WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2019
FEATURES
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A15
A mAgIcAl eXpErIeNcE
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Staff photos by Kathy Aney
1) A trick-or-treater waits in line for the opening of the Umatilla City Hall, decorated to look like the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the city’s annual Halloween event. 2)
Umatilla City Manager Dave Stockdale (aka Mad-Eye Moody) greets trick-or-treaters Friday. 3) Madison Finck (Moaning Myrtle) places the sorting hat on a trick-or-treater Friday. 4) A princess
ignores the gusting wind as she participates in Umatilla’s annual trick-or-treat event.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
When city of Umatilla staff celebrate
Halloween, they go all out.
City hall was transformed into Hog-
warts School of Witchcraft and Wiz-
ardry on Friday for the city’s annual
Sixth Street trick-or-treat event.
City staff dressed the part as Harry
Potter characters, ranging from Mad-
Eye Moody to Dolores Umbridge,
while the line of trick-or-treaters moved
through scenes such as the Hogwarts
CRYPTOQUIP
Great Hall. The library turned into
the Forbidden Forest, complete with
Whomping Willow, while the front
entrance was guarded by a giant replica
of the Hogwarts Express.
“We like to do something big every
year,” said Esmerelda Horn, the city’s
development and recreation director,
as she handed out candy in a Hogwarts
school uniform.
She said usually the city announces
some sort of unifying theme for the
downtown trick or treat event, but this
year 60% of the businesses surveyed
said they wanted a more free-for-all
approach. Last year the city hall was
troll-themed, and the year before that
it turned into the set of “Pirates of the
Caribbean.” This year city staff voted
on the Harry Potter theme.
“Majority rules,” Horn said.
Staff worked evening and weekends
to complete the extensive decorating.
While the city has been doing its
annual trick-or-treat event for several
years, Horn said it’s the fi rst year they
got permission from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation to block off part
SUPER CROSSWORD: DO YOU WANT TO?
of Sixth Street, making it safer for kids.
Lots of children were enjoying the
spectacle at city hall. Lauren, Lennox
and Hayden Ramos, (ages 6, 6 and 11
respectively) came out of the Forbidden
Forest with big smiles on their faces.
“I liked the forest,” Lauren said, add-
ing that she was not scared, though.
Eric Pullen, 11, fi t in perfectly with
a Harry Potter costume of his own. He
said he hasn’t seen all of the Harry Pot-
ter movies, but he loves the books.
“It was really cool,” he said. “I really
liked the Forbidden Forest.”
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