Halloween Firsts

Our little town has a wonderful Halloween tradition. Thousands of area children come to the town's historic district and walk up and down the streets to trick-or-treat at creatively decorated houses.

The Colonel and I love walking around the streets each Halloween to see the little ones all dressed up. It is also fun to see the adults dressed up. The Colonel's parents join us in these walks.

Darling-Sister-In-Law has been retired for over six months now and this was her first Halloween walk downtown. She had a friend from Texas visiting and she joined us too.

This year I dressed as "Rosie the Riveter".

Darling-Sister-In-Law was Frankenstein's Monster. Her Texas friend transformed into a construction worker.

My-Favorite-Father-In-Law was a....cannibal?

The Colonel had meetings all day and did not have the time to work up a costume and My-Favorite-Mother-In-Law went as herself.

We were armed with bags of candy to hand to the little ones as we walked up and down the streets.

Our little town has another tradition on Halloween...free ice cream for the kids is handed out by the Masonic Lodge members in Gilchrist Park.

When Gov. Albert Gilchrist, who was a past master of the lodge, died in May 1926, he bequeathed $5,000 to be used to make sure all the local children had ice cream on Halloween.

According to history, Gov. Gilchrist loved ice cream and he shared that love with the town's children. He invited them to the local pharmacy and soda fountain for free ice cream on Halloween. Before he died, he set up an account to purchase the ice cream into perpetuity.

Apparently the $5,000 account is still there and the lodge only uses the interest from the CD to buy the ice cream each year.

The first year The Colonel and I walked downtown (7 years ago) and saw the line for the free ice cream, I got into the line too and was told that the ice cream was only for kids (we were unaware of the tradition and its rules at the time). So this year, when Darling-Sister-In-Law asked if she was able to get free ice cream, I told her no. She went up to the table to see if she could get ice cream anyway.

The gentleman handed her an ice cream sandwich. I saw other adults with ice cream sandwiches and decided to give it a try again this year. I scored my first Halloween ice cream! Thanks Gov. Gilchrist. I have a great fondness for ice cream too and I am still a kid at heart.