The State House costume party packed people in to the new hangout on Main Street–most dressed in a wide variety of costumes. A costume contest selected a handful of winners–ranging from queens to kittens. The sassiest costume went to Tara Cox, who dressed as queen in a gold evening gown. Her boyfriend went along with her as her personal jester.
“I didn’t even think I was sassy,” Cox said. “I guess that’s just how people see me. It felt great to win because this crowd is my family–if they vote for me for anything it makes me feel special.”
The best group costume went to five cats and a litter box. The cats were sex kitten, fat cat, cat in the hat, hello kitty and yellow kitty.
“The tail is a good flirtation device,” sex kitten said.
The most original costume award was given to Jason Jones who wore a horse head, which he said made him a pagan priest.
“I can’t believe I won, but I’m proud to carry the honor of most original,” Jones said.
The best couple award went to August Goulet and Susan McCann who went as Pony Boy and Dominatrix.
Molly Watkins was honored as the scariest with her ghost costume.
“It’s wonderful to win. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday,” Watkins said. “The only way to go is scary because the tradition of Halloween is to scare away the evil spirits.”
Besides the winners of the costume contest, there were a lot of other interesting costumes. John Thompson went as a Turkish pimp, Kate Rhea went as a vampire, Chip Cole went as Osama bin Laden and Justin Dallriva went as Alex de Large from the movie “Clockwork Orange.”
“You have to find a little humor in everything,” Cole said, on dressing as bin Laden. “If people don’t like my costume they can cease to exist.”
One of the most touching duos present was Carolyn and Chris Stallworth, who went as husband and wife.
“We came as husband and wife because we wouldn’t want to be anything else,” Chris Stallworth said.
Dave Hood, the owner of the State Theatre, dressed as the Phantom of the Opera.
“The focus wasn’t on the contest; it was on Halloween–everybody looked great,” Hood said.
With the ghouls and goblins and Turkish pimps walking around, there were also a few individuals who didn’t dress up.
“We wanted to dress up as Spice Girls but we waited until the last minute,” said Tammi Riddle, referring to she and her friends.
“It’s to expensive to spend money on a costume you’ll only wear once,” Kim Anderson said. “Why go gadzooks over one night?