PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Skeletons, Disney characters, dinosaurs, astronauts and even a few police officers were just a handful of the scary and colorful characters that roamed the Sargent Family Community Center on Friday evening in Presque Isle.
Hundreds of families arrived to celebrate Halloween early during the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club’s second annual Monster Mash party. Children and family members of all ages played games, danced, posed for photos, took part in a cupcake walk and spent time doing crafts in a space provided by the Wintergreen Arts Center.
Liz Farley, an event organizer and Kiwanis member, said that the idea for the Monster Mash came about last year when the club discussed how they could get entire families out and about together during the Halloween season.
“There are a lot of Halloween events for kids or just for adults, but we weren’t seeing any that really involved families,” Farley said. “We wanted to give families a safe place to dress up and have fun together.”
Farley said that an estimated 200 families attended last year’s Monster Mash and that she expected to possibly see even more this year. In the weeks leading up to Friday’s party she heard from many local families about how excited they were about planning their special costumes for the evening.
One of those families was the Waugh family, of Caribou, whose sons Ben and Sam played the roles of police officers while mom Christa, dad Mike and older sister Maddy were robbers that the boys successfully apprehended.
“We wanted to come up with a costume idea that would be fun for all five of us,” said Christa Waugh.
Also dressing festive for the occasion were Patrick and Arizona Scott, who came to the party as Alice and the Mad Hatter from “Alice in Wonderland,” along with Patrick’s daughter, Courtney Gardiner, who dressed as the Queen of Hearts.
“This is our first time coming,” said Patrick Scott. “It’s great that we can bring Courtney and that there are other kids and families.”
Proceeds from the $10 ticket sales for the event will go toward the Kiwanis Club’s annual Christmas Project, which provides meals, meal cards and presents to children and families in Aroostook County. For more information visit http://pikiwanisclub.homestead.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/pikiwanis/.
