Special Edition!

Thu, 10/31/2024 - 07:58 pm

Ed O’Brien

(Photo by Ed O'Brien)

Halloween in Lincolnville Center, 2024 (Photo by Ed O'Brien)

(Photo by Ed O'Brien)

Halloween in Lincolnville Center, 2024 (Photo by Ed O'Brien)

(Photo by Ed O'Brien)

As the sun was setting over Lincolnville, I arrived at the Lincolnville Central School parking lot. As it has been for the last several years, Lincolnville is the place to be on Halloween, rapidly becoming one of my favorites of the yearly events that this little town puts on.

The Lincolnville PTO organized Trunk or Treat in the school parking lot, the residents of the Center hosted traditional door to door Trick or Treating, while the firehouse had a full blown Halloween Shindig, with actual non-candy food, games, and Rosey Gerry playing traditional tunes on his guitar, interspersed with his terrifying howls and ghostly cackles.

And keeping traffic slow and safe along Main Street were representatives from the State Police and Sheriff’s office. Though with the quality of some of the LEO costumes walking around, it could get tricky to tell the real officers from the imposters. The actual trooper and deputy were the tallest ones.

So many kids, from the littlest carried by parents, to the gangly teenagers, who were channeling their younger selves in a fantastic variety of costumes. And of course, the parents trotting alongside, many, like myself and my wife, in costumes of their own.

My editor, Lynda, asked me to get some comments from the little ghouls and ghosts themselves. But have you ever tried to interview a kid on Halloween. I was lucky to get them to stand still for two seconds to snap a picture, as the prospect of more candy was just feet away.

But I did get some statements from the little Lincolnvillans on what they love about Halloween: “Candy!” “Candy!” “Getting Candy!”

There were several comments on this vein. However, also “Dressing up!” And “Being with my friends!”

Dressing up, being with your friends, and getting candy. At a time when there is so much division, when the minds of so many of us adults are on the state of the world, it was healing, at least to my mind, to see so much joy.

Nice work, Lincolnville. Keep being awesome.