By Lindsey Becker
lmbecker@lc.edu
For the first time in 75 years, the Alton Halloween parade has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While you won’t be able to get your spooks and scares via parade floats this year, there are still opportunities to be found for Halloween fun.
If you are itching to don your costume and throw those decorations up, Jacoby Arts Center has the event for you. The Alton arts center will be hosting a virtual parade, including a costume and house contest.
“We thought it might be a fun little way for people to be a part of a parade since we don’t have that this year, and kinda show everybody’s creativity in the area,” says Jacoby executive director, Rachel Lappin.
The event will also double as a fundraiser for Jacoby, which has been reckoning with how to engage the community and stay afloat amidst the pandemic. Programs that could be moved online have been, but most of them free of charge.
“The arts just need community support right now,” continues Lappin. “Artists are struggling right now, and they’ve also been our biggest support through all of this, the escape from COVID. It’s been comfort, it’s been connection. The arts help in so many ways through this kind of crisis. We need to pay it back.”
Costume and house decoration photos will be posted by Jacoby on Facebook and Instagram and voted on by the community, with the highest number of likes securing the winners. Details and names will not be added to the photos for safety reasons. If you elect not to dress up or decorate this year, you can submit a friend or neighbor’s photo for a chance for both of you to win.
Winners are eligible for a variety of prizes, including a free Jacoby Arts Center membership, a jack-o’-lantern created by local artist Nick Williams, or other artwork featured in Jacoby’s 3rd annual Halloween exhibition, Phantasmagoria.
Tickets to enter the house decorations contest can be purchased for $10, and tickets for the costume contest are $5. To enter the contests and for more information, visit jacobyartscenter.org. Once you receive a confirmation email, you can then reply with your entry photos.
