Hundreds of Halloween revelers filled the downtown square Saturday night for the annual Scare on the Square.
In addition to children in princess and action hero costumes, many teens and adults went all-out for the Halloween event.
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Lakethia Christopher paints seven year old D?airra Dodd?s face at the Students of Color booth during Scare on the Square.
|
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Thomas Roderick, age 4, attempts to throw a dry corn cob through a hanging tire while Nora Morrison, left, and Kristi Hutchinson, right, cheer him on at Millard?s Crossing Saturday evening.
|
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Sherry Walters weighs out candy corn, priced at a nickel for an ounce, for a customer in a shop at Millard?s Crossing during the Ghosts of Millard?s Crossing event.
|
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Chance Pierce, age 3, and Ariena Lord, age 5, take turns going down an inflatable slide during the Jubilee Christian Center?s Hallelujah Festival at the Nacogdoches County Expo Center.
|
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Carolyn Spears, curator for Stone Fort Museum, helps Hunter Evans, age 10, make a silhouette for his family to see at the Scare on the Square in downtown Nacogdoches.
|
Staff photo by Andrew Rogers |
Jay Foster, age 9, uses a fishing pole with a clothespin on the end to catch candy at the Fredonia Hill Church booth during Scare on the Square, Saturday night.
|
Karen Powell, who was with her granddaughter, son and daughter-in-law, wore a striking Maleficent costume that included the Disney villain's long horns and long cape.
"It was my idea to wear this," she said, with a laugh, as she noted her four-year-old granddaughter, Krystyne, had decided at the last minute and come as Sleeping Beauty. "I thought she was going to be Jasmine. We didn't plan this."
Krystyne, while eating a corn dog and taking in the numerous colorful costumes that walked by, said she had gotten lots of treats at the event, particularly her favorite candy, bubble gum.
In addition to local merchants and organizations, a handful of individuals had booths set up along the brick streets. Among them was Tiffany Johnson, who had dressed as a spoon, with her husband as the fork.
Johnson's booth was strewn with gobs of cobs webs and caution tape and had a smoke machine and spooky music to entice trick-or-treaters. She said this was her first year to come to the annual event, and the idea came to her when she recalled all the Halloween items she had purchased in the past and wondered how she could put them to good use this year.
"I thought, why not Scare on the Square?" she said.
In addition to trick-or-treating, local residents had their pictures taken in an old-time silhouette, visited with paranormal investigators and learned about popular candy from the 1880s at the Y'Barbo Stone Fort Confectionery. On the opposite side of the brick streets, the SFA Steel Drum Band performed on one corner, near the Rhythm Rocker Cloggers, who showcased their clogging talent to popular Halloween hits like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on the Plaza Principal stage.
Downtown businesses dressed up their shop windows and children enjoyed hay rides and visited a petting zoo that included ponies, lambs and dogs disguised as leopards.
Across town, Halloween fun continued with the Ghosts of Millard's Crossing, where children watched in amazement — their eyes glued more to hands holding the candy bowls than to the voices — as volunteers dressed as some of Nacogdoches' noteworthy residents from years past told stories about the historic structures in the village.
The Nacogdoches County Expo Center was also in full swing with the Jaycees and Sigma Tau Gamma Haunted House providing thrills and chills to those who dared to enter, and the Jubilee Christian Center's Hallelujah Festival, where volunteers handed out buckets of candy and children ran around bounce houses and rode around on hay rides.
