STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
It wasn’t hard to find Waldo on Halloween. There were four of them handing out candy on behalf of Farmers Insurance during Hailey’s Halloween Hoopla.
Redgy and Tamara Christensen joined forces with Tatiana Montenegro and Consuelo Argudin to hand out candy treats, along with plastic teeth, Halloween pencils, camouflage balloons and other knickknacks.
A fire pit sat behind them ready to be lit in case the 57-degree day turned colder when the sun dipped behind Carbonate Ridge.
“We thought it would be pretty cool to show up as a group,” said Tamara Christensen.
Hundreds of children flocked to Hailey’s Main Street on Halloween as merchants handed out treats. The Wood River YMCA provided a bouncy house and Amy Anderson YaYa’s new women’s clothing and gift store hung colored ribbons outside its new store for young’uns and their parents to walk through.
Firefighters handed out treats from the back of their fire truck while members of the Hailey Police Department handed out candy and stickers, rather than traffic tickets, as they patrolled the streets to ensure trick-or-treaters were safe.
Helen and Ben Stone took up a seat on one corner watching princesses and mermaids pass by while Lee Koehmstedt and Jill Swanger stood on another corner in their bright yellow Killer Bees outfits.
“I’ve always loved Halloween,” said Koehmstedt as he brandished a cardboard knife—the killer part of his costume.
Andy Solomon, dressed as a chef, accompanied his daughter Finley, who was dressed as a Pufferfish, which she proudly proclaimed could be poisonous to those who eat it.
“She’s always liked animals,” Andy laughed.
Dang’s Thai Restaurant handed out fortune cookies while First Lite plied Moms and Dads with wine and beer to quench their thirst after two hours of following youngsters through the streets. Members of the Rock Church offered bags of chips and socks from their treasure chest to those who were trying to avoid a sugar high.
Tamara Rowe paraded two service dogs-in-training dressed as devils through the streets.
“It’s a good way to introduce them to crowds,” she said. “Like everyone else, they like the treats.”