Alton will have its biggest annual event that draws EVERYONE, “Right here in River City,” on October 31. (Unlike some area towns that have their version on other days or nights).

The 91st annual Halloween Parade will begin at 7:30 p.m. just east of Washington Avenue on East Broadway. It will take an hour to proceed west down Broadway to Market Street, giving everyone a chance to park themselves at their favorite spots.

For those who want to have even more fun, show up at Alton Plaza (by the Alton Law Enforcement Center) for the costume contest. What would Halloween be without costumes? If you are too old to trick or treat, this is the way to still have some fun and maybe win some cash.

The East End Improvement Association once again is sponsor of the parade, comprised of volunteers who put in countless hours in preparation and on the night of the event. Debra Frakes is this year’s Parade Committee chairman.

Each year the parade committee selects a marshal from a list of nominations from the public. This year’s marshal is a familiar face, William Kessler of Grafton, former president and chief executive officer of Saint Anthony’s Health Center.

I am sure the committee would appreciate suggestions for future parade marshals. Who would you nominate for the honor? It may be someone who does volunteer work for the community or who has otherwise added to quality of life in Alton. E-mail them to me and I’ll pass them along, I might even add a name or two of people I think should be on the list. What a great honor!

And before I sign off, let’s give some recognition to young artist Vicky Cacciottoli, an Alton High junior who designed this year’s winning Halloween poster.

It’s always fun to do a story (see the Oct. 21 print Telegraph) on these talented students in Lexa Browning-Needham’s classes who create amazing work each year for the contest. If you haven’t seen Vicky’s poster, look around town when you are shopping locally. (I still think it makes the Clark Bridge look like spider webs, but she said she didn’t plan it that way - cool!) Her poster is Alton all the way, except for maybe the witch…

Have fun at the parade, I’ll be dressed as Lois Lane.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 am and is filed under Right Here in River City, The Beat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.