Suggestion Box: The 5 Days of Halloween?

By N3 World Headquarters Entertainment Department
Halloween is huge.

I mean, Christmas certainly commands center stage of holidays as well it should given how such an enormous amount of our lives are spent preparing for, celebrating, and recovering from the ever lengthening madness that the celebration of the birth of Christ has become.
But that’s a discussion for another day perhaps.

We’re talking Halloween here and Halloween is indeed huge.

I don’t recall from my younger years (ahh, the age thing again) it being this big a deal beyond our door to door trick or treating with a makeshift costume. For the younger set it was great. Dress up, get to wander about with friends and  go to other houses in other neighborhoods after dark.
Then to top it off come home with enough candy to last until nearly Christmas once you got past the first couple of days when you ate all the good stuff. By the time Thanksgiving hit, you were generally down to the really cheap stuff like little Root Beer Barrels and such.

Most of the adults I knew back then weren’t the type to be putting on costumes (at least outside the privacy of their homes perhaps) and gathering with other festooned friends for some serious revelling. And few if any organizations tossed open their doors (or parking lots) for those one-stop shopping trick-or-treating opportunities or held events filled with games and such for kids to partake in.

And it’s not just the abundance of activities for young and old alike. It’s the time and imagination and research that goes into it. There are front lawns that run the gamut from garrulously ghoulish to absolute masterpieces of macabre.True works of art, albeit art with perhaps a dash of depravity.

And the costumes have soared in terms of sheer genius.
In college I recall a Halloween gathering where several people wrapped themselves in sheets and went as a ‘joint’.
Yeah, cute and all but pretty lame compared to what’s out there today and I do mean “out there”.
My admiration runs deep for folks who put their creative juices into such initiatives because it’s all about fun and as the Great Commander Cody once sang:

“There’s a whole lot of things that I never done.
But I ain’t never had too much fun”

If you’ve a mind send us a photo of a locale where the yard decor screams Halloween or perhaps  a notable costume and send it in. We’ll try to post the best of the best.

In the meantime…..
So many options.

Trail of Terror Friday and Saturday. See Our Ms. Wirts’ column describing this tasty morsel of frightful fun (Home Page) and don’t miss it.

The Addams Family Grant Fine Arts Center Friday 7:30pm Saturday 7:30pm and Sunday 2pm
LionHeart does it right and their musicals have a track record of being outstanding. From set design to stage performance to sound this community theater group with a home base  in our Gateway city has never failed to be thoroughly entertaining as they parade a cavalcade of local talent in front of the footlights. It’s this weekend and next but tickets fly out of the box office for these shows so do not dally.

Monsterpiece Theater Dogwood Center Saturday 3pm
Matt Emerick does an outstanding job putting together a family friendly show with an all-kid cast and the performance Saturday afternoon is the culmination of those efforts.
The show is free but donations are accepted and cheerfully accepted I might add so don’t be shy about ponying up folks.

Halloweekend at Camp Newaygo Friday 4-7pm Saturday1-5pm and Sunday1-5pm.
Camp Newaygo is an exceedingly cool place  and their events reflect the spirit of fun and good times the organization is known for. Their Halloween-inspired weekend will involve a slew of activities in a superb setting with some of the most likeable folks to be found.
And we hear the zip line will be open Saturday and Sunday

For those looking for some fun later in the day there’s a Halloween Bash at The Commons in Fremont Friday, a Halloween Party at  Sportsman’s in Newaygo on Saturday and a Costume Party at the Blind Squirrel in Fremont on Saturday as well.
However my hunch is nearly every local establishment serving adult beverages might find a few festooned customers milling about this weekend.

For those purists who wish to truly celebrate on the day itself, check out  Costume Night at the Newaygo Brewing Co. on, of all days, Halloween (Tuesday). If we were to select a spot where the potential for exceptional costuming creativity is at its very peak this would be our top candidate because creativity is at the very heart of the NewBrewCo experience.

There are a number of Trunk or Treat events around (some have posted on our page some can be found in the pages of faceboook),  White Cloud is having Halloween doings throughout the town on the holiday itself and, as a bonus, thus far no evil clown sightings have come across our desk here at N3WH

Life is good.

Suggestion Box is sponsored by Newaygo Brewing Co. Check out Costume Night Tuesday Oct 31