As the school day lets out, hordes of people begin appearing on Maryland Boulevard. Everyone is in costumes creating a vibrant display of color. The residents of the street are used to this however, as it happens every Halloween. Welcome to Scaryland Boulevard.
Every year thousands of people crowd Maryland Boulevard or “Scaryland Boulevard” as it’s known as during Halloween. The street gets shut down, an ice cone truck gets set up, and every resident of the street stockpiles candy and is prepared to stay up late due to the giant scale of the event; however it was not always like this.
According to Hampton Bays High School’s assistant principal and longtime resident, Mr. Morgan, “Growing up, I always looked at what Halloween was, especially around this neighborhood. And it was almost kind of dangerous. I’d hate to say it, but you had a lot of kids that were going out, causing mischief, egging, toilet paper and things like that. Police were involved. People’s homes were being damaged. It wasn’t family-friendly at all.”
This changed one Halloween sometime in the early 2000s when a Maryland Resident, Tim Wilson and some friends began scaring trick or treaters by hiding behind a hay bale and other decorations while on Wilson’s porch. After this Scaryland Boulevard was born and would only grow exponentially throughout the years.
“I remember one time my brother did a walk down Maryland with his buddies all dressed up. And that kind of brought it up to another level. And then he and Tim bought a storage trailer. And I think that was like 2011, 2012. And that made it a little bit bigger. Then they bought a hearse and that made it a little bit crazier. So each year, like I said, it kind of got a little bit bigger, a little bit more thought out. Before it was just really to scare people. Now, it’s kind of gotten to a point where we almost create a theme.”
As Mr.Morgan said every year they do create a theme; this year’s theme was maritime with a lot of sea-themed decorations such as a pirate ship. Even houses that do not adhere to the theme still decorate making the street a colorful spectacle in the dark. Many houses put up lights which lights up the entire road; other houses put out elaborate decorations which makes the street even spookier.
An interesting fact which not many people know is that there are actually recurring characters every year. One character, “Winston Churchkill” has appeared many times over the years, always in a different role. This year to match the maritime theme, he was an old sea captain.
When asked about it sophomore Veronica Hurtle said, “It was pretty fun, I will definitely go back next year, and the year after that.” Veronica’s favorite part of the event was not actually trick or treating but getting to be involved in the community. “I loved being involved and contributing by donating candy.”
Freshman Ithan Quiguiri loved his experience and said, “I had a lot of fun and got to spend time my friends.”
This was echoed by fellow freshman Greta Jones who said, “It was a great experience and I got to spend time with people I care about.”
Junior Clare Loesch also enjoyed the spectacle and said, “I loved seeing everyone in costumes and all of the little kids having fun.”
According to Mr. Morgan, everyone involved hopes that it will provide a great memory for everyone involved. “It’s really become a really fun community event. I always like to be able to be a part of something that creates a fun memory for somebody. And I hope like 15 years from now, 20 years from now, some of the young kids that are going through are like, ‘Hey, remember in our town how we did that?’ Because you leave places like Hampton Bays and you realize like not everybody in their hometown had this experience growing up, where there were these fun little things going on or the community was coming together on certain days.”
