Hundreds of Weehawken youngsters flocked to the streets after school on Tuesday, armed with shopping bags, orange buckets, and smiles, for the annual Halloween sojourn for treats.
Despite the less-than-seasonable temperatures and a bit of a winter’s chill, the township’s younger set was out in full force, going door to door in search of goodies.
And once again, the youngsters proved to be very original and ingenious with their choices of costumes. There were countless ghosts and goblins – traditional Halloween garb. But there were also kids wearing Regis Philbin masks – say what? – and of course, all the characters from both the popular Pokemon and Teletubbies television shows.
A sampling of the costumes
Here is what some of the city’s kids wore:
Natalie Burgos, a ninth grader at Weehawken High, went to school dressed as a baby, complete with gigantic bottle. “I like being a baby,” she said. “I wish I could go back to the years when I was a little girl.”
Five-year-old Christina Martinez was a scary ghost, complete with white face and long flowing arms, although this ghost was missing her front teeth. The effervescent Christina explained why she was wearing the ghost costume. “Well, because my mom bought me the costume,” Christina said. “I really didn’t have much choice. But I like it.”
Six-year-old Leanne Martinez was a scary skeleton, complete with fluorescent green bones. Leanne was very demonstrative when asked why she was a skeleton. “Because I wanted to be a skeleton so I can scare your face off,” Leanne said.
Two-year-old John Phillips was perfect in his dragon suit, although he didn’t want to budge from his stroller as long as Mom was nearby pushing it. John’s two brothers were in costume when the search for sweets began after school, but both ditched the costumes and went door to door as normal five-year-olds. “One of them was a pirate,” his mom said. “But he got tired of it.” So John the Dragon held on to the pirate’s sword instead.
The Cieri family was out in full force along Park Avenue. Five-year-old Dante Cieri was Wolverine from the comic books and his little brother, Donato, who is almost three, was Gabumon from Pokemon. Even mom Margie got in on the act with an original costume. “I’m Devilstein,” Margie Cieri said, wearing a very original mask. “I made my character up,” she said. “It’s original. I like to be different.”
All in all, the children of Weehawken had fun in their Halloween costumes. They conducted themselves in safe and sound matters, with no incidents reported. Which is the way all trick or treaters should enjoy their day. “Everyone said that there were more children than normal,” Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner said. “I was surprised with the heavy turnout. So we had a lot of extra police on hand, just to insure the safety. We had extra police on Monday Night, for Mischief Night, when the petty vandalism takes place, and to keep down the nuisances. And we had to make sure the kids were safe and sound on Halloween. It was very uneventful. No problems were reported.”