KENT, Conn.—Kent was certainly in the Halloween spirit last Friday, on Halloween, when the Kent Chamber of Commerce threw its town-wide holiday bash.
The streets were again thronged with “ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties” of all varieties.
The streets rang with music punctuated by good-natured shouts and screams. Teams of volunteers helped to keep real danger away as they ushered revelers safely back and forth across Route 7.
Stores, accoutered in “cobwebs,” ghostly apparitions, skeletons and more, remained open, spilling light out onto the street and welcoming trick-or-treaters to their doors. Groups of costume-clad children and their guardians roamed neighboring Lane and Elizabeth streets, collecting even more booty.
The crowd started to gather early at Falcon Field where a flash mob of “zombies” was expected to dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at 7 p.m. Started several years ago by South Kent School, the flash mob has become an anticipated addition to the town’s Halloween celebration and this year, under the direction of choreographer Kimberly Compton, it was expanded to include 40 dancers from South Kent School, Marvelwood and Kent Center School.
“People were so enthusiastic and excited,” reported Compton after the event. “I received calls from people even before it happened thanking me for doing it.”
She started working with South Kent and KCS students in September and extended to Marvelwood in early October.
“Working around private school schedules is not easy,” she said, “but the Kent Center kids and parents were super-easy to work with and brought the kids to South Kent, so they had more time to work on it.”
Compton is parish administrator at St. Andrew’s Church and says she “would not call [herself] a choreographer by trade,” but added that she has “tons of experience in theater.” South Kent reached out to her to take over the “Thriller” choreography after her spring musical production of “The Hang Up” at Kent Center School.
“If I get called back next year, I would like to continue to involve more kids and have something unexpected each year to keep it fresh,” she said. “I was really touched by how people responded and it was really cool to be part of.”
Gary Kidd, co-owner of 45 on Main and one of the organizers of the Halloween bash, said that everything went off smoothly during the evening, including the Halloween contest at his store, where hundreds had registered for a costume contest judged by moviemaker and musician Rob Zombie and his wife, Sherri Moon Zombie. The Zombies, who live in Kent, had pledged to match all donations made to the Kent Food Bank during the contest.
Contest winners’ names are not available as the sheer number of contestants meant prizes were awarded by entrants’ numbers rather than names.
Across the street at Morrison Gallery, owner Billy Morrison had the gallery open for those who wanted to see Rob Zombie’s artwork exhibit. Outside, on a large screen, Morrison screened a Halloween movie.
