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It’s been a looong time since I’ve gone trick-or-treating myself, and I sometimes am sad that today’s kids don’t get to know and enjoy the Halloween of my youth.  I’m talking homemade costumes, family decorated yards (some to invite and others to scare the bejesus out of you), brown paper sacks filled with candy, and caramel apples and popcorn balls that your mother would actually let you eat.

My brothers and I, along with our friends, would spend weeks divining our homemade costumes and plotting our attack on the “good neighborhood” where you might get a full-size candy bar or a roll of pennies.  The boys would map out the scary houses they had to ‘hit’ while I tried to convince Dad that the dog really DID need a costume and to go with us.

We live in times with more real things to fear and today’s kids don’t have the luxury of the safety we, and our parents, felt as we roamed town long after the sun went down and largely unsupervised.  So long as we made it to certain houses in a reasonable time, so moms could keep track of their kids general whereabouts, we didn’t have much to worry about.

This year I saw the Halloween of my childhood reborn in Ilwaco.  It’s been growing for several years now; I first learned about it as the number of trick-or-treaters declined in my neighborhood and I wondered aloud where they were going.  The era of the “good neighborhood” has returned!  In fact, it’s even better – the grown ups are just as into dressing up as the kids!

Take a click over to Jake the Alligator Man’s blog, where you’ll find an array of photos that capture the spirit of Ilwaco this All Hallow’s Eve.  And don’t miss the headless horseman in Chinook.  Who WAS that, anyway?

Here are a few from the Facebook friends of Kara Funbeach, including David Poulshock, Discover Ilwaco, Diana Williams, Flora Gardener & Jenna Nisbett:

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~Keleigh

You’re not alone!

We do our best to meet people where they want to be met in the marketing process.  Take the two brochures, below.

The one on the left, Willapa Harbor Scenic Highway 101 Willapa Heritage Corridor, was a project of Raymond High School senior Mitchell Hatfield.  He did a great job designing the brochure.  Keleigh helped him get the work from Publisher into a format an offset printer could use, then offered subsidized pricing to get them printed by the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce and Dennis Company.  Pick up a copy at either the Willapa Harbor Chamber office or the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and see if you can find all of the 400+ steel sculptures in the area!

The Astoria-Warrenton Chamber designed a brochure or their upcoming Ambassadors & Greeters Convention and just needed someone to take their art and quickly turn it into a short run of tri-fold brochures at a good price.  Done and done!

Perhaps Long Beach, Washington’s most infamous landmark, the chainsaw carved “Mermaid” (aka Merman) was once located downtown and now lives a mile or so north at the Mermaid Motel.  Keith’s photo of this hunka hunka burnin’ love will soon be featured in a book on Washington curiosities.  We’ll tell you more when it comes out (the book, that is).

Friend of the Peninsula Connor Doran took ‘America’s Got Talent’ to new heights in June with a surprising audition that involved flying a kite indoors.  The 17-year-old high school student gave a hypnotic and lyrical performance, set to Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel,’ and by the time it was over, the crowd was on their feet.

It was a surprise to most of America, but not to kite enthusiasts, who enjoy the World Kite Museum‘s Windless Kite Festival each Presidents’ Day weekend.

TONIGHT, AUGUST 17th, CONNOR IS BACK ON AMERICA’S GOT TALENT!

He’s got a second chance to show America the magic of kite flying tonight at 9PM (all time zones).  A vote for Connor is a vote for kiting.  How appropriate that today is the 2nd day of the Washington State International Kite Festival!

Watch Doran’s audition:

And be sure to tune in to watch tonight!

Every company needs a mascot, don’t you think?  Ours, who spend most of their days in Arizona, Alaska and California, headed off to Disneyland this week.  Rumor has it they wanted to take kites from the World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame with them to the theme park, but some grown-up got in the way of that plan.  Alas, they’ll be forced to eat candy from Long Beach’s Candy Man, while wearing beachdog noses, instead.

¡Lo quiero tanto, mis primos!