By Sylvia Benavidez
From intricate handmade costumes to inflatables, an estimated 1,000 kids and adults walked up and down Superior Street Sunday gathering treats at this year’s Sweets on Superior.
One of the over 30 vendors at the event, Nick VanAcker, director of Outreach & Education for Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum had an unofficial count of 1,000 individual erasers given out at a half-an-hour before the festivities ended. He had a wonderful time meeting participants from all over southern Michigan. “…It’s fantastic to see so many people out on Superior Street both business owners and those that work for non-profits. Folks that live here locally. Folks that have come in from Jackson and Homer, Hillsdale all sorts of places. I’ve talked to people from across southern Michigan today. It’s great representing Albion and having everyone come to see our wonderful town,” said VanAcker.
That’s the kind of feedback Billy Beers, president & CEO of the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau likes to hear. His staff and the event sponsor Blue Ox worked diligently to make the event fun for the Trick-or-Treaters, the businesses, and other organizations. This is the fifth year for Sweets on Superior in Albion and the fourth for Beers. He reports this year’s theme was “Witches and Warlocks” with several businesses and organizations participating in the decorating contest.
“We’ve had eight to 10 of our organizations participate in it and they really do go all out and they make it a lot of fun. I know Homestead has been having a lot of fun with it so that’s awesome,” said Beers.
There’s a first, second, and third prize including Albion Money. “It helps keep that money here and support our local businesses and so we usually do an Albion money giveaway for each tier level,” said Beers. He has fun seeing the different costumes and enjoys the fact that people bring their pets. “It’s just nice to see all the community together. Families are coming out, and we get to say hi to everybody.”
Candy wasn’t the only thing given out at Sweets on Superior. While taking a break from handing out little gift packets at his department’s table, Albion Department of Public Safety Chief Aaron Phipps said, “Every year we need more and more bags of candy, pencils, erasers, stickers, everything. We had 200 Halloween bags filled with pencils, stickers, candy, and we were out in 30 minutes.”
“Having an event like this before Halloween is always good,” said Phipps. “We get to see everybody come out and enjoy themselves and also, it’s good for the downtown to get some business, so it’s good all the way around.” Phipps explained he could barely look up while handing out the bags and later candy but one handmade costume caught his eye. “There was a vending machine that was pretty creative and funny. It was pretty hard to look up and see costumes because we were giving out candy so quickly.”
While the kids got sweet treats in front of the Albion Malleable, dogs were pampered a bit too. Albion Malleable’s baker makes the dog treats. Ben Wade explained what they use in their recipe. “The left-over husk from barley and rye and it’s combined with peanut butter, and they are baked into solid crackers. They are healthy peanut butter and grain treats for dogs.” A lot of them come down in costume.”
Members from Salem United Church of Christ in Albion gave out mittens. Member Diana Wade, explained, “Mittens, gloves. Most of them handmade and donated by community, church members who got together and made some. The Senior Center donated 60 pairs and donated to the cause for a total of 901 mittens. That total happened just this morning. We were excited about that. We have a Smartie inside each one with a tag inside each one saying who made them. So, they get a little something sweet.” She shared, “I can’t tell you how many kids pull that string out and put their mittens on right away.”
The entire Goddard Family, Albion, and their dog dressed up for Sweets on Superior. Becca is huge Harry Potter fan. She dressed as Ginny on the Quidditch team. Her husband was Sirus Black, her son a dementor, and her daughter was dressed as a house elf. Even as an adult she loves dressing up for Halloween and believes it allows people to be someone or something different for the day. “Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love dressing up to make it magical for the kids. I think we all just like to be involved, said Becca. This was their first time to Sweets on Superior. They were happy Superior Street was closed off and enjoyed seeing neighbors, friends, and other costumes.
Trick-or-Treater Marleighna Weber, Albion, explained that the police car costume she was wearing took her two weekends to put together. She explained why she picked out to be a police officer. “I like the show, the Rookie. I decided I wanted to do this, so we went and got all the stuff for it.” She was glad to have somewhere else to show her costume in addition to trick-or-treating on Halloween. “I came down here today because I thought it was fun, and I wanted to show off my costume.”
“If the community has ideas on what they would like a theme to be and other stuff, our door is always open, share that information with us. We think of different things, but it takes the community. We want to hear from you,” said Beers.
