Members of a Ventnor family got dressed up as killer clowns and Jason for the annual Halloween Fest, Saturday on Newport Avenue.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – Maybe it was the 80-degree weather that contributed to the mass of people who turned out for the city’s annual Halloween festivities held on the boardwalk and in the beachfront park on Newport Avenue Saturday. It was definitely a beach day, although most abandoned bathing suits on the sandy beach for some fun, food and frolicking with monsters, movie characters and princesses.
The Halloween Fest, organized by Ventnor Special Events, included food trucks, candy and soft pretzel giveaways, live music in the gazebo and entertainment by fifth, sixth and seventh graders in the Ventnor Middle School Rock/Jazz Band under the direction of music teacher Evan Shea. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Atlantic City brought a rescue boat with engines decorated to look like pumpkins.
Children lined up to pick a pumpkin from the Pumpkin Patch and decorate it with pieces of colored felt. Parents were seen carrying their artistic creations around the park.
But, it was the costumes that were king. Children dressed up as Belle, princesses, Super Mario, aliens, Avatars, killer clowns, Jason and other scary characters.
The Ventnor Home and School Association organized the Halloween parade on the boardwalk starting at Suffolk Avenue, which was well attended by children and families in costume. Those who registered in advance and given a number were judged for prizes by Mayor Lance Landgraf, his wife Kathy Styles-Landgraf and Commissioner Maria Mento.
For his first Halloween, 1-year-old Jonathan Henry Flynn was dressed up as Indiana Jones, complete with leather bomber jacket and a signature fedora his parents purchased online. He was being pulled in a covered wagon decorated with gold fabric to look like the Arc of the Covenant.
Although his parents grew up in Ventnor, the family now lives in Galloway Township, but came back to celebrate the holiday with family, friends and neighbors.
“We did this many times years ago when my daughter was a child,” grandmother Barbara Martella said. “I was part of the Mothers Club, now I’m here enjoying this fabulous day with my grandbaby.”
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