“We’re expecting 800 to 1,000 kids,” said Bob Carson outside his home as the first - and for the most part the tiniest - trick-or-treaters started to arrive, well before sunset.
Some families were out earlier than usual because they also wanted to attend the Halloween Carnival at the Community Center where they could play games, win prizes and get more sweets.
Costumes among the younger set were heavy on princesses and pirates, Power Rangers and The Little Mermaid with scattered aliens and pint-sized vampires and every costume imaginable in between.
“Yeah, it’s a big spider,” Bob Carson said of the huge black, furry many-legged creature on the front porch.
Leslie Carson, dressed as a witch for Witching Night, was greeting the children on the porch and every once in a while the spider would jump in the air.
The spider, said Bob Carson, “only works because of the fishing line,” making it jump.
Around the corner Aaron Benner was working in his front yard setting the stage for a creepy tableau.
Benner was scattering dry leaves amid the plants in the otherwise bare yard but he gestured towards a covered object, noting there was a television set under it.
“When it gets dark,” he confided, “I’m going to be inside it... “
Another home featured a half-dozen or so blow ups including one holding ghosts surrounded by swirling bats, “Probably paper,” according to a bystander who was enjoying the show
Skillin-Carroll Mortuary was the natural place for a festive gathering with several costumed characters greeting passersby and children stopping for candy.
Right next door at Barbara Kroon’s home adult candy helpers were enjoying highballs while handing out candy eyeballs to the waves of children that were coming up to the door.
Not only was Kroon expecting a deluge of trick-or-treaters but also possibly rain.
“I’ve been checking the weather all day,” Kroon said. “At this point it says 30 percent chance by 6 p.m., 40 percent by 7 p.m., 50 percent by 8 p.m. and 100 percent by 11 o’clock. This is our eleventh year on East Santa Paula Street and I remember one year, towards the beginning, there was a deluge... and it didn’t stop them one bit! I couldn’t believe it!”
Most people, said Mike Adams, just stay on Santa Paula Street but he and his wife Noel were nevertheless ready to serve wandering trick-or-treaters from the front porch of their 8th Street home... and enjoy some snacks themselves.
Many children were wearing “glow” accessories distributed by Santa Paula Firefighters. The program, which makes trick-or-treaters easier to spot in the dark, has been sponsored by Santa Paula Citizens Corps since 2010 with financial support of the firefighters.
