Community Service

Spirits Rise at Halloween Party

By Terrol Zomphier

December 1979

Historical December 1979 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

The gym at St. Roch’s took on a different aura on October 31. There were puppets, goblins, witches, ghosts and an assortment of masked monsters. Art Santen, Master of Ceremonies, has hosted Halloween for the last several Years. This year he was joined by Carol Zomphiet and Cleo Alexander. Through their combined efforts, several hundred community children and their parents were in attendance. The party began at 6 p.m. with all the children assigned a badge for their age category. The badges were to identify the age groups for the “Judging of Costumes” held immediately after the puppet show. The puppet show was staged by Creation Production which featured characters similar to those appearing on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. The performance was enjoyed by both parents and children. After the curtain went down the contest began. The children paraded in their costumes and the judges had the difficult task of selecting twelve winners. Our judges were members of the community: Skip Coburn, Steve Brammeier, Vivienne Dobbs, Christina Storey, Lu Green. Pat McLafferty, Ida Hill, Arlene Sandler and Mark Glasby. Our twelve winners were: Kate Onuska, Wendy Gotway, Daniel Cohen, Sandy Guzman, Joshua Patton, Marty Cross, Jarrett Green, Colin McPherron, Molly McPherron, Laurie Gotway, Louisa Hitchcock and Kelli Ann Busch. It is hard to imagine that a program that lasted for one hour took two months of preparation by Art, Cleo, and Carol, not to mention the hours spent by parents and children designing the unique costumes. Everyone from the judges to the puppeteers had a wonderful time, and if sheer numbers are a criterion, the party was a huge success.