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Safe scares 
Decorations in the front yard of the Marburger residence on Lexington Street attract children from all over town, according to Marlene Marburger, who decorates extravagantly for Halloween.
photo by Jason Schaefer |
By Jason Schaefer Spooktacular offers thrills for whole family Creepy crawlies, ghosts and goblins are on their way to town at the annual Taylor Spooktacular, chock-full of scares to make you jump, scream and shiver — and laugh your head off. At the beginning of the Halloween season, the City of Taylor is asking residents for a helping hand to make this event one of the biggest ever. This year the city will make some changes to the festival. The festival will be held Oct. 30 — not on Halloween, because of a conflict with the Taylor Ducks varsity football game that Friday night — from 6 to 9 p.m. in downtown Taylor. The Taylor Jaycees and the Taylor Main Street Program will move the spook house from the old police station in Heritage Square Park to right next door to the Howard Theater. Shawn Jonas, Jaycees management vice president, needs help building the maze for the spook house as well as volunteers to dress up in costume for scares. “If anybody’s interested in helping us put it together, we’re always looking,” Jonas said. Construction for the haunted house will begin next week, after inspection of the building Thursday, and will take about two weeks. The house is built in a maze with wooden walls to direct the flow of visitors and to create scare spots. “It’s like when you’re coming around a corner or down a hallway, in an open area there’ll be a body in a casket, or somebody operating or where somebody jumps out and scares you,” Jonas said about the house. “It’s got quite a few scares.” It will take patrons about five minutes to walk through. Jonas never scares people, because he prefers to conduct the tours, he said. He usually dresses up as an old-west sheriff or a police officer. The spook house was moved from the former jail due to deterioration of the building. In addition to the haunted house, the Spooktacular will feature food and activity booths in Heritage Square Park. Spaces are currently open for any business, club, civic organization or other group, and are free of charge. “If an organization wants to sell Frito pies or whatever, they can do it,” said Main Street Director Jean Johnson said. “It’s an opportunity for school organizations to come out and do fundraising.” Other activities will also be available at a variety of businesses downtown. The Taylor Merchants Association will spearhead a collection of about 30 free events downtown for children, including a haunted duck pond, cartoons at the Howard Theatre, a bounce house and Creepy Creature Golf in front of Taylor Sporting Goods. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Johnson said. “There was probably 5,000 people downtown last year, and we’re hoping for that many this year. There’s going to be plenty of candy, toys and prizes and other stuff for the kids downtown.” City National Bank will sponsor a costume contest “where all the little goblins can come together and show off their costumes,” Johnson said. The Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the Little Tots Boo-House for children 6 and under. Main Street will be closed from Second to Fifth streets, and side streets will be closed between Porter and Talbot streets. Contact Fred Switzer, Taylor community activity director, at (512) 352-3463 to make free booth reservations.
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