Halloween Hits Loudoun

From Sterling to Bluemont, Residents Join in Halloween Festivities

By Melissa Arseniuk

Monday, October 29, 2007

Despite Halloween falling on a Wednesday this year, there's no indication it will get lost in the mid-week shuffle. As the haunted holiday draws near, people from across Loudoun County this past weekend got into the spooky swing of things.

Weaving up and down the aisles at Party Depot in Sterling, the Fisher family gathered decorations for the neighborhood's Halloween parade on Saturday and put the final touches on their costumes.

"I'm going to be an angel," said Mackenzie Fisher, the excitement painted across the 8-year-old's face in a wide smile. She was a cheerleader last year but the Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School third-grade student said she thinks this year's costume will be more fun. "You get to wear a dress all night and you get to wear wings," she said.

Mackenzie's mother, Toni Fisher, said she and her daughter began putting the costume together about three weeks ago. After adding a halo to the aforementioned dress and wings, Mackenzie said she is now ready for a fun-filled night of trick-or-treating.

Her 5-year-old brother, Sam Fisher, also will dress up for the occasion. This year he has decided to go as a Seattle Seahawks football player.

"I have the shoulders and the jersey and everything," he says excitedly. "I have everything but the shoes."

"He'll go in his sneakers," his mother chimes in.

But why the Seahawks and not the Redskins?

"They're my dad's favorite team," Sam states plainly.

His father, Michael Fisher, laughs at his son's admission. "At least he's honest."

The Fishers weren't the only ones picking up a few last-minute Halloween supplies over the weekend: Party Depot was packed.

The weekend before Halloween is one of the busiest times of the year for store manager Maria Pereira.

Every member of her 12-person staff was working Saturday to help customers find what they were looking for. The store has more than 1,300 Halloween decorations and costumes.

"Costumes alone we have about 900," Pereira said, adding that she expects to sell at least 200 before the day is done.

Pereira and two assistants manned the fitting rooms, where there was a hub of activity as customers anxiously searched for the perfect guise. A few aisles away, shelves of green and red Christmas decorations waited in silence, with only a few misguided shoppers quickly passing them by.

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Halloween Hits Loudoun

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Gavin Ballard, 2, paints a pumpkin during the Sterling Community Center's costumes, candy and crafts afternoon. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Emma Willits, 20 months, dressed as Baby Bop for the Sterling Community Center's costumes, candy and crafts afternoon on Saturday. Here, she decorates a bag to use to go trick-or-treating. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Alison Aquino, 18 months, of Sterling, participates in the trick-or-treat bag decorating station during an afternoon of costumes, candy and crafts at the Sterling Community Center. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Mackenzie Fisher, 8, examines a fake severed arm at Party Depot in Sterling while shopping for Halloween supplies with her family. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Sam Fisher, 5, of Leesburg, takes a close look at a fake rat while shopping for Halloween decorations with his family at Party Depot in Sterling. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Customers at Party Depot in Sterling had a variety of options to choose from. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Tina Blessing, left, and her daughter, Jordan Blessing, right, shop for Halloween costumes at Party Depot in Sterling. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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"Beer Garden Girl Deluxe" was the most popular costume for female teens and adults this year, according to Party Depot store manager Maria Pereira. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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A collection of 1,700 jack-o-lanterns lit up the night at Great Country Farms in Bluemont during the annual Glow Night on Saturday. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Several scarier-looking pumpkins were in the Great Country Farms' carving contest and Glow Night Saturday in Bluemont. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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There was no shortage of carved jack-o-lanterns at the annual Glow Night at Great Country Farms in Bluemont. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Students from Mountain View Elementary School won all three prizes for scariest, funniest, and "best in glow" in the elementary age group at Great Country Farms' Glow Night on Saturday. (Melissa Arseniuk)

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Back in the fitting rooms, however, the chaos continued. With an abundance of options, deciding on just one costume can be a challenge.

"I have no idea what I'm going to be," confesses 14-year-old Jordan Blessing as she and her mother, Tina Blessing, scan the wall of pictures that serves as the store's costume catalogue.

Jordan says she is looking for a cute costume with a good fit and color. She selects two costumes to try: "nurse sexy" and costume No. 201, "Beer garden girl deluxe."

"I was opting for the white fairy but she didn't want to be the white fairy," her mother said. "I think I like the Bavarian girl," she said before taking a closer look at the package.

While the matriarch acknowledges the get-ups her young daughter selected are rather provocative, she figures the short skirts and plunging necklines would be OK for one night.

"It's Halloween," she figures. "It's alright."

Jordan said her friends from Langley High School will be dressed in similar costumes – as a police woman, a nurse, a maid and a "rowdy referee."

"It's fun dressing up as someone you normally wouldn't be," she said before heading to see Pereira in the fitting rooms for the fifth time.

"That one's always popular," Pereira says, pointing to Jordan's selection. "Beer garden girl is always popular."

"For younger ones, it's always the Disney princesses," she notes, adding this year's favorites also include Hannah Montana and High School Musical.

While Pereira is busy helping Jordan decide on a costume, children are gathering a few miles away at the Sterling Community Center to celebrate Halloween ahead of time.

Already prepared for Wednesday night's dress-up fun, most of the youngsters used the party to put their get-ups to the test before the big night. Along with their parents, about 25 children turned out for the afternoon of costumes, candy and crafts.

After checking comparatively dull, everyday games like duck-duck-goose and finger painting at the door, the group enjoyed a program of costumes, candy and crafts that included festive Halloween activities like playing "witch-witch-ghost," and pumpkin painting.

By the end of the 2 1/2-hour event, everyone was in full Halloween spirit, and everyone had a fully decorated trick-or-treat bag ready for Wednesday evening.

But as the day came to a close and All Hallow's Eve drew closer, the lights were just beginning to go on in Bluemont.

As darkness fell, 600 people from around the county gathered for the annual pumpkin glow night at Great Country Farms.

Though the commercial horticulturalist for Loudoun County, Leslie Blifchak, said it has been an "abysmal year" for pumpkin-growing, there didn't seem to be any shortage of pumpkins at the popular event.

While families snacked on hot dogs and the smell of fresh-popped candy corn wafted through the crisp evening air, the undisputed main attraction was the display of more than 1,700 lit jack-o-lanterns.

The glowing gourds came from a variety of sources, including Mountain View Elementary School, Round Hill Elementary School, Blue Ridge Middle School, Loudoun Valley High School special education students, Loudoun County YAS program participants and Boy and Girl Scout troops.

After visitors browsed the massive wall of carved orange flesh and voted for their favorites, the winning entries were announced. Melody Park's depiction of a cat face was named "best in glow" within the elementary school age group, while Felix Ortiz was given the same honor in the grades six-to-eight bracket for his design that showed a bat flying over the moon.

Indeed, Halloween is in full swing in Loudoun County, as festive activities are taking place across the region for people of all ages. From walking tours of haunted homes in Leesburg to zombies at the Old Stone School in Hillsboro, there's something for almost everyone. Even the crew at the fire hall in Neersville got into the spirit on Saturday, incorporating a children's costume party into their annual chili cook-off.

And if the Zurschmeide family has its way, the fun won't stop come Thursday morning. Great Country Farms will be hosting its second-annual post-Halloween pumpkin chunkin' party on the weekend, where the Halloween-keen can bid farewell to the holiday by launching, dropping and chopping their distinguished, yet extinguished, jack-o-lanterns into pieces.

Kate Zurschmeide of Great Country Farms has assured that the farm's resident pigs will happily clean up after guests, as the slop will make for several weeks of good eating for them and their farmyard friends.

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