IN SHORT: Pirate costumes are most popular this year as residents enjoy haunted houses, festivals.
By HEATHER HARTSELL AND RICK KRON
Leader staff writers
Pirate costumes top the list for the most sought-after Halloween costumes for this year’s festivities Tuesday, Oct. 31, thanks in part to the popularity of the Disney movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” in theaters earlier this year.
“We’ve ordered twice as many pirate costumes and accessories than we normally do, and we’re still running out,” Teresa Dow, Party City manager in North Little Rock, said.
Halloween Express-North Little Rock manager Jaunita Horn said they too are selling lots of pirate costumes.
“We sell a great number of different priced costumes, and even in our nicer costumes, Leg Avenue, we’re selling a lot of pirates,” Horn said.
Men, young and old alike, have flocked to the costume stores wanting to be Disney’s Capt. Jack Sparrow and if not for a variation of the pirate theme, it’s for anything else Disney.
Top costumes for girls, if not choosing the pirate route, are Disney princesses like Snow White and Cinderella and any sort of fairy.
For babies, ladybugs are the most popular costumes. Pet owners are buying devil horn headbands for cats and dressing dogs up as Yoda, from the popular science-fiction movie series “Star Wars.”
There’s plenty to do before Halloween, starting with Sherwood’s Fall Fest this Saturday. Three of the most popular haunted houses are in Austin, Lonoke and Jacksonville.
Austin’s haunted house will produce scares at 103 Hendricks St. It opened Friday and is sponsored by the fire department. It will stay open each night from 7:30 until the last victim goes through. The cost is $5.
Jacksonville’s haunted house will be “boo-ing” the night away now through Oct. 31 at 618 W. Main in the old theater.
The frights start at 6 p.m. The cost is $12 for adults and $8 for children.
Lonoke Department of Health and Human Service’s Fear Factory also opens Friday inside the former Pet Quarters building on east Highway 70.
It will open this weekend and next Friday and Saturday, as well as Oct. 30-31. Admission is $7.
Other area festivities include:
- Sherwood Halloween Carnival at Sherwood Forest, at 1111 W. Maryland Ave., Oct. 31 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It is free to the public.
- Ward Annual Fall Festival at the Ward Municipal Complex, from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. Carnival games will cost 25 cent each and fall pictures will be available for $3.
- The 15th Annual Boo at the Zoo at the Little Rock Zoo, this Friday and Sunday, then Oct.26, 27, 29 and 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. The cost is $5 per person and parking is free.
- Campus Halloween Party at the Arkansas State University-Beebe on Dewitt Henry Drive, Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m.
You can visit two area pumpkin patches — the Barnhill patch at 277 Sandhill Road, Lonoke, which is open daily until 7 p.m., and Hidden Valley Farm, 719 Ferncliff in Little Rock, which is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Oct. 30.