Plains Lions host parade of characters

The 1st Annual Plains Lions Club Parade of Costumes at Fred Young Park was filled with an assortment of scary and funny characters, but it was a genie on a magic carpet that took top honors in the contest.

Forty-five kids entered the competition, but when judges Lisa Larson and Cheri Minemyer were done, 8-year-old Tia Bellinger in her homemade genie apparel nabbed first place and $25 in gold Sacagawea coins. Second place went to Arrow Hyde, 10, with his gorilla outfit, taking home $10 in Sacagawea coins, followed by 11-year-old Logan Wall, who was dressed in a suit, hat and violin, getting him $5 in gold coins. All three were Plains residents.

The Plains Lions Club has included a costume contest in its annual Halloween Weenie Roast for countless years, but this was the first time they've had a Parade of Costumes, limited it to 10-year-olds and younger, and had the contest earlier in the day, said Duane Highcrane, the Lions Club president.

Highcrane said the new contest format and time went well and they plan to do the same thing next year. The president guessed that there over 200 people at the event, which went from 5-7 p.m. on Halloween night. The 10 Lions members at the event handed out hot dogs, pop, bottled water, and supplied condiments for the dogs. Highcrane spent about an hour earlier in the week collecting and sharpening the willow sticks used to place the hot dogs over the two open fires. Although not a Lions member, Nick Warren of Plains volunteered his help to keep the fires going. The group handed out nearly 250 hot dogs.

"It's an old tradition as a service to the community," said Highcrane. None of the Lions knew when the tradition began, but Dave Helterline, the most senior member present, said they were doing it when he joined in 1958. The Lions kept busy with a steady stream of visitors for almost two hours. Only Lions members Marv Tanner and his son-in-law, Steve Spurr, the club vice president, dressed in Halloween costumes. Spurr has been a club member for only three years, but for the last seven years, he and his entire family have dressed up for Halloween, going with a specific theme each time. This year, the family, including Tanner's wife, Margo, Steve's wife, Whitney, and their children, Kendall and Cooper, dressed as characters of the Harry Potter movies.

Wayne and Mary Egbert of Sunset Hills Funeral Homes opened their place on Halloween. Wayne said they've been doing it for 10 years and plan to keep the tradition going, although he said they'll order more donuts next year. They opened up the home at 5 p.m. and within two hours all of the 300 donuts they had were gone. They also handed out hot and cold cider and hot chocolate. Wayne said he initially began the event to give parents a chance to rest while the kids dug into the treats, but he said it has really grown over the years.

For the second consecutive year, the United Methodist Church in Plains held pumpkin painting in the church fellowship hall. Ted Seaman of Paradise Gardens gave the church 40 pumpkins for the event. "It's so great to see all these kids here and there's some great costumes," said Pastor Jason Cox.

The Plains Woman's Club provided the paint and permanent markers for the kids to decorate the pumpkins. "There was a good variety. Some painted just the face and some did the whole pumpkin," said Margaret Storoy, a Woman's Club member who manned the painting station.

Organizers were unsure of how many people showed up for the event, but Lyla Sears guessed that perhaps 100-150 people showed up. They gave away nearly all of the pumpkins, but many of the people came for the treats. The church gave out candy, popcorn, drinks, and candy apples, which could be dipped in four different toppings. Shirley Nettleton, a Woman's Club member, said the applies were going so fast, they cut them in quarters and eventually in slices. Cliff Stephens of Paradise ferried people back and forth from the church to Fred Young Park in his trailer hay ride.