Event sets the scene for spookiest time of the year
NEWTOWN – The season of pumpkins, witches and ghosts crept ghoulishly onto State and Sycamore streets on Saturday with some hauntingly good fun.
Setting the scene for Halloween, more than 40 artists put their talents to work, transforming store windows throughout the business district into creative, sometimes scary masterpieces that would make even Edgar Allen Poe shiver in fear.
At State and Centre, Kasey Taylor turned Starbucks into “Scarebucks” in honor of the season of screams and added a new drink to the coffee shop’s menu – blood – just in case the Count drops by for a late night bite.
Snoopy and Woodstock found their place on one of the large plate glass windows in front of the Newtown Hardware House thanks to the talents of a group of sixth graders from the Newtown Friends School – Sofia Frascella, Jess Saftlas, Olivia Doody and Deanna DiFranco.
Across the street, a scene with a gruesome foursome was taking shape on the windows of GAP Body. A witch, mummy, skeleton and the Bride of Frankenstein, all wearing GAP Body clothes, is courtesy of artists Khara Levy of Newtown and Gretchen Jonas of Buckingham. They headlined their window, “Don’t be scared. Love the body you’re in.”
“We thought this would be a fun way to spend the afternoon,” said Levy, as she put the finishing touches on the skeleton.
“It’s a lot of fun. I used to do it when I was a little kid,” added Jonas, remembering when her family painted pumpkins and other Halloween scenery on the windows of The Giving Tree.
Down the street, cigarsmoking scarecrows appropriately decorated the windows at Ned’s Cigar Store. That’s where Bill and Emily Grace Tidwell were finishing up their work. Nearby, Vincent Leary of Newtown was showing off his talents on the windows of Countryside Framing and Radhouse Studio with a series of ghastlylooking images.
Adding to the Halloween scene, Jaime Taylor was catching a lot of attention at the State Street Cafe with her portrait of Frankenstein with a ghostly cup of coffee. And at Allegheny Art, Sarah Kaizar of Richboro was sending chills through the street with a graveyard of bones and a spooky looking haunted house.
But the Halloween chills didn’t stop there, especially for the local crow population.
More than a half dozen straw-filled scarecrows decorate the street this year, including “Purple Pete with no feet” from the Burke family, the “Scary Deli scarecrow” by Becky Betz and Randi Green, “The Birdman of Alcatraz” by Ron Kaizar and “The Goddess of Chandler Hall,” whose realistic face is enough to give anyone the willies.
Meanwhile, inside the lobby of The First National
Bank of Newtown, a cupcake war was underway as dozens of decorative Halloween cupcakes, some with eyeballs, others with gravestones and even a batch of owls, competed for prizes.
“It is obvious people worked incredibly hard on the decorations,” said Linda Welles, one of last year’s contestants who returned this year to lead the Cupcake War. “And then when we tasted them they were just as good on the inside as they were on the outside.”
Welles and Felix Papadakis from Felix’s Caketeria had the enviable task of tasting each cupcake and the more difficult job of selecting the winners.
Olivia Mitchell won first place for best tasting. Her cupcakes will be available for purchase on Saturday at Felix’s on Washington Avenue. Winning for presentation were Jamie Taylor, Megan Petrie and Danielle, Brianna and Avery Nelson.
It was all part of the Halloween Art Scene, an event designed to bring the spirit of Halloween to Newtown.
“This is so much fun,” said Becky Betz, the owner of Becky’s Deli, as she took in the scene. “Everywhere you look there are smiles,” she said. “And it’s great to see so many people walking up and down the street looking at the windows and the scarecrows. It’s a great thing.”
And what was her favorite part? “The scarecrows, because they’re new,” said Betz. “And we had fun putting ours together,” she said.
“I’m so happy it’s a nice day, too,” Betz added. “Everyone is out and about and people seem to be having such a great time. And I love those cupcakes, too. Aren’t they cool?”
Committee member Jackie Kaizar encourages anyone who hasn’t seen the windows and the scarecrows to stop in town and check out the fun. They’ll be on display through Nov. 4.