Hamilton’s Halloween Includes Downtown Scarecrows

The COVID-19 threat has changed traditional Halloween activities throughout the world this year. In Hamilton, the Hamilton Players usually have a haunted stage fun house. Not this year. Instead, they've filled the stage with excess costumes and other clothing items from the costume shop for sale. (see photo below) They're selling them from 12 noon to 5 p.m. each day through Friday, October 30. And the sale includes other items from the back stage, including a spotlight and an audio soundboard. Good prices and you need to wear a mask, with a limited number of people allowed inside the Hamilton Playhouse during the sale. The playhouse is at 100 Ricketts Road, west of Hamilton.

Meanwhile, scarecrows have sprouted up in downtown Hamilton. The Hamilton Downtown Association cancelled the annual Halloween Kids Parade, which would've been huge Saturday and worrisome as far as coronavirus spread. Also, the Hamilton City Council has recommended no trick or treating door-to-door in town this year. Instead, all this week, many of the businesses in the downtown area have put out imaginative scarecrows along the sidewalks. And each of the displays has a little bowl with individually wrapped candy. Kids can dress up anytime this week and stroll along Main Street for some candy gathering. Afternoons are best. I saw a collection of costumed kids and parents doing that yesterday (photo below). There are even some scarecrows on the downtown blocks of North and South 2nd Street. (photos below) But that's not all...

The Ravalli County Fairgrounds is the site of a Harvest Fest for the kids from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Families will be asked to continue moving on through the inside activities, observing social distancing and wearing masks.

Out at the Daly Mansion, there will be "Trunk or Treats" on Halloween for two hours, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Families can park in the parking lot, keeping the social safety conditions in mind, and stroll from location to location, gathering treats on the north and south lawns of the Mansion, up to the grand porch. The folks at the mansion were disappointed that they weren't able to hold the Mansion Murder Mystery evenings or the Haunted Hayrides, so this is taking their place.

Whatever you do this Halloween, be safe. It truly is scary out there.