Recordpub.com - A family-friendly Halloween in Kent

RC Kent Halloween Birdie Toma (age 1) photo by Robert J. Lucas

RC Kent Halloween Charles & Kate Hanmore with their family - Andrya (age 7 - upfront) - Alexis (age 7 and twin - left) and older sister Vivien (age 8). photo by Robert J. Lucas

By Dave O’Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Saturday’s version of Kent’s unofficial Halloween celebration remained family-friendly on a chilly night.

Dressed appropriately for the weather, the Abominable Snowman posed for photos with Minnie Mouse. The Progressive insurance girl stood on a stoop on Franklin Avenue as the Orbit gum spokeswoman passed by. And a blind referee tapped the curbs with his cane, helped along by a woman in a purple wig.

With the temperature on the Huntington Bank sign hovering around 50 degrees, pedestrians huddled against buildings and watched the passing parade of partiers.

Groups of police in riot gear huddled together on several street corners, watching the crowds for trouble. As of 9:30 p.m., there did not appear to be any serious incidents.

Even the normally boisterous College Avenue, University Drive and Sherman Street in the Crain-Main neighborhood, the home base of many a party in the past, seemed subdued. Most student residents stayed on their porches early in the night, hooting and catcalling at the occasional pedestrians.

Local businesses and police weren’t playing around like the revelers, however, and tried to remind partiers to be wary of rules and regulations. That point was driven home by a sign on the East Main Street Burger King: “Park and go/you’ll be towed.”

In the doorway of the Firefly hookah lounge on South Water Street were Matt Bisler and Clay Magilavy of Kent, both freshmen at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent. They were “homeless” for Halloween, but it was paying off: After three hours in costume, they had collected almost $7 in change from passerby.

“My mom was like ‘Go as homeless for Halloween,” Matt said, showing off the signs he and Clay made with the phrases “Need money for guitar lessons so I can play guitar for money” and “Need money for more signs.”

Clay said other people who passed by gave them candy and some wrapped cookies from a bakery down the street. The “hobos” also were accepting “Michael Jackson tickets,” “‘The Shining’ on DVD” and “first-born,” according to one of their signs.

Clay also said he’d seen several people from school pass by without realizing who he was for several moments.

“I had one guy going for a couple minutes” thinking he was actually homeless, he said.

Matt’s brother, Ben, dressed as the masked, hockey stick-wielding urban vigilante Casey Jones from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” joined the two on the sidewalk, who were in makeshift cardboard box homes.

The night was “really interesting, but fun,” Matt said.

Mike Thrasher, of Kent, stood outside a West Main Street establishment. His purple-and-gold costume touted him as a bishop in the Church of the SubGenius, complete with a photo of the smiling, pipe-smoking “world’s greatest salesman” J.R. “Bob” Dobbs on the vestments.

The entire “Peanuts” gang flitted around North Water Street: Snoopy, on his doghouse, being chased by The Red Baron. Woodstock and The Great Pumpkin hovered nearby as Rock, Paper and Scissors walked past.