Neighborhood Halloween party Saturday at the new community room in the new Amistad school building. Frank Douglass, who’s likely to be our next alderman, was there. So was Greg Smith, interim alderman for the past summer.
Also present was Mayor DeStefano. I asked him joshingly if he was actually the mayor or in Halloween disguise as the mayor. “I’m incognito,” he cleverly replied. Later that day I was at Tony Juliano’s insane Forgot to Laugh Sideshow and Animation festival at Lyric Hall in Westville, and there was DeStefano again—on screen, in a fun intro video to the wacky shindig.
The neighborhood event was cordial all around, the very opposite of spooky. Geraldine Florist on Chapel Street brought costumes and outfitted kids for free. There were apples and other healthy snacks amongst the candy. Kids could design buttons, the template already emblazoned with “I care about…,” lest Halloween prankiness get the better of them.
I don’t think there was a Mayor’s Halloween Parade this week, but other generous family-friendly city tricks & treats are in store with the return of Magic Week. Local magicians are honoring the 85th anniversary of the death of Harry Houdini (punched in the stomach on Halloween, 1926) with free performances at local libraries. Tonight (Wednesday the 26th) brings Gale Alexander to Stetson branch library on Dixwell Ave. Thursday, Wilson branch library on Washington Ave. welcomes Headmaster Lang of Froghearts School, who is “looking for young wizards and witches to join his school!” Saturday, Cyril the Sorcerer—an enthusiastic advocate of recycling—does two gigs in a row: 1 p.m. at the Main Library on Elm Street and 3 p.m. at Neverending Bookstore, 810 State Street. There’s a talk Sunday, Oct. 30 about the wondrous new Yale Press book Houdini: Art & Magic, at Yale’s Slifka Center on Wall Street.
Magic Week details here.