Dear Neighbors,
The Squirrel Hill Town Watch and Mini-station will once again lead a tour of
the HAUNTED GARDEN at our home, 4611 Springfield Ave, on Halloween Saturday,
10/31/2009, scheduled from 5-7 PM. Cynthia Preston, our local Queen of
Halloween, will once again provide several stations stocked with Fresh Fruit
(from Ya-ya's food truck), "Hug" drinks and themed gifts (pencils, plastic
insects rings, etc.). Our family, with help from local volunteers, will do
extreme decorating and round up "actors" to entertain the smallest visitors and
terrify the teens. And, we will start the tour with our fat "naked" sumo guy
and "Full Sized" Candy bars.
State Representative James Roebuck and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell promise to
make their annual visits and to support the event in ways that will help secure
and entertain the visitors and volunteers.
For folks who are not yet familiar with the event, please check out the link to
favorite photos from the 2008 event.
Oct 31, 2008 : HALLOWEEN FAVORITES from 2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/campionef/Halloween2008#
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second event, to be scheduled, will be held for wheelchair bound students of
the HMS school.
Last year 57 volunteers, local stalwarts plus from the Boy Scouts and West
Catholic, helped decorate, designed and performed mini-skits, distributed
treats and cleaned up. We need a similar number of volunteers this year.
We do not want to pull anyone off of their own porch, but we welcome college
students, tenants and condo dwellers who might not have a porch yet long to be
part of a fun Halloween experience. We don't have time to provide close
supervision, so we need volunteers who are creative, independent and mindful of
our goals, (to entertain the youngest neighbors and provide a thrill for older
kids and adult visitors). We can provide some costumes or face painting, but
our favorite Halloween night volunteers show up dressed and ready to perform.
We ask that event volunteers show up between 3 and 4 PM to help with final
set-up and to practice their roles, before the 5 PM start of the tours.
We also need an advance team of decorating volunteers. The first big "set"
event will be this Wednesday, October 21, and will run from about 1 PM until
dusk. We need folks who can throw weighted ropes through our tree branches and
create pulleys to hang the Basilisk, Ghosts and dropping Spiders. Parents can
supervise smaller kids to spread spider webbing the length of the property. If
someone could bring a staple gun, we could hang many of the "flats" on the
fence. The weather is expected to be sunny and 68*F, so it will be a good day
to work outside.
There will be another "Set" day on Halloween morning, to position the
distribution tables and to add hundreds of plastic snakes and insects to the
tables and sets. (If put out too early they get buried by falling leaves.)
Small children can place the creepy-crawlies while more adept folks can run
Battery and Power Cord checks and load up the Bubble and Smoke Machines.
We've learned that small kids who help with the set-up feel much more ready to
go through, after dark, on Halloween. We've also discovered that many of the
Adults who help out come back every year, because they have a great time
handing out treats. My personal experience, growing up in West Philly as the
10th of 12 children in a home with few luxuries, was that Halloween was the
best night of the year. For kids it is the holiday of meritocracy. Enough
candy can be gathered to last all year, and without forcing poorer parents to
choose between utility payments and holiday treats. A creative back story can
compensate for not being able to afford an expensive costume.
Please e-reply if you think you can help out, this Wednesday, or on Halloween
morning and / or evening.
In addition to volunteer labor, if anyone wants to loan or donate any of the
following, please be in touch:
Spider webbing (dollar store variety is great),
Plastic animals, especially rats, dinosaurs, snakes, lizards or insects.
Sound machines & or horror tapes.
A movie / slide set up & some kid sized cars
(I'd love to add a zombie drive-in movie-in set)
Ugly baby dolls &/or kid sized baby dolls.
Some authentic, old fashioned dental or medical equipment.
Bubble, Smoke, Strobe or other FX machines.
Also, if any one can send me current contacts, especially e-addresses, for
appropriate volunteers organizations at any of the local universities, high
schools or civic associations, it would be a big help. Two years ago, a team
of PENN student volunteers were a huge asset to the event. Cynthia can provide
certificates of Community Service hours for those who need them.
For those who think they know the event, remember that the actors keep each
minute unique, plus this year we've added a giant Pirate Ship to our sets.
Hooray! Aaaarghhh!!!
This will probably be the last year at this location. So don't miss out as
either visitor or volunteer.
Best!
Liz
Elizabeth Campion
PRUDENTIAL, FOX & ROACH REALTORS, LLC
210 W. Rittenhouse Square, Suite 406
Phila, PA 19103
215-790-5653 Desk & Voicemail
215-880-2930 Cell & Emergency
215-546-9781 Shared office Fax
campio...@juno,com or
[email protected] for Rental questions
Link to Photos of available Listings and public, 'social' photos:
www.PicasaWeb.google.com/CampionEF
To check out all PFR and Multiple Listed Properties and
to review CONSUMER NOTICE, link to
www.PruFoxRoach.com
Your referral is a welcome compliment.
____________________________________________________________
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