Caroline Heffner, Michaela Bair and Nick Gummo carve pumpkins.
Written By Lisa Breslin
Gooey eyeballs. Rubber bats. Spiders lurking in webs that brush you as you pass: the essentials for the perfect Halloween party, sometimes dating back generations in Carroll County families.
They all have one thing in common: When it comes to the insatiable urge to scare the scream out of people, you either got it or you don’t.
If you watch for scare tactics all year round and keep files and stockpiles of supplies – you got it.
If you drive past the 65-year-old neighbor’s house-the one with ghosts fanning in the trees and RIP tombstones in the yard and think, “She’ll never grow up,” – you don’t.
If you pick up produce at the grocery store or look into a jar of olives and immediately imagine it as body parts in your haunted garage – you got it.
If you worry that other people’s obsession with Halloween is unhealthy or sacrilegious – you don’t.
On the other hand, Some families steer clear of ghouls and goblins and carve pumpkins instead. They get it, too.
For eight years, the Bairs of Westminster have gathered more than 40 friends and family members for Halloweenies (hotdogs with all the fixings) and potluck.
The group carves pumpkins for hours. Then they chuck the muck in the lush woods nearby and call it a day.
Pumpkin carving at the Bairs involves Dremel tools, thanks to friend, David Pruitt, who worked at Black & Decker.
“We all dig in and create for hours,” said Jessica Bair. “And it is not a party without hot apple cider from Baughers.”
Dremel tools, chucking the muck, Halloweenies: when it comes to Halloween parties, the Bairs (dad, Alex, Alexi, 15, Michaela, 11, and Landon) get it.
The Simons family in Westminster’s Diamond Hills neighborhood get it, too.
Demi Simons and her husband, Colin, and children, Teddi, 10, Connor, 6, and Tyler, 2, also gather neighbors of all ages for good food, drinks and pumpkin carving. Their halloween tradition pulls the entire neighborhood together…
The Simons’ tradition involves boo bags (think ring and run and bags filled with goodies on the front steps). It is an annual party that sends dads out with wagonloads of kids and while moms stay home to chat and pass out candy. The Simons and their neighbors in Diamond Hills “get” Halloween parties.
“We all love this time of year because of the gathering,” said Demi. “Carving creative pumpkins and even eating the roasted seeds: we love it.”
The quintessential Halloween party is launched every year at the Orzolek-Kronner house, where Kathy Orzolek-Kronner and her children, Sean Kronner, age 10, and Michael Kronner, 11, blaze a haunted trail and cover every inch of the first floor of their Westminster home with Halloween paraphernalia that has a high ick factor.
“We add something new every year,” said Kathy. “The boys’ father died when they were young, but he was all about Halloween; no holding back. The constant search for new scare tactics, the use of their imagination, the thrill of bringing people together at this time of year: It’s in their blood.”
Obviously, the Orzolek-Kronners get it.
Even with few purchases, anyone can pull together a great Halloween bash, said Kathy.
“With just a little imagination, most items around the house can morph into something eerie.”
Meanwhile, Kathy’s sons are out in the front yard, marking off the coffin-shaped hole they will dig in a few short weeks.
