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Halloween Is a Scarily Huge Holiday in Central New York for Adults, Too

Mark Bialczak

  There was a time, soon after my candy-collecting years were said and done, when  I pretty much forgot about Halloween.

Maybe you can relate.

Was it because I wanted to put my bad-costume-days in the past? But that clown costume you made for me when I was 4 doesn't fit me anymore! The kids in my third-grade class are gonna laugh at me! 

Credit Mark Bialczak
They scared people for a month at the State Fairgrounds

Was it because I surely didn't want to remember that time when I was 11, boldly carrying the pillow case by solo through my neighborhood of Levittown on Long Island, dressed as a bum as my choice when some older kids whomped me with a sock full of chalk, schmushed me with handfuls of shaving cream, and took away that pillow case of candy? I know I walked back to my house veeeeeery slowly after that, fearing more the moment I had to reveal to my mother that perhaps she was right, I was too young to be trick-or-treating after dinner by myself.

 

Credit Mark Bialczak
Still unsure? Costumes galore on Erie Blvd

  Or maybe I just wasn't that into pretending to be somebody or something I wasn't.

Fast forward to my adult years as a resident of Syracuse.

I dare not say those words above, do I?

This just may be Halloween Central.

This week, I floated my theory past my friend Judy Berman, a longtime Central New Yorker before moving to Florida.

"When I moved to North Syracuse in the 50s, Halloween was a much-anticipated holiday. Some kids were mischievous and would soap people's windows or screens. But, me. I was all about the candy. I swear that I went trick or treating two nights in a row ... and that wasn't uncommon. I'd come home with a grocery bag full of candy. I suspect that my parents, fearing huge dental bills, ditched some of the stuff," she answered, poetically. Yes, she's a blogger, too, at earthrider.com.

Credit Mark Bialczak
Don't lose your head in the Spirit of Halloween store

"This was before the scares of razor blades in apples and popcorn balls. That happened when our daughters were growing up in Liverpool. They did go door-to-door. But my husband (my ex and Dave - who I married in 1984) would escort them door to door while I stayed home and doled out the treats to the neighborhood ghosts and goblins. We also inspected any food they got.

"When our girls were teens. Then, they began to join in on tricking the munchkins who came to our door. They'd play this schmaltzy story, 'Have You Seen My Baby?' that the trick-or-treaters would hear as they came to our door. The 'scary' story is about a man who inherits a haunted mansion in the deep South. It is a hoot and can be found online.

Credit Mark Bialczak
So many choices

  "They also liked to pull pranks that night. Keith, who later became our son-in-law, would sit on our 'porch,' dressed in a large overcoat and wearing a mask. Some kids, unsure if he was real or a costumed figure, would walk tentatively around him. When he reached out to touch them, they would either scream or run away. One kid did punch him. We still laugh about those days.

"Great fun for us and them. It seems we got over a 100 trick or treaters when we lived in Liverpool. We get less than half that now that we live in Melbourne, Fla. But some really do get into the spirit of things. One of our neighbors has fake headstones and skeletons on his lawn. He has dry ice creating a foggy effect and creepy music. It's a real kid magnet and we enjoy seeing what he comes up with each year."

Thanks, Judy.

I do believe it's gotten even wilder here since you moved.

We have Fright Nights that stretch weekends before the big day.

I discovered this first hand, got the inside story, you can say, when I worked the features desk for the big daily. My assignment one October, amid a flurry of George Plimpton-like stories that came my way, was to volunteer to become one of the folks who donned scary costumes and jumped out from behind various dark and cramped quarters inside a purposefully dank building in the state fairgrounds. I wore dark clothing and donned a rubber wolf mask. I shouted things at high school kids like "SATs tomorrow!" I saw the look in their eyes. Pure fear (mixed with a confused what did he just yell?). I liked it.

  There are music events at bars and venues where fans are encouraged to wear costumes. One year my dear wife Karen constructed some Bedrock-strong Flintstones cloaks for us, and we proudly wore them out to see the Chris Lizzi Band in Camillus. I thoroughly loved the touch of a  Milk Bone my Wilma stuck in the back of her 'do to accompany her Fred.

There are whole stores that open for a month to sell costumes, not only for kids to wear door-to-door on the big day, but for adults to wear at parties, too. That was obvious to me this weekend as Karen and I walked through Spirit Halloween up on Erie Boulevard, a ghoulish stroll which raised my eyebrow, and, somehow, my spirits. Severed head rack, anyone?

Karen is using her imagination to perfect our costumes to be worn at a party we'll be attending at our friends' house Friday night. We're going as the classic painting American Gothic. At first I bought an outdoor pair of snow pants overalls at the Goodwill store in Western Lights, but Sunday I broke down and bought a new pair of blue denim bib overalls at the tractor place on Manlius Center Road. I got the pitchfork there, too, and I do believe both will come in handy in our garden come spring. (The snow pants will be donated back.)

Pictures are likely to come next week on markbialczak.com.

  Isn't Halloween in Syracuse something?

What will you be this Halloween? What has been your favorite Halloween costume? Why do you think the holiday is so popular in Central New York?
 

Mark Bialczak has lived in Central New York for 30 years. He's well known for writing about music and entertainment. In 2013, he started his own blog, markbialczak.com, to comment about the many and various things that cross his mind daily.