Atypical & Awesome “Halloween Carnival”
It was one magical night out of the year. Poster boards decorated with magic marker pumpkins hung in store windows across town. Thursday, Oct. 28 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at J.A.M.E.S. ( James A Mulkey Elementary School). Two hours we waited for all year. Our classrooms were converted to game rooms filled with music and prizes. The cake walk held the most coveted prizes with homemade delicacies from pound cakes to iced cupcakes and we all wanted to be on the right number when the music stopped. In another classroom, a tall sheet hid prizes and a teacher who would “hook” a prize on for us as we stood on the other side of the sheet with a fishing pole. It was a guaranteed “catch” and we loved it. There was a dunking booth where you could pay revenge to that coach who made you run laps in gym. There was an old beat up car that the older boys relished getting to hit with a baseball
bat after they paid their quarter. Therapy used to be cheap! Younger kids loved riding atop the fire truck around the school track and squealed when it would blow it’s siren. In the auditorium on stage was the costume contest where plastic masks and old dance costumes stood beside homemade costumes of witches, ghosts, and the occasional scarecrow. This was way before moms ordered $50 get-ups from Amazon. In the lunchroom, there were hamburgers and chili- but who had time to eat? But alas, there must be at least one stop by the 2nd grade bake sale table. Rice Crispy Treats and homemade brownies and fudge wrapped in saran wrap. Absolutely nothing could compare. 50 cents of pure bliss. Well, except for one thing and it was just outside the lunchroom doors close to the water fountain. Three coaches and usually my father had the big grease fired up. The grease I recognized from daddy’s fish fries. But this time- I can still smell them- were corn dogs. If you’ve never been in the 3rd grade and smelled a Halloween Carnival corn dog, I am truly sorry. I am also sorry if you grew up in the “Fall Festival” generation rather than the “Halloween Carnival” generation. We went door to door trick or treating. Our candy was checked for razor blades and Ex-lax and we watched “The Great Pumpkin” on tv once a year It was a wonderful time to be a kid.
