Moonlight Madness “Witching Hour” Brought Crowds Downtown

Witches on the Move

Thursday, October 27^th, was as good as you could expect for an autumn evening with mild temperatures and the sliver of a fall moon in the sky.

A good night for the area goblins and haunts to be out and about and for a gathering of witches for a holiday dance.

The annual Moonlight Madness festival began with a crowd of participants for a downtown stroll, organized for the first time by the High Plains Community Health Center.  Just over 250 people registered for the event with the first 200 receiving a prize.

At 5:30, the stroll began, featuring mostly families and couples in various Halloween regalia, either store-bought or home-grown, it didn’t matter, folks just wanted to be out to have some fun, display their talents for dress-up and gather some goodies from various downtown merchants.

The stroll went from the Lamar Chamber’s Enchanted Forest, along Beech Street where Lamar Police stopped traffic long enough for the crowd to pass westward over Main Street and head south to the Oak Street intersection where they passed in front of the courthouse and made their way back.

The Pocket Park brought folks out to watch All the Right Moves dancers perform, warming up the crowd for about a dozen witches of various sizes, age and costume to perform their dance.  Community State Bank was treating youngsters to a cookie decorating kit and the Southeast Colorado Arts Council was open in the nearby Shore Arts Center, displaying works by local and regional artists.

The Lamar Chamber organized a window painting/store decorating contest with the top three winners of the evening:

Thoughts in Bloom took first place with their window treatment and they will receive the Traveling Trophy as well as advertising from KVAY.

K & L Kustom Shirts received second place and receives a plaque as well as pizza from Little Caesar’s.

The Buzzard’s Roost too third place and receives a plaque.

The Chamber thanks all the judges for their assistance that night as well as all the other contestants.

By Russ Baldwin