Lewes Trick or Treat: Terrified Children!

Let's face it. 400 year old Lewes is beautiful by day and spooky at night. Flower-potted tiny yards jumble up against graveyards. The entire town revs up for the event. The Fire House members in full gear "costume" hand out candy!

Last year I drove thru Lewes on Trick or Treat evening before meeting up with friends for dinner at Bethany Blues. Big mistake. The town was out on the street making driving terrifying. Yet the drive thru yielded a sight from the Victorian age. 2010 I determined, I'd walk the town.

I swooped into my secret parking space which it seems is not so secret. My goal was to take in King's Highway with its parade of Victorian homes fronted with comfy porches which keep company with at least two graveyards.

The comfy porches were transformed into stages of mini-Haunts of Horror complete with moving mechanical ghouls, light, and music to match.

One porch had to be approached thru a dark yard and a human "ghoul" waved in the kids. Scared me it did!

At another home not only did you have to get past the scary porch but you had to enter the living-room where a family of adult drinking ghouls offered the treats.

Nearly all the children were scared to bits and so was I.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween @ Lewes and Dewey

Halloween weekend is when I close up the cottage for Winter.  Close Up.  Retreat into Winter, the cold, The Mountain, My Work. 

Underground I go for 6 months, down into Hades, Pluto's Domain.  ( Not to worry, G-D Willing and with Demeter's Blessing: In May, like Persephone, The Goddess of the Beach Returns To Dewey Beach with Spring on her heels! )

How fitting that Halloween marks my last days at the Beach In The Sun...... still building my sand castle and not wanting to come in from play and take that 6 months Winter's Nap.

After Hawk Watch and  closing up chores I did a Halloween Trick or Treat drive thru of the Historic section of Lewes.  Next year I will walk it!  

So-spooky Lewes which gets this vibe honestly, considering it's maritime and early-America settler history... condensed into the tiny town.... with the Cape May-Lewes Ferry's paved-over-parking lot of the Unknown Sailors Grave, neighborhood graveyards and Victorian homes everywhere.... is genuinely spooky for Trick or Treaters.  The homes with  the vast porches were filled with decorations and festive hauntings.  

Then off I went to Bethany Blues to meet up friends for dinner.  Loads of fun watching the staff in costume.  Our favorite: The Cereal/Serial Killer..... cereal box with a knife dripping blood!

Then it was time to run home... put on our costumes and attend Dewey's 8-Bar Halloween Crawl.

My crawl started and ended at The Starboard. Jimmi Smooth and The Hit Time played our favorite party tunes.  Jimmi looks even younger than seen at the September Town Party!  This guy is aging in reverse along with his energy level to match!

Costume trends: this year there was not one "French Maid" and such, but a decided "Law Enforcement" theme: policemen, fire chiefs, helmets and badges galore!  

Dewey Beach has a One Million Dollar annual budget for Law Enforcement!  Do the costumes speak to this????

Back at the cottage my costume was packed away for another year.

Next year, I'll dress as Persephone! Or Pluto???!  I'm working on my costume now.

Spooky Beach Blessings,

Fantasy Trail @ Cape Henlopen State Park

As a child and as an adult my favorite bedtime ritual is a good read... always better with pictures!  As an adult I read books of mythology and as a child I inhaled Fairy Tale books with illustrations.  I remember the heart-breaking moment my Mom announced to me that there were no pictures in the evening's bedtime read! Devastating! 

As a 3rd year returning volunteer at Cape Henlopen State Park's Fantasy Trail, I  am the Illustration and The Story!  This annual event is now one of the highlight's of my Beach Season.

The Fantasy Trail is a 1/3rd mile trail, candlelit by hundreds of carved pumpkins and populated by "my" childhood fairy tale friends: Alice in Wonderland and The Mad Hatter, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and tales from my son's era: Willy Wonka, Aladdin and Jasmine!

My character is truly the "Real Me" from my days entertaining my two year old, now in exaggerated format as "Disco-Era-Psycho-Stay-At-Home-Mom! 

I wear a wig of pouffy pink and black, glamour makeup, Halloween jewelry worn every which way, a proper starched and printed half apron, and a jogging suit!  This year I added in a magic strobe light "microphone" and a Tyrannosaurus Rex finger puppet worn on my thumb.  

My role is "Crazy Greeter".  I work the crowd while preparing them for the trail fun ahead.  Over my two nights gig I greeted, announced, and danced for ~ 2000 people!

You can not imagine my delight as I drove up to the trail head at the Nature Center and I was waved into the "VIP" Parking Lot by the Fort Miles World War II Re-enactor Officer!   Instantly I was in form!  

Every encounter is an opportunity for silliness.

Old men and even a Ferret got kisses on the cheek by my Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Little children got to announce their names louder and louder over my magic strobe.

I soothed scared kids promising them a "silly trail" and promised a "spooky trail" to the older kids who wished for such.

My purest delight is "running the trail" just minutes before it starts or before it ends...... as I run thru I am again a wee-one "reading the pictures".....  the costumed characters, backdrops and music.......... I become, I am the Story and The Fairy Tale.  

Beach Blessings,