In the 1950’s, throughout Forest Park there were Halloween dances, parades, parties at schools, a costume contest at the Forest Theater and, of course, trick-or-treating. A special tradition was hosted at Trage Bros. Appliances, 7440 Madison – a Halloween drawing contest in the windows. The top winner in 1954 received a table radio, and second and third place winners each received a Bozo record. Every year the popular window painting contest attracted hundreds of local kids to express their inner artist.
In 1955, Forest Park Review Publisher Claude Walker remarked about Halloween:
“Tricks or Treat” have come a long way since my childhood days….the stress was on the “Tricks” rather than the “Treat….”
I know this will probably come as a shock to many of my younger readers because they never have experienced outdoor plumbing, however a favorite sport of yesteryear on Halloween night was to tip the “plumbing” over. Needless to say, this did not create any good will as far as the womenfolk in the family were concerned. Dumping garbage cans, carrying away fences, hauling away riggs, and waxing, rather than soaping widows were standard pastimes of those days.
November 3, 1955
