Doug Dawgz Blog: Halloween 2010

Who Says OKC History Geeks Don't Know How To Have Fun?

Retro Metro OKC Halloween Stars Shown Below
In Order of Appearance:
Carolyn Cuskey, Dean Schirf, Justin Tyler Moore,
Rachel Mosman, A.J. Kirkpatrick

Retro Metro OKC Halloween Stars Shown Below
In Order of appearance
Steve Lackmeyer, Marc Weinmeister, Norman Thompson,
Catherine Montgomery, Doug Loudenback

THE DIRECTOR'S CUT
Retro Metro OKC Halloween Stars Shown Below
In Order of appearance
Rachel Mosman, Dean Schirf, Steve Lackmeyer,
Carolyn Cuskey, Justin Tyler Moore

Of course, the above and all of this post is just for fun, as is Halloween. The more serious work of the dancing stars in the above movies can be seen at Retro Metro OKC's website and a more serious treatment of Halloween history in Oklahoma City is here. This post, as I said, is just for fun.

Day of the Dead Ghouls Gone Wild Home Photos, etc.
The Oklahoma City Council established Saturday, October 30, as the preferred day for kids to "trick-or-treat," but, of course, that means that we'll need to have goodies on hand for two days and not just one. Like, duh, the Oklahoma City Council is so very important and has the status to change the time-honored date (and name) of All Hallows Eve, right? Right. So, those inclined to welcome small trolls and goblins with gifts to ward off the "trick" part of the quid pro quo will need to be prepared on both Saturday AND Sunday ... just a word to the wise.

Aside from the annual parade of kids who unhesitatingly open their arms wide open to the dark side, this post describes a few events that Doug Dawg recommends and shows some neighborhood photos which place great value on cobwebs, tombstones, skeletons, and the Bates Motel. So, let's get started.

DAY OF THE DEAD. Blending in with the unconnected Anglo tradition of All Hallows Eve is the Latino tradition of the Day of the Dead. And, right here in Oklahoma City, that tradition will be celebrated, also.

MAYA TRADING COMPANY & ISTVAN GALLERY
Both at 1218 N. Western, these classy galleries are joining efforts to host a Day of the Dead celebration on Saturday, October 30, 6-10 p.m. I wrote about Maya Trading Company on May 15, 2010 -- but click here for its website and here for its Facebook page. Read about Istvan Gallery at its website. If you've not been to these exceptional art venues in Oklahoma City, you've been missing out -- this event is a great time to fix that. This event promises to be extraordinary, even if you'll need to figure out how to handle the simultaneous Saturday home-parade of trick-or-treaters thanks to our City Council's wisdom. Get a home-sitter to handle the walking gremlins and YOU go to this event, you should.
I dropped by the Maya Trading Company venue for a few minutes this afternoon -- unfortunately, I didn't have my "good" camera with me but my cell phone's camera did reasonably well. The photos here don't really show the breadth of native Mexican art for you to see (and/or purchase), but they'll do for now. The top photo, above, shows some of the huge table of goodies that are waiting, but there are many more than are shown here.


As you can see, you get fed and entertained for free, too. What a deal. By the way, Day of the Dead and All Saints' Eve are not the same. The Latino holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with the Christian Church holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). The Day of the Dead is, in fact, a time of celebration.

GHOULS GONE WILD 2010. The Oklahoma Gazette's 4th Annual Ghouls Gone Wild (also see its Facebook page) parade is set for October 23 at 7:00 p.m. Here's a little video which describes the event and shows photos from the 2008 parade, photos courtesy Dennis Church, IconOklahoma and Karrie Dennis. Background music is Flight Test from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1, courtesy the Flaming Lips.

According to the Gazette, the mission of the parade is "to celebrate artistry, creativity and diversity in Oklahoma City." The same source says, "It has grown by leaps and bounds, increasing the number of participants, spectators and sponsors each year. Crowd estimates for the 2009 parade were around 55,000 attendees! There were 84 parade entries, including dancers, bands, classic cars, arts groups and local businesses."

This year's list of sponsors is indeed pretty impressive, the largest donor-supporters being St. Anthony's and the Automobile Alley association. Perhaps the wide range of corporate and individual sponsors will be of sufficient importance to the Oklahoman to give the event more press coverage than it has deigned to do in the past. We shall see.

This year's Grand Marshal is the legendary Count Gregore and, of course, the Flaming Lips will again host its March of 1000 Flaming Skeletons. If you want to be one of them, go to the this instruction page and follow directions.

Here's the route of the mile-long parade ...

The Gazette sometimes puts together a downright sexy poster describing the event. Click on the thumbnail at the right for a better view of 2008 Gazette's poster girl and Grand Marshal, San Deigo's April Wahlin, a contestant in and perhaps the winner of Fox television's reality show, The Search for the Next Elvira.

As you can see below, a sexy poster is upon us this year, too. Be still, my troubled old-man's heart. Oh, for the days of youth to be revisited yet again ... but I can probably pass on the python. Just sayin' ...

HOME PHOTOS, ETC. Below are 2010 photos taken by fellow Retro Metro Okc'er Justin Tyler Moore of Abandoned Oklahoma fame of his home in Quail Creek.