_MG_0854.jpg

ILWACO — Once a year, for one night in October, a sleepy street comes alive in Ilwaco.

Hundreds of ghouls, ghosts, goblins, dinosaurs, skeletons, vampires, and at least one human-sized hot dog and one chainsaw-wielding clown came to Lake Street for Halloween night festivities last Thursday, Oct. 31.

Trick-or-treaters, many with families and others in groups with friends, were spread over a couple blocks in the downtown core, between First and Advent Avenue, with several local businesses and residences offering Halloween-related fun and revelry in between.

Some jogged — others ran — to the ‘Ghostbusters’ themed house at 414 Lake St., where a squad of ghostbusters on the front deck were busy deploying ‘full-size’ candy bars by request down a six-foot tube into the hands of trick-or-treaters awaiting below.

Reese’s, Hershey’s and Crunch chocolate bars were the most popular requests.

Meanwhile, a mysterious fog billowed from the front entrance to the Ilwaco Fire Department, beckoning brave souls who dare enter. The real scare, however, awaited at the end of the haunted halls, where a chainsaw-wielding clown chased unsuspecting participants and spooked passersby as they exited, generating screams and laughter from onlookers.