By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Hometown Halloween in Piedmont this year featured some old favorites and some new faces with a Spooky Barbie theme Saturday, Oct. 28 on Monroe Avenue.
There was a booth where people could pose for pictures behind a large frame painted pink with a sign that said, “Hometown Barbie Halloween.”
Wearing his Captain America costume was Tommy Joyce who posed with wife Jessica, dressed as Bluey and Isabella was dressed as Alex from Minecraft. And daughter Emmy Joyce, dressed as Cinderella, was their photographer, holding up a cellphone to get the shot of her family behind the pink frame for pictures. Luckily, they were indoors at the Piedmont Service Center near the pumpkin patch. The rain fell lightly outside as temperatures dropped in a north wind. A fire pit helped warm things up outside. The food trucks showed up as did other games and attractions.
There was a trunk or treat area for candy handouts. Rhett Nunes and Lisa Nunes passed out candy from the back of a pickup that was turned into a covered wagon for the party.
At one vehicle trunk was a sign that said, “don’t feed the animals!” Jennifer and Nicholas represented The Bridge Church of Piedmont and handed out candy there.
The pumpkin patch sales benefit the Piedmont Service Center. Savannah Wingate, 5 and Madison Wingate braved the rain to walk around the pumpkin patch.
“It’s so cute here. It is just the weather, but it is so cute though,” Wingate said, as they took pictures outside.
One Halloween tradition is a game that has entertained children for decades, said Piedmont resident Donnie Robinson. It was in the early 1980s that Robinson painted a box and made it look like an elephant with a trunk that you put a peanut in. The elephant, operated by someone in the box, then returns a piece of candy for the peanut.
“We moved out here (to Piedmont) in ‘84 and we’ve been bringing this out to all kinds of church functions ever since for the little kids. They love being able to feed it peanuts and then a piece of candy comes back out,” Robinson said. The elephant is named “Peanut,” he said.
The Hometown Halloween party this year was organized by local volunteers and businesses.
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