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Having
grown up in rural (corn field
rural) Northwest Ohio, and having
lived in many other somewhat
remote places I’ve never experienced
what I’d deem the true trick-or-treating
experience. That is…a barrage
of cute children dressed in
an assortment of disguises streaming
up to your front door rhythmically
repeating the phrase “trick-or-treat”.
Well, that all changed on Saturday
afternoon.
In
cooperation with Charter Communications,
the Discovery Children’s Museum
and Jackson Downtown Development
the 1st Annual “Family Halloween
Extravaganza” was held downtown
on Saturday. This event
included trick-or-treating at
downtown businesses. The
plan worked wonderfully! Kids
of all ages were invited to
follow a map to participating
businesses throughout downtown
from 4:30p-6:00p. I’ve
never seen so many kids dressed
up in one place. There
must have been hundreds of Spidermen
(and women), Princesses, Darth-Vaders,
Witches, Doctors, Tinker bells,
Mr. Incredibles, and other masked
crusaders that streamed by the
gallery for over an hour. Yes,
they streamed. I’ve never
seen anything like it, and what
fun it was!
In
preparation, I decided that
I needed to don a costume adding
to the experience so I dressed
up as the “Art Fairy” complete
with pink boas, wings, and paint-brush
wand. Was especially fun
for me to hear the little girls
(the one’s who idolize anything
pink) say “your beeeaaaauuutttiiffullll”
in a sing-song sort of worshipful
way. It made me smile
since I felt more like the pink
version of big bird.
I
learned a few things from the
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whole
experience. One, hold
a bigger basket of candy so
you don’t have to keep running
inside to refill. Two,
have more candy on hand…since
I ran plum out at 5:37 disappointing
at least 10 children for sure…likely
more. Three, know that
there will be hundreds of children
passing by so don’t give out
handfuls in the beginning. You’re
less likely to run out early
if you can limit it to a couple
of pieces per child (not easy
to do since everyone is so cute…you
just want to load ‘em up). There
were so many kids downtown that
when they reached a business
that was passing out candy they
had to form a line and stream
by one by one. WOW! Now
THAT’s trick-or-treating!!
It was
truly just as much fun for me,
the “Art Fairy,” to pass out
candy as it was for the kids
to walk from business to business
collecting their “sugary bounty.”
The energy was positively
delightful! Amazing what
donning a costume and collecting
candy does for a child and adults
for that matter. Yes,
there were adults who participated…although
mainly as chaperones for the
little ones.
I
look forward to Halloween 2006
downtown. I’ll guess that
this event will catch on as
one of THE premier trick-or-treating
venues in Jackson. Special
thanks to Charter Communication
for spearheading this year’s
Family Halloween Extravaganza!
I hope to see everyone
again next year.
Dickson
is the owner of The Dickson
Gallery of Fine Art at 118 E
Lafayette Street. She may be
contacted by email at rachel@dicksongallery.com
or by phone at 423-9708.
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