A Holden Village Halloween

All too often friends and family who are all too familiar with stories of the special treatment given by Holden Village to other holidays ( the first day of school and the 4th of July come to mind) will ask me, "Well, what do they do for Halloween?" Until now, I have never known.

Also all too often, when someone who has even just a bit of experience with Holden's celebrations will feel frustrated in trying to describe the extravagant efforts made by those in the village to celebrate both the momentous and the mundane. Before we are underway with the descriptions and the details, we want to give up and say, "Well, you have to be there to know what I am talking about."

Now that I have experienced my first Halloween here in the wilderness, perhaps the pictures I took at the various events will help you understand that whether you were in Houston or in Washington D.C., you missed out on a truly joyous celebration of Halloween this year...perhaps next year, you can come and see for yourself. You really do "have to be there to know what I am talking about."

Mid-afternoon, Chuck Carpenter, Operations Manager, began work on the wooden apple press, squeezing fresh apple juice for the night ahead.

Meantime, a significant portion of the dining hall is transformed into a Halloween setting suitable for a movie set. Here Liz Langeland, Staff Coordinator, hangs ghosts and bats from tree branches that were cut to encompass the Halloween area. She is assisted by young Olaf Coffey, Mayor of Holden Village.

A long line of fresh pumpkins extends the length of the dining hall tables normally used for a buffet line. Anyone wishing to carve a jack-o-lantern could pick out a pumpkin, pick up a knife, and have a (ha-ha) stab at this yearly transformation. Here the Mietzke family takes on the task.

Holden School students Jordyn Mietzke, Raina Rerucha-Borges, and Andrew Dutcher carve pumpkins. I might add that in the Holden tradition of saving and recycling, the pumpkin seeds were "harvested" for roasting, and chunks of pumpkin will soon be processed and will reappear as pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins or pumpkin cake. Maybe even pumpkin soup.

After the evening meal (a fabulous nacho bar), those wishing to don costumes went back to their residence...or made a quick trip by the costume shop... and arrived at vespers dressed for the occasion. (It was a most unusual rendition of the Holden Evening Prayer, the music especially in tune...or out of tune, as the case may be...with Halloween fervor.) Here, left to right, Rose Schwartz, a guest, Trish Pipkin, currently Artist in Residence. Liz Langeland, Staff Coordinator, and Ann Hafton, currently on Teaching Staff and an expert on Israeli-Palestine issues, get together after the service. Above them Royce Morrison, also a guest, here with Rose ("Rose Royce", they called themselves.) And I do believe that is a bra affixed to the front of Ann Hafton's face! A bra with large polka dots. And two holes cut out to handle the vision thing! I never saw her take it off all evening.

And then it was time to trick-or-treat. Here, young Elli Vegdahl-Crowell waits at the door to Agape.

Jordyn Mietzke is offered a bowl of Skittles. (Pillow cases were the preferred treat-or-treat bag.)

Joseph Coffey arrived dressed as an aviator. I am sure that someone had to tell him that he could not knit and go trick-or-treating at the same time. (This young man can stuff 3 skeins of yarn under his armpit and knit a Norwegian design snowflake sweater while still on the move. This is not an exaggeration.)

Rachel Weeks, in charge of Holden's publications, has already had her share of sugar for one night.

Nancy Rerucha and Mark Borges, both in the Utilities Department, arrive for their treats. Mark was dressed as a piece of toast that read, "Nancy loves toast."

Mary Coffey Sather, Lead Cook, used crinoline petticoats to dress as a runaway bride. Her husband, high school teacher Dave Sather, chased her all night. He says he only married her because she looks like Ingrid Bergman. The rest of the village believes he married her for the chocolate truffles she makes.

Art Neslund, Repair Associate, looked particularly hideous in this wicked set of dentures. He came to vespers dressed as a lighthouse, but the costume had to be modified to accommodate mobility issues. (He said that he has been saving this set of lips and teeth for years. We believe him.)

After trick-or-treating, there were refreshments and dancing back in the dining hall. I honestly do not know who this "person" was. There was conjecture regarding his identity all night. We finally found out he was a guest who had just arrived in the village. Whoever he was, he had plenty of fortitude. He never removed this complete head-covering mask. He just did this all night...just sat.

Elementary school teacher, Steve Marks seemed to have survived an attack by someone wielding a meat cleaver.

Nyrie Mietzke enjoyed the dance dressed as a butterfly. I never saw her eat so I cannot verify whether she used her proboscis or not. The proboscis seems a bit askew. Perhaps she by-passed it and used her mouth...and there was plenty to eat...caramel apples, apple cider punch, dirt cake, decorated sugar cookies, chocolate truffles...the works.

Tamara Yates, a part-time guest and part-time volunteer (in the laundry and housekeeping) for a week took on the role of Cruella De Ville.

And, yes, this is our real pastor, Erik Halland (on the right)...a real pastor, dressed for Halloween as a priest/pastor...go figure. With him, Nick Gordan, out inestimable Garbologist.

The spooky lights. The spooky decorations.

Members of the Carpenter family take a break. (Chuck, August, and Steph...and in that order.) If you want to know the true Holden spirit, consider this: as Head of Operations, Chuck had just finished...that day...the supervision of a 2-year planned construction and implementation of wiring a significant part of the village by means of underground wiring. The last stages of that operation had taken the better part of the week and necessitated long power outages...daily. Steph manages the bookstore. The end of October is the end of the fiscal year and the book store had to be inventoried...in the dark. Both jobs get finished and costumes get made and there is still energy for Halloween hoopla into the night.

Lauren Langley, a volunteer Area Head of the book store for the summer...staying longer to help with moving the book store temporarily and with inventory, holds the youngest member of the Holden community, baby Aubrey Gustafson, daughter of Trevor and Angela Gustafson.

During the party, Olaf Coffey enjoys a decorated sugar cookie.

Wearing an all natural and carefully constructed head covering and sporting a wispy all natural beard, Will Mitchell, a Maverick, heads for the dance floor.

One of Holden's three directors, Carol Hinderlie, came to the dance dressed as a hippie and danced to "The Purple People Eater."

High school students Andrew Dutcher, Marta Vegdahl-Crowell, and Grace Coffey get ready to leave the party.

After the activities in the dining hall had ended, children went to one location to see a scary movie ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow") and the adults to another location to watch "Poltergeist."

It was, indeed, a Halloween Night to remember.

And it was such a night to remember that I would like to dedicate the pictures and the descriptions to Maija and Espen Diamond, two children who so enjoy their experience of Holden and their visits here. It was fun, guys! You will have to make it up here one Halloween. In the meantime, I will see you at Christmas! Race you to the bottom of Chalet Hill! I will be wearing my bicycle helmet and an inflated rubber crash suit!