Halloween paraders flooded First Street Friday

The happiest half hour – well, 45 minutes – in La Conner happened once again last Friday afternoon, when promptly at 3:10 p.m. a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office motorcycle deputy turned his siren and lights on and led the annual Halloween Parade of – literally – kids of all ages down First Street from Morris Street toward Maple Hall.

It was hard to tell who enjoyed it more: the parents, grandparents, town residents gathered to watch on the street, the occasional tourist caught in the commotion, shop owners and staff or the kids.

Everyone basked in an absolutely beautiful blue sky, bright sun, end-of-October afternoon.

The kids came in every size, shape and hue, will beyond their skin colors.

There were green Godzillas, pink princesses, astronauts in either orange or white, brown and reflector striped firefighters, pirates in black, but also purple or green. These days some princesses and witches also come in blue, green, purple and sometimes white – and they did last Friday.

There were white suited clowns with black polka dots and matching striped pants leg, with white heads.

Witches’ hats and non-witches’ hair came in black and the colors of and beyond the rainbow: blue, green, red, pink, purple and yellow.

There were bird masks, skeleton masks, hockey goalie masks, marshmallow heads, football helmets and space helmets. There were father-son matches and mother-daughter pairs. There was a light saber wielding Luke Skywalker mom and her Ewok baby. At least one wagon was outfitted as a pirate ship. The letter of the day was Arrr, the pirates’ favorite, of course.

Who were behind all those masks and make-up, either in costume or as costumers? Who knows?

But the scariest mask of all dangled from one outstretched hand of Mayor Ramon Hayes. With his arms spread wide and a big smile on his face, he asked, “Can you guess my costume? A pause. “Anti-masker.”

That, like all frights, was chilling, and a good joke from a fervent mask supporter.

The coronavirus pandemic is the reason La Conner s Halloween Parade was a ghost last year. Last week it roared back to life in spook-tacular fashion.

How much energy was exhibited and how many crashes from sugar highs and lows occurred during the weekend was neither tracked nor reported.