by Mica Hart
High school students crowded the hallway as the elementary students paraded through with their costumes. The little ones rushed through, a little embarrassed to be showing off, perhaps, but mostly they were brimming with excitement to go out on the town trick-or-treating.
Halloween was a great success for many people of Ouray School, united as they were in the joys of the holiday: costumes and candy, creativity and community.
High school Spanish teacher Alex Boukis finds freedom in Halloween. “It’s a holiday where people are encouraged to be something else, dress up, and have fun,” he said. He had two different costumes for two different celebrations of Halloween. He was a lost boy for his high school classes, and for the younger kids, he dressed up with fellow elementary teachers as a gnat, making fun of the shared hilarious and horrifying invasion of September.
First grader Owen found some freedom of his own when he designed and made his own chain for his “Zombie Skeleton” costume. He was so proud of his costume that he “signed up for a halloween costume competition.”
Owen’s classmate, Sophia, who seemed to be the most animated and enthusiastic about the holiday, dressed up as “Winifred from Hocus Pocus,” and expressed her excitement to continue the Hocus Pocus theme in future years. Her favorite part of Halloween, she said, is when “you get to have a bunch of candy and you get to walk around everywhere and you get scared.”
Senior Pallen McArdle is not a “huge, huge fan of Halloween,” she said, and because she does not love dressing up, she was “a black cat for the seventh year in a row.” Still, she said, she “she loves seeing other people get really excited, and that excitement makes me happy.”
Really, this excitement that we all share, no matter how we participate in the actual celebrations, is what makes Halloween so special. This event, which English teacher Mr. Kissingford described as “half party, half game,” is a great opportunity to share joy as a community.