Halloween

All Hallows' Eve is a big thing in this quaint little Colorado town.  I think it's just because these people like to party.  It seems like there's always something going on.

This year Halloween landed on a Sunday.  The town, however, celebrated the entire weekend.

Earlier in the week I noticed yellow notices on each of the lamp posts on Main Street and on Commercial Street.  Where these streets intersect is the heart of downtown Trinidad and is the oldest and busiest part of the town.  These yellow notices told of the closure of the streets on Friday in order to celebrate Halloween and have a safe haven for the kids to trick-or-treat downtown.

So on Friday at precisely 2:00 in the afternoon, the two busiest streets in the town were blocked off and the celebration started.  Children and their parents were happily collecting candy and treats from the local merchants. 

But one thing I noticed among all of the smiling faces.  Most of the kids' costumes were home-made.  And these home-made costumes by far outshone the cheesy masks I was used to seeing the kids wear. 

There was a young man wearing a box on his torso and his head.  He wore aluminum ducting on his arms and legs and aluminum foil on his hands and shoes.  He made the perfect little robot.

Another youngster was dressed as a refrigerator.  Her head was in the freezer part of the fridge along with a package of Hot Pockets, Kid Cuisine and a severed hand neatly wrapped in a grocery store meat package.  On the front of the fridge was a child's drawing held by magnets.

Cat Woman made a brief appearance as did Mr. T's youngest protege. 

In the street and every 10 minutes, a group of kids made up like zombies danced to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."  What a huge party!

At 5:00 the bank held the costume contest.  The lobby of the bank was absolutely packed with kids and their parents.  The winners landed on the front page of the local newspaper.

The following night was for the adults.  A costume party benefit was held at one of the local art galleries.  But before that was a "Pre-party party" at a different art gallery.  DJ was here for the weekend and we just decided to stay home and watch a movie, though.  I'm such a fuddy-duddy sometimes!

Halloween night I stayed in.  I did not turn on my front light as our stairs from the street are old and steep.  I didn't want any children to chance going up or down the stairs with their masks on.

All in all, it was a fun weekend.  This is such a lively -- and lovely place.