GREENFIELD — A crisp, crescent moon hung in the sky as a parade of princesses, superheroes and children’s favorite movie characters made their way to Energy Park Friday for the annual Greenfield Downtown Trick or Treat, Rag Shag Parade and Costume Contest.
“It was a little cold, but it’s always fun to see everyone’s costumes and creativity,” said Christy Moore, director of the Greenfield Recreation Department, which hosts the annual festivities.
The event drew dozens of families to Main Street in Greenfield for trick-or-treating at 4 p.m. Costumed attendees could stop into the various stores for candy ahead of the parade at 5:30 p.m.
The sea of children scattered along the sidewalks with their parents and guardians was a mix of ninjas, clowns, animals and athletes. Kelly Jenkins with the Greenfield Recreation Department said attendance did not seem to be impacted after the event was rescheduled from Halloween night due to inclement weather.
Dressed as a not-so-little Red Riding Hood, Reynolds Whalen, his wife, Julia, as the fairytale’s grandmother and their young daughter, Lily, dressed as a not-so-big, bad wolf, attended the Rag Shag Parade and Costume Contest for the first time after recently moving to Greenfield.
“This is our first year participating,” Julia Whalen said. “We’re having a great time.”
Located along the Greenfield Common were tables where various organizations gave out candy while children and families got their bib numbers to compete in the costume contest.
As families made there way into the park, volunteers held signs to organize groups of contestants based on costume categories, including: best homemade, most original, scariest, cutest, best cartoon character, adult open and group/family.
This year’s judges panel consisted of Tom Dillon of Dillon Chevrolet, Jason Antes who served as disc jockey and judge, Greenfield Children’s Librarian Kay Lyons, Barbara Zaccheo and Donna DuSell.
Attending for their second year in a row was Kelly Morin, her father, John Graves, and their family dressed as characters from “Jurassic Park.” They received second place in the group/family category.
“Last year was our first year attending as a family,” Morin said. “We had so much fun we decided to make it an annual family event.”
Best Homemade — 1st place: Pema Crigler, Greenfield, as a banana slug. 2nd place: Alexander Campbell, Shelburne, as a minecraft character.
Most Original — 1st place: The Ventris Family, Greenfield, as salt and pepper. 2nd place: Ayva Quiles-Call, Greenfield, as a beekeeper.
Scariest — 1st place: Lola Zantouliadis, New Salem, as a clown. 2nd place: Arthur Fitzpatrick, Greenfield, as a jester.
Cutest — 1st place: Maple Pollock, Greenfield, as a piñata. 2nd place: Charlie Jones, Northampton, as a truck.
Best Cartoon Character — 1st place: Amber and Becky Kowal, Leyden, as “The Wizard of Oz” characters. 2nd place: Kayahna Eaton-Soto, Greenfield, as a Minion.
Adult Open — 1st place: Juliet Ellingboe, Rachel and Steve Cronen-Townsend, as Macbeth witches. 2nd place: Christina Gallison, Greenfield, as Beetlejuice.
Group/Family — 1st place: The Marguet, Guy, Fahey and Duprey families, Gill, Greenfield and South Deerfield, respectively, as “Toy Story” characters. 2nd place: The Morin and Graves family, Sunderland and Bernardston, as “Jurassic Park” characters.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.