Pillsbury Press: Halloween on Thompson Street 2018

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Halloween on Thompson Street 2018

A few years ago our friend Cathi told us about how Thompson Street in Bordentown goes all out for Halloween. My favorite (so far) was their 2015 theme of Alice in Wonderland. In 2016 the theme was Spiders. Last year it was pirates. The basic gist of the story is the two men at the top of the one-way street come up with a theme and share that with their neighbors. Most, but not all, participate by decorating their homes. The Mummers parade up and down and up and down ... the street. Homeowners pass out oodles of candy. It turns into a giant block party where everyone is welcome, even if they are not from Bordentown.

I went in the afternoon to satisfy my curiosity. The theme this year is Storybook Witches. These ranged from Hansel and Gretel, to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to Sleeping Beauty and so on. Though the originators do not micromanage the theme, there was only one repeat (Hansel and Gretel).

The weather was lovely. It was still in the 60's after the sun went down. One homeowner predicted they would have at least 4,000 visitors to their tiny street, even though Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year. NJ.com has great pictures from the event, including one of Frank Rios (from the lead house) parading with his Mummers group, the Uptown Mummers string band. I wondered why the mummers came to their street. That answers that question.

As at least one home's display was still under construction midday, Don and I went back after dinner to see the final production. We arrived around 8:30, as much of the crowd was going home and after the Mummers parade was over. Last year we went during the parade, and that was insane. We were both glad to be a little later this year.

For those of you who did not have a chance to visit, here are my pictures from the event.