Walk this way: Colfax Halloween Walk equally thrilling for children and adults

An almost tangible moon, glowing like a giant malt ball, hung low in the sky Oct. 23. The full, autumnal Hunter’s moon heralded the winter to come, and its soft luminescence smouldered over Colfax, setting the scene for the city’s annual Halloween Walk.

For the 15th consecutive year, sections of Howard and Walnut streets swarmed with 800 creatures and critters, witches and princesses collecting treats from local businesses and organizations. This year, the event’s sponsorship passed from the City of Colfax to Colfax Main Street.

“It makes sense it falls under Main Street with all the promotions we do,” Cindy Van Dusseldorp, president of Colfax Main Street, said.

Van Dusseldorp indicated transitioning the event from the city’s responsibility to a Main Street project went smoothly. Colfax’s former billing clerk, Brenda Hysell, who had previously helped organize the walk, passed her notes and letters asking businesses and organizations to participate to Van Dusseldorp.

Main Street also continued the tradition of friendly competition: Trick or treaters plunked pennies into opaque jars sitting at each business or organization’s booth to vote for best costume and theme.

Colfaxers take the competition seriously. Thirty minutes before the little goblins and ghouls filled their bags and buckets with candy, participating businesses closed their doors early and began setting up their displays.

Helium raised a forest of red and yellow balloons in front of Professional Hair Designers. Between the ribbon limbs sat a black backdrop polka dotted with text emojis. Stylists and a few volunteers wore emoji masks atop all-black outfits.

“It’s kind of simple, and emojis are something everybody uses,” stylist Teresa Faidley said.

The team handed out emoji temporary tattoos along with their candy.

Across the street, David Green and the Colfax branch of Marshall Arts America served a homemade sugary concoction to visitors. Instructors, dressed in their karate uniforms, topped batches of ginger ale, pineapple juice and Hawaiian punch with spheres of rainbow sherbert. As they laddled the brew into solo cups, they dropped a candy eyeball into each serving.

“We wanted to try something a little different,” Green said.

On the corner, a little girl trick-or-treating with her dad stopped by Benzer Pharmacy’s farmyard-themed booth to add a candy bar to her loot. She wore rainbow striped stockings, faerie wings and a headband that held back blonde ringlets which could have been cut from the board of Candy Land. In her hands, she brandished her favorite piece of the getup, a jumbo lollipop of psychedelic color as big as her face. The best part of dressing as a lollipop princess will be eating the super sweet scepter after the Halloween season ends.

Costumes, however, weren’t just for children.

Veterinarian Rebecca Smith and one of Midland Prairie Veterinary Services vet techs, Sara Cornelius, found costumes for their pups. Smith’s blue heeler mix, Bob, became the trusty steed of a cowboy doll, and a striped shirt transformed Cornelius’ docile pit bull mix, Evie, into a hardened criminal. Cowboy Bob and jailbird Evie sniffed hello to Labrador retrievers dressed as caterpillars and white frizzy dogs in pumpkin costumes.

Beside Midland Prairie Veterinary services, the Colfax Post office set up a table and joined the festivities for the first time in Halloween Walk history.

“We have a new postmaster, Denise Jennings,” clerk Kayla Hopper said. “She’s the one who kind of got it going.”

“We all jumped on board,” added rural mail carrier Andrea Wilcox. “We were like, ‘Yes! Of course we’ll dress up as adults.”

The three women – Jennings, Hopper and Wilcox – dressed in voluminous skirts as the witchy trio from the Halloween classic “Hocus Pocus.”

Colfax Dental Services’ under-the-sea themed table won the first-place prize. A backdrop strewn with hand-decorated cutouts of shells and marine creatures framed the table. Dr. Brad Hagarty, dressed in aquamarine scrubs, plopped a fish hat atop his head and Dr. Maranda Case transformed into a mermaid with pastel blue hair and a shimmering emerald sequined tail. Seaweed, millennial-pink jellyfish and a Rudolph’s-nose-red crab joined them. The team passed out toothbrushes so that Halloween sugar comas won’t become squishy cavities by Christmastime.

Poppy’s Family Restaurant’s Flintstones theme received second place; Dickerson Mechanical’s Dr. Seuss table received third.

Contact Phoebe Marie Brannock at 641-792-3121 ext. 6547 or pmbrannock@newtondailynews.com