Halloween events you won’t want to miss
By Josh Hughes
It’s Oct. 23 and Halloween is an eerily 8 days away. Soggy cobwebs line N Garden St., there’s candy wrappers in every trashcan, season two of Stranger Things comes out on Friday and midterms are approaching at an uncomfortable pace. Sounds like a pleasant October in Bellingham, a town with a mysterious and unnerving history that dates back as far as the old Victorian houses lining the York district.
Whether you’re planning on dressing up with friends and spending a night on the town or snuggling up at home giving candy to kids dressed as minions for the fourth year in a row, Bellingham has quite a bit to offer for the Halloween enthusiast. Exploring both the spooky history behind the town, as well as annual events, here’s a rundown of everything creepy you need to know to have a thrilling Halloweekend.
The Good Time Girls, a tour guide group out of Fairhaven, provide yearly walks that shed light on some of Bellingham’s darkest secrets and mysteries. The Gore & Lore Tour, which will run on Oct. 27 and 28 this year, takes people on a theatrical tour that addresses, among other topics, the longstanding prevalence of black cats in the town, Old Town Cafe’s previous existence as a funeral parlor and “Dead Man’s Corner” in Fairhaven— an early twentieth century storefront that showcased dead bodies that had washed up in the bay in hopes of identification.
The Good Time Girls will host the tour on Oct. 27 in Fairhaven at 6 p.m. starting outside the statue of Dirty Dan Harris, and on Oct. 28 in downtown also at 6 p.m. meeting outside SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention. Tickets can be purchased online at https://goodtimegirlstours.com/.
If that didn’t quite whet your appetite for a good fright, look no further than the Waterfront Tavern on Holly St., a longstanding bar that multiple serial killers, including Ted Bundy, used to frequent. Or, on a more lighthearted note, check out the front of Wardner’s Castle on 1103 15th St., located in the South Hill neighborhood, to find the old mansion of James F. Wardner, a wealthy investor who created a hoax by joking about raising a community of black cats on Eliza Island.
One needn’t look much beyond the old willow trees and renovated student houses with unearthed attics and creaking floorboards to understand that Bellingham has a rich past of ghost tales and spooky lore. Whether you take any of it to heart or not, it certainly provides a stellar backdrop for autumnal activities and everything Halloween. Whether it’s a costume and music show at The Mind Palace or a Haunted House inside the Viking Union itself, there’s something for every crowd this weekend.
This Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. in the VU MPR, the AS will be hosting “Nightmare on High Street”, a Haunted House with free food and assorted activities that costs $3 for students with a valid I.D. (so not exactly free food per say). If you’re wanting to get away from Western on the weekend however, Boundary Bay will also be hosting a Haunted House, running on Oct. 27, 28 and 31 that costs $5 and is all-ages until 9 p.m.
Other events this weekend include the Pickford Film Center’s annual “Bleedingham”, a festival of horror short films. The main screening (and award ceremony for WA films) will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 9 p.m. to midnight, but events for the festival run the entire weekend.
Bellingham Circus Guild will host their first annual Halloween show, featuring “hideous and hilarious tricksters, crazy feats of balance, juggling, aerials and acrobats to spook and amaze you,” this weekend on Oct. 28 for all ages and Oct. 31 for 21+.
The Alternative Library will host an Anime Night and Costume Contest in conjunction with Mo’s parlor on Oct. 29 at 8 p.m., and on Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. the First Congregational Church of Bellingham will host their annual “Trunk or Treat”, an event filled with decorated car trunks, games, cider and candy. Fairhaven’s Fourth Friday Art Walk will feature local artist Vikki Jackson guiding people through her crow themed art on Oct. 27, 5 p.m., at A Lot Of Flowers
On Halloween itself, The Mind Palace will be hosting a show for $5 featuring Bob Fossil, Onion the Man and Acovado, and a group of dressed up zombies will dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at Maritime Heritage Park at 8 p.m., followed by a dance party.
If that’s not enough to rattle your brains and overload you on spooky content, check out The Hub Community Bike Shop’s “BIke!O!Ween!” on Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. for a costumed ride and a post-bike dance party, or the Shakedown’s “Monster Mash” free Halloween party the same night. Lastly, there’s always the option of staying home and enjoying a night of scary movies or doing absolutely whatever else you please.
First and foremost, be sure to have a safe Halloweekend, and remember that Western’s services such as the Late Night Shuttle and Green Coats escorts will be available the whole weekend and on Halloween, as with every night of the school year. Here’s to another Halloween solidifying Bellingham’s status as a town of true spook and splendor.