A ‘Grimm’ Halloween first for Houma

Once upon a time, deep in dark Downtown Houma, Jonathan Foret said, “To all trick-or-treaters, BEWARE! On Oct. 26, vampires and witches galore will roam the streets looking for little kids to scare…”

No, not really! But, Foret is right about the ghouls and goblins taking to the streets that night. The South Louisiana Center for the Arts executive director is coordinating a Halloween Parade – a first for the Terrebonne Parish area.

The theme for the inaugural parade is “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

The walking parade will begin at 7 p.m. at Houma’s Town Hall, 805 Barrow St., continue to Honduras Street and will disband on Church Street, a short distance away.

The family-oriented event is free, and civic clubs and families are invited to participate in the parade.

German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are the masterminds behind the popular folktales. Considered by many to be among the best storytellers of all times, the Grimm boys are credited with detailing the notable antics of Snow White, Rapunzel and Cinderella.

The brothers Grimm began collecting folktales around 1807 in response to a wave of awakened interest in German folklore that followed the publication of the folksong, “The Boy’s Magic Horn.”

By 1810, Jacob and Wilhelm produced a manuscript collection of several dozen tales, which they had recorded by inviting storytellers to their homes and transcribing what they heard.

Shortly afterward, they published their own volume of folktales titled, “Children’s and Household Tales.”

SoLa chose the theme because parade participants could be a bit more creative with their characters and costumes, Foret said.

“Our guidelines require all civic organization to have at least 10 costumed members walking in the parade, but no more than 50,” Foret explained. “We have a lot of people walking with SoLa, so if a family wants to participate, we will find a group for them to walk with. Anyone can participate in the parade.”

The costumed Halloweeners will toss only candy in this year’s parade; participants are responsible for providing their own candy to throw.

The deadline to register to participate is Oct. 5. Applications can be picked up at the SoLa building at 7830 Park Ave., or by emailing Foret at slca_director@yahoo.com.

The Halloween walking parade replaces SoLa’s patented “Blue Door” haunted house. Although, the parade won’t scare visitors’ socks off like the haunted house did, Foret predicts the new event will still have spectators quivering with excitement.

“The haunted house was too labor intensive,” he said. “We figured a parade would be better. We still wanted to give the community a fun outing prior to Halloween on Oct. 31.”

And SoLa wanted this year’s spirit of Halloween to be filled with cheer. “With all the activities going on downtown (that night), it should be a great time,” Foret said. “We like family-atmosphere events, and we’d like for people to come out and see the creative Halloween costumes.”

The SoLa director hopes that within a couple of years, the Halloween Parade will be as much of a success as the Christmas Parade.

“Next year, we hope to add a couple of floats and marching bands,” he said. “The Christmas Parade started off small, just like this one. I really hope that it can become something bigger over the years.”

Although everyone – parade participants and those on the sidelines – is invited to costume, Foret said the event is not intended to replace Halloween night’s fun. “We can’t take trick-or-treating away from the kids because there is something special about letting a kid go door-to-door on Halloween night dressed in your favorite costume,” he said.

One parader counting down the days until Oct. 26 is the Halloween Parade’s queen, Tammy Chaisson.

Dressed as a decaying hag, Chaisson will lead the “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” characters down the parade route.

The “Queen of Halloween” is well known to SoLa’s “Blue Door” fans. She is responsible for creating the ghoulish makeup. In fact, Foret said it was Chaisson’s contributions to that SoLa event and other Halloween festivities that led to her royal selection.

And while other royalty takes hours to primp and prepare, Chaisson said she’s got her hag treatment down to an art.

Rightfully so. She is the co-owner of Magical Entertainment by Frank and Tammy, which specializes in creative painting and makeup artistry for local events and schools.

“I love Halloween,” she said. “It’s amazing how people can transform themselves into something horrible and gross.”

Chaisson said she has a knack for things relating to Halloween; so being named queen was a perfect fit. “I am bringing sexy to horror,” she joked.

The Halloween Parade isn’t the only fun event the whole families can enjoy in Downtown Houma that Friday night.

The Downtown Business Association and Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government are hosting Downtown Live at Five will be in the square from 5-10 p.m. Errol and the Blues Boys will perform.

And the Houma Regional Arts Council will show “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” “A Trip to the Moon” and “Garfield’s Halloween Adventures” on an outside screen in Houma’s Memorial Park immediately following the parade.

“We originally tried to [hold the parade] next to Terrebonne High School, like the Christmas Parade,” Foret said. A home football game changed their plans.

“We went with a route that was available to us. With everything going on downtown, it should be a fun night for everyone,” he said.

For more information on the Halloween Parade, contact Foret at (985) 876-2222.

Queen of Halloween Tammy Chaisson, South Louisiana Center for the Arts director Jonathan Foret and Chaisson’s better half, Frank, get their ghouls on in preparation for the Oct. 26 Halloween Parade in Downtown Houma.