Halloween Parade

TANEYTOWN AREA Recreation Council is making plans for its annual Halloween parade and costume judging contest.The parade will form on Middle Street at 6: 30 p.m. Oct. 29 and will begin at 7 p.m., heading west on Baltimore Street to the Carnival Grounds off Memorial Drive.Floats will be judged during the parade and costume judging will be done at the Carnival Grounds. Contestants may enter their costumes in one of the following categories: prettiest, most unusual, scariest/ugliest, funniest, most symbolic of Halloween, store bought, groups of two and groups of three or more.

Sandy rained on Havre de Grace's annual Halloween parade, but even a superstorm could not curtail trick-or-treating in the battered waterfront town. The Harford County city of 13,000 on the banks of the Susquehanna River postponed its annual Halloween parade and rescheduled it for Sunday because of the storm. But city officials gave the door-to-door quest for candy on Wednesday the go-ahead. "We are 95 percent back to normal," said Mayor Wayne H. Dougherty. "There is still the kid who loves Halloween in me, and I wanted the kids to enjoy the night.

American Legion Post 31 of Westminster will hold its 59th annual Halloween parade today through the downtown area. Groups will participate with floats, vehicles and marching bands. Parade participants should line up at 6 p.m. at the Masonic building on Monroe Street. The parade will begin at 7 p.m. and travel along Pennsylvania Avenue to Main Street and east to Longwell Avenue to the city playground, where cash awards will be presented. Large or heavy-duty trucks, skateboards, inline skates and bicycles are not permitted.

Happy Halloween, dear readers, In celebration of Halloween, the annual Havre de Grace Halloween Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at Washington Street and Congress Avenue. Dress in costume and register by 6 p.m. with the sponsor, Havre de Grace Recreation Committee, 410-939-6724 or hdgactivityctr@harfordcountymd.gov . Additionally, Good Cause will hold a Fall Fest in Tydings Park, Oct. 30 from 3 to 5 p.m., full of free, family fun including games, face painting, live music, moon bounce, etc. Contact 443-502-0152 info@serveagoodcause.org or http://www.serveagoodcause.org.

AREA GHOSTS and goblins are invited to march through New Windsor as part of the community's Halloween Parade on Oct. 30.Participants may register starting at 6 p.m. at the old New Windsor Middle School. The parade is set to begin there at 7 p.m. The route will end at the fire hall.Judges will select the scariest, funniest and most original costumes in these age groups: 5 and younger, 6 to 8, 9 to 12, and 13 and older.Participants will receive treats, courtesy of the Sulphur Spring Lions Club.

A HALLOWEEN PARADE 14 years ago convinced me that I wanted to live in Crofton. A friend had invited me and my toddlers to visit for the day and to watch the parade with her family.The sun gleamed from a clear blue sky through trees of orange and yellow leaves. The children were all dressed in their Halloween finery, and the parents were just beaming their love. I decided that this was the kind of community I wanted for my family.So we moved to Crofton, and we've enjoyed the parade every year since.

Saturday night was cool and crisp, just right for a bonfire and pumpkin-carving contest. More than 30 people turned out for the event at Hardy Field next to Crofton Elementary School. With luck, this will become an annual part of Crofton's Halloween celebration.Don't forget the Halloween parade Saturday sponsored by the Crofton Kiwanis Club. The parade will form at Crofton Woods Elementary School and step off at noon down Crofton Parkway past the Village Green, where hundreds of youngsters dressed in their Halloween finest will join the parade and march to Crofton Elementary School.

Want to know what's happening in Severna Park? Read on.If you'rea child, one of the best Park neighborhoods to live in is Chartridge, where each October, the community association sponsors a big Halloween Parade.Bingo the Clown entertained some 300 kids Saturday as they marched through the neighborhood showing off their costumes.There was also a moon bounce for gravity-defying youngsters, helium-filled balloons for the earthbound and bags of treats, other than sweets, donatedby North Arundel Hospital.

Pint-sized creatures, comical or creepy, are invited to show off their trick-or-treat finery on the morning of Oct. 31 during the Mount Airy Halloween Parade and Children's Costume Contest.Area children, from tiny tots to 12-year-olds, are eligible to compete in the event, which is sponsored jointly by the Mount Airy Area Jaycees and Mount Airy Lions Club, said Jaycee chairman Merry Lynn Barrie.Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. near the Mount Airy Train Station on Main Street.The street will be closed briefly for the 9:30 a.m. parade, a short stroll from the train station to the municipal parking lot.At the parking lot, children who have been registered for the costume contest prior to the parade will be grouped according to their ages.

The 500 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Simbas, fudge brownies and assorted other costumed characters who marched in Westminster's Halloween parade last week were treading in 64-year-old footprints."

Astronauts, doctors, firemen, mad scientists, princesses and witches went door-knocking in Oakenshawe on Sunday. They looked awfully young for their chosen professions, but just the right age to be trick-or-treating. Dozens of children and their parents joined Oakenshawe's annual Halloween parade, while Remington scared up a good crowd for its new Hauntingdon event in the 2900 block of Huntingdon Avenue. The two events were among many in north Baltimore last weekend, including a Halloween Haunted Adventure at the Roosevelt Recreation Center in Hampden and merchant-sponsored trick-or-treating and a costume contest on The Avenue in Hampden.

Ghosts, goblins and ghouls took to the streets of Westminster on Oct. 25 for city's Halloween Parade. Marching bands and community groups led the procession down Monroe Street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Main Street, but the stars of the show were in the crowd as well, with many parade watchers coming in full costume to join the spirit of the occasion. People lined Main Street and Longwell Avenue as units passed by, many handing out candy and mingling with the crowd. The evening parade, a tradition in downtown Westminster, is hosted by American Legion Post 31.

An ill-timed trick of nature that threatens rain and even light snow on Saturday has put a kink into the "Great Big Halloween Parade of Light & Luminaria," an annual tradition in Patterson Park. "The parade is being rescheduled for Sunday, when it is supposed to be a little chilly, but clear," said Megan Hamilton, program director of the Creative Alliance at The Patterson, the organizer of the fanciful event. "We have had to change dates two or three times before and it always ended up being an amazing event.

Bring your kids to the 23rd annual Halloween Costume Parade and Contest at the Festival at Bel Air in Harford County on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 11 a.m. It's free. All kids who dress up and march in the parade get candy and trick-or-treat bags. The event features live music, cash prizes for best costumes and a special cash prize randomly drawn from all attendees. WXCY-FM radio personality Dave Hovel will be judging costumes, and kids and parents can sign up to win different free items from merchants at the Festival at Bel Air. Every child is invited to trick-or-treat at participating stores at the shopping center afterward, until 2 p.m. The 23rd annual Festival at Bel Air Halloween Costume Parade is held rain or shine in the parking lot in front of Chuck E Cheese's.

At Stevens Forest Elementary School, as at many other Howard County schools, yesterday offered a chance for children to parade in their Halloween finery. Pupils from kindergarten through fifth grade at the Columbia school participated in singing Halloween songs and parading in their costumes on the blacktop.

Friends of the Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway, in cooperation with Patapsco Valley State Park, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Howard County Tourism, will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Grist Mill Trail Extension and its pedestrian bridge over the Patapsco River. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, just north of the intersection of Ilchester and Bonnie Branch roads. Shuttle buses will run from 9 a.m. to noon from Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 4795 Ilchester Road.

NEW YORK - It's high season for tourists in New York City. Sure, most of the 116,000 or so visitors slowly wandering the streets right now are here for the museums, the shopping and the night life. But NYC & Co., the city's conventions and visitors bureau, wants even more. Apparently the organization thinks the title "greatest city in the world" is not enough to tempt everybody, so it came up with a list of alternative superlatives to attract golf history buffs, Victorian greenhouse admirers and demonic parade fans.

The gigantic fish, as translucent and whispery as a dream, wears an aquamarine mantle of scales on its tracing-paper skin. Temporarily speared on a bamboo pole, it waits for the person who will lift it high enough to glide through the currents of light above the wide green sea of Patterson Park. This sculpture is part of the graceful and glowing company of illuminations that will mark the Sixth Annual Halloween Lantern Parade, a community-created art spectacle in southeast Baltimore. As many as 1,000 people are expected to bring homemade lanterns to the park at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 to partake in this annual performance of art and movement -- an artistic collaboration between parade director Molly Ross and neighborhood residents.

CENTRAL Homestead breakfast set for Saturday The Union Mills Homestead will serve a pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday in the tannery building on the grounds at 3311 Littlestown Pike. The historic Shriver grist mill will provide fresh stone-ground flours for making buckwheat, cornmeal and whole wheat pancakes. The menu also will include country sausage, juice and coffee. The cost is $6 for all you can eat. Tours of the Shriver homestead and grist mill will be available from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The gift shop opens from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Information: 410-848-2288.