STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Shiver me timbers. Nightmare on Main Street is creeping up on us.
Celebrate the days of yore when Snow White and her Seven Dwarves and Dorothy and her Oz friends frolicked in the streets of Ketchum. And write a new chapter in Ketchum’s venerable Halloween tradition.
The sometimes crypt-ic, always enthusiastic, party gets started at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, as the City of Ketchum closes Main Street to traffic.
DJ Doc Rock and DJ Local from Whiskey Jacques will spin howling good tunes coupled with a laser light show.
There’ll be food trucks with KB’s burritos and pizza for sale in George Kirk’s food pod court next to Whiskey’s.
And the ever-popular costume contest will take part at 10 p.m. with gift certificates to Ketchum restaurants and other prizes on the line.
The party emceed by Andy Gilbert will go on until 1 a.m.
“We’ll have more lights, more lasers, more fog, more everything. Bigger, better, louder and brighter!” said Nick Harman, who organized the party. “And there’s a party going on at the Covey Restaurant for someone’s 40th birthday and they plan to join us. So just before 10 p.m. another hundred people will join in the fun.”
Prizes will be awarded for the scariest, sexiest, most creative and overall best costume. There also will be one awarded for the best group costume. Judges will roam through the crowd between 8 and 10 p.m. handing out tickets to those deemed worthy to take part in the costume finals.
Mike Hoover, who walked away with the grand prize last year for his over-the-top Inspector Gadget outfit, is reportedly vying for Sexiest this year.
Harman never celebrated Halloween in his native England—the Brits celebrated Guy Fawkes Day, roasting an effigy of a would-be assassin who had tried to blow the House of Lords and the House of Commons sky high.
“It only seemed strange to me when I moved here,” Harman said.
Upon moving to Sun Valley, Harman quickly fell in love with the American tradition of Halloween and volunteered to take over Nightmare on Main Street five years ago when the City of Ketchum decided not to renew it.
Each year he raises money through social media, secures prizes from local merchants and then sits back as monsters in tights and even characters like a wall socket and plug, a witch and her broom and a beer bottle and beer keg arrive.
“It’s that time of the year when we’ve got a little bit of slack and we can take a breather and get together as a community to have fun,” said Harman. “Having said that, the number of people from Boise, Idaho Falls and even towns like Rupert are increasing. So, the Limelight Hotel and Hotel Ketchum are even offering Nightmare on Main Street specials this year.”
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