News

Scenes from a South End Halloween

by Michele D.  Maniscalco
Thursday Nov 7, 2019

Upton Street.
Upton Street.  

Once again, South Enders did not need to travel to Salem or even Beacon Hill for Halloween fun, as colorful and imaginative Halloween decorations, events and costumes filled every corner of the neighborhood from about mid-October through October 31. The festivities began on Saturday, October 26 with the Haunted Graveyard Tour, a visit to the normally-locked South End Burying Ground and a talk on the history of the graveyard as well as other spooky tales from South End history with South End News reporter, Michele D. Maniscalco.

A pleasant, sunny day greeted the event, which drew about 50 attendees. On October 30, Project Place welcomed about 60 children from the neighborhood and client families to a late afternoon Halloween party that offered a head start on trick or treating at Project Place offices, followed by a craft hour, refreshments and a Haunted House. with crafts and refreshments.

Blackstone Community Center set the mood for Halloween with its October 30 movie night, a screening of the animated Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tale, "Coco." Youth worker Sunseray Burris handed out free popcorn and sold small treat bags outside the third-floor auditorium.

Despite dire predictions, Halloween weather was unusually mild, with the rain holding off until after the 8:00 PM end of trick or treating. Titus Sparrow Park and Ringgold Park pre-trick or treat parties October 31.

Adults as well as kids donned costumes while sitting on stoops waiting for trick or treaters or escorting their children. While the conventional wisdom is that dinosaurs are extinct, they apparently resurrected for Halloween night, and they roamed singly and in groups on Halloween night.


Villa Victoria.