About 12,000 people crowded the streets to see Topton’s 59th Annual Halloween Parade Saturday evening featuring 91 floats of groups and bands.
The parade, organized by the Topton Community Outreach Club, costs $12,000 to $15,000 annually.
“The parade is our biggest community event. To attract quality entries, we give prize money for the best floats,” said Tim Conrath, TCOC. “It’s expensive to organize a parade.”
Some of the expenses include fees charged by the bands, porta-potties, rental equipment, newspaper advertising, etc. There was a collection taken up at the end of the parade to help defray the costs for next year’s parade.
Communities participating included, but not limited to, Brandywine Heights, Kutztown, Fleetwood, Oley, Trexlertown, and Weisenberg. Just to name a few of the many groups that were in the parade included the Rajah Shriners Tin Lizzies, the Old Time Plow Boys Club, Inc., and even Scooter the Crazy Car put in a guest appearance. There were five divisions of floats and groups competing in front of two stands of judges. One was positioned at the beginning of the parade and one at the end.
For Katie Hoch, parade judge, some of the prior year’s themed floats that really stood out for her were Willy Wonka and a Pirate Ship. Hoch looks for creativity, effort and uniqueness and said the hardest thing is when they’re really that good. Hoch has been judging the Topton Halloween Parade for 10 years.
David Wojs said when he and his family lived in Topton and used to hold parade parties, he and his family and friends joined up along the parade route with trays of pizza, chairs and blankets. They’ve celebrated Halloween beginning with the parade for the past six to eight years. While the parade is their Halloween tradition, so is decorating their home.
“We cut the eyeballs out on a skeleton so we could see out the front door and scare people,” said Branden Mininger. “It covers the whole window so we cut the eyeballs out so we could scare people.”
Alwina Baez, 10, said when she and her sister, Maddy Griffis, 6, get ready for Halloween, they go in the attic to find their costumes and then look for warm things to go underneath like long sleeves and pants. They were prepared for the chilly evening.
“Then we dig through our accessories to find necklaces, ears, antennas, all that kind of stuff,” said Baez.
She and her sister also get to help decorate their home with handmade crafts from something as simple as spray paint, paper and tree branches.
“We take a huge branch, we spray paint it black and then we cut out white, gray and black bats and then we take string and then we hang them down from the branch inside,” said Griffis.
Baez added, “On sparkly paper we trace bats and owls and then put them on the black branch.”
Halloween is especially a fun time for Samaru Rivera, 10, Reading, because her birthday is just before Halloween. Her celebration starts with the Halloween parade, and continues with a birthday party, trick-or-treating with her friends, and putting up scary decorations on her porch.
“We usually set up scary stuff on our porch. A big clown and it looks like its coming down and a ghoulie that hangs up on the corner and an angel that has long blonde hair and pumpkins and rats,” said Rivera.
Bill and Yvonne Buterbaugh, Oley, were visiting with family in Topton for the parade.
“We bake a lot. We bake with pumpkin, we bake pumpkin pie, and we made a butternut squash soup,” said Yvonne.
Buterbaugh also crafts wreaths for holidays and for Halloween this year crafted a three-foot wreath out of wire mesh and burlap. Buterbaugh said it’s orange and black glitter with a big spider.
The Buterbaugh’s had stopped to warm up with beverages from Michelle Lorah’s Perk Up Truck. Besides The Perk Up Truck, attendees loaded up with funnel cakes, pizza, pierogies, cotton candy, and other favorite foods often found at carnivals.
The Topton Community Outreach Club also sponsors other community events such as a fishing rodeo, an Easter egg hunt, school scholarships, and an annual benefit golf tournament. Monthly sausage sandwich sales and local business donations fund these events.
2014 Topton Halloween Parade Winners
FloatsFirst Place: Letterman’s Diner – Fish Bowl and Under Water Theme
Second Place: Brandywine Minstrel – A Night at the Tony’s
Third Place: Brandywine Blast – Tribute to Blast Baseball
GroupsFirst Place: St. John’s Church, Kutztown – The Light of the World
Second Place: Impact Twirlers – Making an Impact
Third Place: Boyertown Legionette Twirlers
Scout GroupsFirst Place: Longswamp Cub Pack 57 – Don’t be Scared of Scouting
Second Place: Bally Cub Pack 586 – How to Train Your Dragon
Third Place: Venture Crew 1 – Alice in Wonderland
Honorable Mention: Venture Crew 575 – This is Halloween
MasqueradersFirst Place: PitStop the Clown – Harold Reitz
Second Place: Scooter’s Clown Car
High School ClubsGrand Prize: Brandywine Heights Sportsman Club – Hunting and Fishing