Today's special: Spooky

Halloween has morphed into Howell-oween at The Slider Café on Morris Street in La Conner.

Managers Levi and Kimberly Howell have decked out the restaurant with creative and colorful decorations that celebrate the cute rather than scary elements of the otherwise spooky holiday.

The Howell-oween theme has even been enlisted for their daughter Annabelle's Oct. 27 birthday party at the café.

Turns out, the Howell family isn't alone when it comes to embracing the Halloween spirit.

"It makes everybody happier at work," server Noelle Ford, also an accomplished vocalist, said while singing the praises of the elaborate décor. "Customers come in and their eyes light up right away. We get compliments from them every day. It just starts everybody off in a good mood."

There's an in-house debate, however, over who and what inspired the café's unique Halloween look.

"It was my idea," insisted nine-year-old Anna Howell when interviewed by the Weekly News Sunday. "It goes with my birthday theme."

Her mom had a slightly different take. She said it was Slider Café owner Pat Ball who put the Halloween project in motion.

"The town really loves Christmas," Howell reflected, "and Pat mentioned that he wished it could go on all year long. He said that during Christmas people are always smiling, so we took that into account."

Howell, blessed with an inherent gift for art, envisioned the café adorned with an array of inflated Kraken arms, black and orange paper lanterns, spider webs, autumnal window streamers, witches' hats, black-winged skeletons and much, much more.

She even thought of setting up a free photo booth.

"It was something we wanted to do to open it up to local people," she said. "We see lots of families out there taking photographs even when we're not open.

"I had some ideas in my head," she added. "There was this feeling that I wanted people to have when they come in the door."

Howell ordered the decorations and over the course of three days – an estimated 42 hours – the café was transformed into Halloween Central. She and employee Dan Torseth did most of the decorating while Levi Howell and Lilly Ford ran the kitchen.

Café customer Phil Smoots donated pumpkins and corn stalks to the cause.

"Our customers love it," said Ford, who when not cooking at the Slider Café attends both Burlington-Edison High and Skagit Valley College. "They walk in and say that none of the other restaurants are doing this. People even come back with their families so they can see all the decorations."

La Conner Elementary School teacher Judy Zimmerman was among those checking that box.

"She saw it," said Slider patron Karla Reynolds, "and said she had to bring her grandkids in to see it."

In some cases, folks drop in not to dine but to check out the decorations, Lily Ford said.

Kimberly Howell said the large-scale decoration plan became a viable Halloween celebration option because the restaurant is within La Conner's Historic Preservation District, thus limiting the amount and type of signage that can be placed on the former fuel station building.

"Signage is regulated," she explained, "but the Town doesn't have any problem with decorating. They're all for it. We looked at the Town codes and went with it."

It proved to be a boo-tiful approach.

"Have you ever seen Halloween done like Christmas?" Howell asked. "We made it like a Halloween store."

The Howells and Slider Café staff aren't stopping there. Once the calendar turns to November, they'll swap the Halloween vibe for a holiday season motif. In fact, they've already put out Thanksgiving-friendly tablecloths.

The next round of Slider Cafe decorations is in the "to be announced" category, said Howell.

"We have lots of ideas floating around," she insisted.

But for now, guys and ghouls alike are invited to enjoy a truly fang-tastic atmosphere at the La Conner restaurant.