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Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Big Halloween Parade says goodbye Originally published in The Chronicle Vol. 141 October 18, 2023 WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
It appears that the 2023 Big Halloween Parade could be the last. Organizers said on Facebook that they were saddened to announce that due to a lack of traffic control and support, they can no longer “make the event safe enough” for the community to continue. Due to the event’s growth in recent years, keeping the parade safe has become too difficult for the organizers and parade board members Heather Epperly, Jenn Buehler, and Betsy Stephens to handle. The Chronicle spoke with board members Epperly and Buehler about why the event is coming to an end. “We love this parade. We started changing it to a night parade in 2018; we love it. We loved being a part of it, we loved helping the community come together. It’s not a decision that we make lightly,” Buehler said. “We have struggled the last two years to try and make this event safe for our community. With the advertising promoted by others, the event has more than doubled in attendance with the larger crowds, a need for certified traffic control and authority figures has grown exponentially.” Buehler said that with the large crowd, the last two years have seen spectators encroach on the parade route. Buehler said that even with the addition of private security this year, parade-goers have cut in front of oncoming traffic, something Buehler described as pretty terrifying. Regarding volunteers, Epperly and Buehler said they thought they had enough for this year’s event, but challenges with traffic control began
to crop up. One example was the reliance on the St. Helens Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to help control the roadways for the parade. “CERT has always been a huge help for us in the past, but unfortunately, this year, CERT was overwhelmed with parking, and we were unaware that they weren’t able to get out of that parking situation to do our street closures,” Epperly said. “So we had high-traffic spectator areas that were left completely unattended with no CERT control or anything there. Our community volunteers stepped up to help as best they could, but they have no real power as far as spectators are concerned.” One important note is that while safety was a concern, no injuries or incidents were reported during the parade. Buehler emphasized that the lack of authority figures, such as law enforcement officers, made it difficult to manage the large crowds. Barriers to the parade
Buehler, Stevens, and Epperly have voluntarily organized the parade since 2018. Each year, the parade was presented by Epperly’s insurance agency, American Family Insurance. “Our three board members are the original founders of the Big Halloween Parade, and we are still the driving people behind the parade,” Epperly said. “We’ve reached out and tried to get other people in the community to participate on our board, to be part of our committee, but... It looks good on Facebook; a lot of people say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll be there, I’ll do it.” But when they actually have the meetings, nobody shows.” Buehler said they held two meetings for volunteers this year and that about 200 people
said they were interested in going to the meetings, but when the day of the meetings arrived, “nobody showed.” When asked whether anything could change to keep the parade going under their leadership, Epperly said that a lot would have to change for them to continue. “Our biggest concern is safety for the spectators, the particpants, the community members. We would require more authoritative personnel. For us to do that with a thirdparty vendor is just financially unfeasible,” Epperly said. “ We would have to have our local agencies be more involved in it and have more communication with our local agencies.” Epperly also said that she feels the parade has outgrown the infrastructure of St. Helens. Epperly said that infrastructure is lacking to address the parking and traffic caused by the influx of people. Another component is the expense of the parade. Epperly said that she doesn’t think many people realize the parade is privately funded and the cost of the parade is “huge.” Even with sponsors, the financial weight is heavy. “We go out, and we ask for sponsors every year. We got some great sponsors this year that really helped us out, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what it actually costs,” Epperly said. “There’s a lot of things that would have to come forward for us to consider moving forward with another parade.” The funding for the parade that isn’t sponsored is paid for by Epperly and her agency and the “board members’ pockets,” and that doesn’t even include the amount of time it takes to put on a parade like this. Going forward If another party were to
Courtesy photos from Jenni Bandov
take up the parade baton, Epperly said they would be open to discussion, but they haven’t crossed that bridge yet because their decision is still so recent. Part of the reason they announced the cessation of the parade now is because, in past years, they began planning the next Big Halloween Parade as soon as the previous event ended.
When asked whether the cross-promotion of the parade in conjunction with Halloweentown was a burden for the parade organizers, Epperly wasn’t ready to say that. “I don’t know that I would say it’s a burden, but I do believe that the city has made of the parade did grow it faster than what we would have wanted to see,” Epperly said. Going forward, something
Epperly and Buehler emphasized was that they love the community, and they hope that people appreciate the time and effort they put in to bring the event to the community over the past five years. “It’s a lot of hard work. We were very proud of what the parade came to be, unfortunately, the safety aspect is more important,” Buehler said.
Trick-or-treaters coming to Clatskanie Donations
Originally published in The Chief Vol. 132 October 20, 2023 WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
Following the annual parade on Halloween, costumeclad kids and families will flock to downtown Clatskanie to trick-or-treat at the downtown business. Community tradition It’s a tradition that dates back more than 15 years, according to Flowers ‘N Fluff owner Sherri Lumijarvi who is also a Board Director for the Clatskanie Chamber of Commerce. She said the group makes sure that the businesses downtown don’t forget to stock up on candy for the ravenous trick-ortreaters.
The adults dress up and come out with their kids, the family costumes are so neat. It’s really, really cool. ~ Sherri Lumijarvi, Flowers ‘N Fluff Owner
“The grade school has a parade, and when that
Courtesy photo from Sherri Lumijarvi
Each year, trick-or-treaters take over downtown Clatskanie.
ends they all hit the streets, right after the parade, approximately three – and we encourage everyone to hit all the businesses around town,” Lumijarvi said. When asked why it’s important to her to be a catalyst for the event, Lumijarvi said it’s for the memories it creates.
“Childhood memories are very important to me, and the things the community do for the town is very important to me. I do it so that it keeps happening, and I know that it keeps happening,” she said. “I just want kids that live in a small town to know that we have a lot of fun activities here for them.”
The Halloween event is one of the highlights of the fall, and for her part, Lumijarvi said she wants to make sure none of the families or kids hit the streets hungry. Flowers ‘N Fluff will be hosting a chili feed following the Halloween parade and is located at 45 E Columbia River Highway in
Clatskanie. “All the kids are just amazing,” she said. “We get over 300 trick-or-treaters. We do a chili feed here; it’s free chili to the community. They come and get some food before trick-or-treating or after. And then we take donations for Turning Point.”
Any donations that are made go directly to Turning Point Community Service Center. Turning Point is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is run solely by donations from community members, businesses, and United Way. It acts as a food bank and service provider for families in need. It isn’t just candy that they hand out; Lumijarvi said they served up about 300 hot bowls of chili to boot. The chili feed dates back to around 2007 when Flowers N’ Fluff started having a free chili and hotdog night for the community. “It just became a Flowers ‘N Fluff tradition that I hope to keep going forever now we just do chili. It’s so much fun to see all the families come out,” she said. The Clatskanie trick-ortreat is an event that sees the community come out in force, according to Lumijarvi, who added that she doesn’t know any businesses that are open that don’t participate. Lumijarvi said that some of the business owners and employees dress up as well. One of the highlights of the event for Lumijarvi is the families that come out and dress up. “The adults dress up and come out with their kids, the family costumes are so neat,” Lumijarvi said. “It’s really, really cool.”
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October 28, 1 p.m., at 1st Street in St. Helens It’s kids, costumes, and a whole lot of fun. For over 100 years, The Chronicle has presented a children’s parade. This year will be no different. Once again, The Chronicle is partnering with St. Helens Grocery Outlet. The Little Trick or Treaters Parade will be held at 1 p.m. on 1st Street in St. Helens. Line up begins at 12:30 p.m. at the corner of 1st Street and St. Helens Street. Bring a bag to hold your candy. For questions, please call Kelli at 503-397-0116. Hope to see you there!
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