though she enjoyed the night, said she hopes next year “they’ll do a movie night for Halloween again.” McIntyre said she seconded the idea, “because we all got together and brought a picnic and blankets and the kids met their friends and it was a lovely night.”
Staff from the city’s parks and recreation set up and operated a number of the activities, along with a few other organizations who offered entertainment. And at each station was a bowl of candy for each participant to partake of, dropping a handful of pieces in each open bag.
At 7 p.m. anyone still on hand was invited to participate in a costume contest.
“I wonder if he’s got a shot,” one man said of his dog, dressed in a pirate suite, said in passing. The rules did not preclude a four-legged winner.
