The Mazama Community Yard Sale drew a steady stream of customers last weekend to see what their neighbors would part with – and perhaps take it home.
By Erika Kar
One of the very sweet things about living in Mazama this time of year is the onslaught of hunters in big trucks and camo that come into our deer-rich area looking for their big trophy. Ha ha, just kidding. I mean, that is happening, as it does every year around this time, but that is not the sweet thing that I want to write about. Instead, let’s focus on something that everyone can agree is pretty fantastic, and that is Halloween at the Mazama Store and surrounding area.
It can be a pretty tough Halloween for kids in a rural area. When my kids were younger, I was so thankful that the Mazama Store put on its extravaganza and that the community participated in such a fun way. Hop into my Way Back Time Machine with me and I’ll tell you a little Halloween story from eight years ago …
All day yesterday my sons decorated their room to look like a haunted house. Really the only thing scary about it is the crying and gnashing of teeth that will happen when I make them clean it up. Their haunted room consists mostly of string tied to everything and some drawings of faces that are supposed to be ghosts. They were totally into Halloween for the first time ever. One of them even claimed that his middle name was Halloween. It’s not, by the way. I don’t even really like Halloween myself. I certainly wouldn’t name a child after it.
So the big moment came where they made their costumes. They were ghosts, because we are really creative around here. And then we drove to the little community trick-or-treating through the woods gig. There is a piñata at Serena Lockwood’s home to blast things off. And then an older kid leads the procession through the woods to the next house where someone is waiting with a bowl of candy. This continues for a mile or so. Ann Diamond and Jerry Laverty have cider or hot chocolate in addition to candy, and Bernard and Eveline Wathen have set up a little haunted house. We continue through fields and woods while darkness falls.
One of my ghosts leads the pack and we never even see him until the end. The other ghost (the one whose middle name used to be Halloween, by the way) is terrified. He cried once when he couldn’t see because his ghost eye holes got all wonky. So I ripped them open until it was just one big hole. Then he looked like a Muslim woman wearing a white burqa. Either that, or a ghost ninja. Mr. Halloween was close to tears pretty much the entire time, thereby revoking his name change idea.
The whole thing ends at the Mazama Store where there are ridiculously delicious pumpkin donuts and hot cider served up by people with far better costumes than a sheet with eyeholes…
Hop back into the Way Back Time Machine to come back to present day. Will there be the great Mazama Halloween extravaganza this year? Missy LeDuc tells me that she is contacting the community to gauge interest, but that she is up for it. Mazama families with younger kids are all hoping for it, as it is really an experience that the kids won’t forget.
