Ghouls Night Out

The HOGMAN Lives!

Well we got lucky. It was pouring rain for most of the day, but the gods smiled down upon us and took the rain away in time for Ghouls Night Out. The City of Winter Haven does this every year as an alternative to trick or treating. They always do it the Saturday before though, just in case you still want to trick or treat in your own neighborhood. We always have such a good time. The City has put this event on for the past 10 years and Hut has always driven the hayride. I've missed a couple of the events due to work schedules. My feet always hurt when it's over, but it's a good hurt. I have lots of pics to share of the event.

The tractor and trailer before the hayride.....undecorated. The pictures were taking in front of the Orange Dome, which is a landmark in Winter Haven, that the City is going to demolition in the next few years. It was built in 1964 and housed exhibits for our Citrus Festival (which we no longer have.) The next picture is Hut driving down Cypress Gardens Boulevard on the way to the event so we can get it all decorated up.

The finished product. You can't see all the spiders I put all over it. Every year I buy spider rings to put all over the webs. The kids love it because they can take the rings and have a creepy souvenir of the hayride. We also have an univited guest who rode every ride this year. This scary skeleton. He was actually a fun addition to this year's ride.

Top photo is the Hogman on his tractor. Next photo is Hogman getting ready to take unsuspecting victims on a ride to the unknown. The bottom photo is the front of the tractor at night. The eyes on top of the gravestone light up and blink. Very creepy.

Unsuspecting victims on the ride. And our youngest rider to date. We had quite a few infants on the ride this year. Mom wanted this one to have a picture with the Hogman. We also had 3 dogs this year (sorry no pics). One was a service dog and the other 2 were there for the costume contest.

A couple of the dogs for the costume contest. These were an angel and Dracula. I also saw a 3-legged dog dressed like a pirate. It was a good time for everyone.

Crowds get there before sundown to start enjoying the event. The city closes down a couple of blocks in the downtown area to host the event. Local business owner keep their shops open later for people to browse and shop. It's a really fun event.

This was one of the first families there. They were all so cute. We had a couple of pirates, a witch, a pumpkin and Snow White.

A local church was taking photos to make money for their youth group. They had a couple of these cute scenes set up.

I'm not sure what business this was, but they were fantastic. The hearse has been here in the past. This year they put up a mini haunted house. The guy doing Jason was great! I missed a photo op earlier in the event, when he scared a boy really bad. The boy was about 13 and thought he was so tough( you know how kids are lol). Well Jason scared him so bad, the boy fell on his butt and then crab walked to get away. And I didn't have my camera. It was so funny though. The boy even laughed when he got his wits about him. Jason was nice enough to pose for me.

Goofing around before we get started. The Hogman is ready to go. And it seems he wants me as his first victim. Debbie (who works for the city) was nice enough to take a picture of the Hogman and his gypsy together. We never have pictures taken together. I was glad to have a camera this year and get some shots of the event. Next event for us downtown is Snow Central in December. I'll update you on that later.

Now a reminder that today is the final day for naming the witch. And today you all get 4 extra chances to name her. Good luck to everyone. You guys have made my brain hurt with all the names you've come up with. They are all fantastic and I'm just glad I'm not doing the judging. Tomorrow's post will be the winner.