Halloween has never really been my holiday of choice. I could never see any real significance, except that it filled a gap on the calendar between the 4th of July and Thanksgiving; but the kids love it, and storekeepers love it too as it fills the gaps in their displays before Thanksgiving, which is kind of a quiet, somber holiday best known for "going home."
Halloween, like everything else, has changed, maybe grown up. Tricks of years ago would land you in jail now. These were mostly adult shenanigans.
Like I said, kids love Halloween. Maybe it is because they can dress up and be somebody else for a little while. Today, many of our youngsters have mom and pop succumb to the many tailor-made costumes made to mimic heroes, beauties or heroic looking vampires and witches. What is it that seems to attract kids to the evil and dark characters even though they may be afraid of them?
Sorry, I got sidetracked. I was talking costumes. In my day and age, few people bought costumes. They were more inclined to use their imagination and Mom’s sewing machine to create a character of their own. Often times they took a pair of bib overalls and paired it with a flannel-shirted scarecrow with a corncob pipe. Forget the patches on the pants, old sheets were often used and made good ghosts, if the wearer didn't trip over the excess material and could see through holes.
You wouldn't think so from the time and attention paid to commercial displays, but I think trick or treating, at least by little folks, has diminished somewhat. I do remember one year having 175 little guests come to our front door. When we ran out of the goodies we had purchased, we gave pencils or nickels and anything we could lay our hands on quick. Once I think I caught Daryl giving away the dog (just kidding).
The costume parties at the New Richland school were so much fun. It’s hard to tell who loved them most, those little dressed up masters or their parents and grandparents in the bleachers. It was a big occasion, and I don't know if they still do it or not. It kept the kids off the streets, out of danger and made for a fun evening for everyone.
Speaking of pencils, I am probably the witch who stole Halloween as I started giving pencils instead of candy. I thought the kids probably needed them more than candy. Some kids were glad, saying, "Oh boy, I needed that," while others weren't so happy because some thought I was being a party pooper or cheapskate.
Often times, kids made their rounds of the towns in search of more loot. I think that stopped as older kids decided it wasn't cool to beg for candy, sugar got to be "fat food," and gas prices went higher.
Remember cleaning pumpkins? I hated the feel of the inside. Then of course, it was washed. The seeds we baked, though I thought they tasted more like hard burnt seeds than something good to eat.
It was always a test of ingenuity to see whose pumpkin was the worst. Cutting the hole in the bottom always made the task easier. Some years, we just creatively painted them. It was more creative and fun to light our paper mache pumpkins with electricity.
My friend Clarice lived on a very steep hill in Owatonna. She gave up setting out pumpkins for the holiday because kids made her hill into a bowling alley or a ski jump. They sent the pumpkins down the hill Olympic style.
Ray Christensen worked for my Grandpa Richard years and years ago. While Christensen was serving on the school board, a four-wheeled lumber wagon appeared on top of the school. Grandpa knew just who to contact to take it down. Ray knew too; he put it there!
My dad use to say the favorite thing to do in New Richland for Halloween was to move the outside plumbing (outhouse) forward enough to cause some stinky disaster to happen to anyone who came from behind to push it over. An event one year wasn't so much funny but laughable. An old gentleman, in the excitement of moving his toilet forward, misjudged and fell in himself. Can't say that was a trick or a treat.
When my sister and I reached the "age of destruction," our mean, old mother laid down the law and we were no longer babes with buckets. We were delegated to pass out candy inside instead of receiving outside. The morning after, when authorities came knocking on our door advising us to clean up windows, yards, etc., at the school, we were glad our "mean, old mother" could truthfully say, "Not my kids. They weren't out of the house all night."
My dad thought of lots of things to do at Halloween time. He wired music into the vent spaces in the overhang of our house. We just happened to have this really spooky Halloween record with ghoulish glee and horrifying laughter. As a result, we didn't have very many tricksters that year. The little kids cried and others stayed out on the road. He honestly didn't intend it to be intimidating. He thought they'd be amused.
Luella and Norris Thompson, who lived in Ellendale, bless their hearts, were champions of having Halloween shenanigans that made you want to be a kid again. They had ghostly, gorgeous treats, bubbling apple cider, bloody (tomato) cocktails, chunks of "tombstone" and the like in a bright Halloween setting.
They were nice people to always remember, but Halloween stands out as a favorite time to remember them.
Whatever became of bobbing for apples in a wash tub of water? No longer wash tubs? There's still apples. Or how about catching a popcorn ball string from a string in the ceiling. Maybe we didn't pull taffy so often (that was a Christmas thing), but there were some exciting scavenger hunts!
Perhaps the ultimate trick of all was when Eddie Anderson’s (and Rose Mangskau’s and Harriet Harnes') parents were married on Halloween. They thought it was the best trick they could do and the many happy years they were wed proved it. But who would get married on Halloween? My sister, Kaye, and Mike Cady! At least you won't forget your anniversary that way.
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• Thursday, October 27th: Jason Born, David Anderson, Bruce Yanke, James Bremer Jr., Mitchell & Amy Edwards, Donly & Joanne Cromwell.
• Friday, October 28th: David Thompson, Jan Sorenson, Lisa Morin, Rick Horan, Randy Horan, Todd Brotizman, Rich Weckwerth, Sue Westrum, Tanner Jorge Wilson, Lyle & Darlyne Paulson, Jane & Jeff Allen, Amanda & Paul Rovnak.
• Saturday, October 29th: Ann Anderson, Scott Klocek, Mark Motl, Bob Haried, Kayli Rose Johnson, Bailey Ann Davis, Warren & Mary Torgerson, Craig & Jennifer Torgerson.
• Sunday, October 30th: Lilly Jane Wacek, Gordon Goette, Angie Broskoff Klemmensen, Allen & Barb Dobberstein.
• Monday, October 31st: Happy Halloween! Kyra Barbara Kotsmith, Brooke Hanson Berg, Heather Wayne, Emily Smith, Bill Klemmensen, Carrie Thompson, Roseann Kasper, Jerry Neitzel, Lorraine Lent, Kaye & Mike Cady, Vonda & Andrew Komba.
• Tuesday, November 1st: Dakota Wangsness, Garrett Wangsness, Troy Hagen, Mike Reistad, Jamie & Sergio Hernandez.
• Wednesday, November 2nd: Gary Dummer, Karen Osmundson, Tracy Farr Simon, Janis Klinger, Troy Sommers, Dan Nord, Sylvia Janet Baker.
Hoping that your special day puts a song in your heart to last the whole year long!
