Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  In Nederland, Halloween isn’t limited to October 31st. The creepy crawler critters and adorable fairies and furry creatures make a weekend of the children’s favorite holiday. Dressing up and becoming someone else is a freedom away from the norm, a chance to be live action figures, to be frightening, to have the power of anonymity.

It began Friday afternoon in the Nederland Pre-school classroom. Princesses who could make their skirts twirl, a leopard, Harry Potter lookalikes and superheros. The younger children, under the guidance of the teacher Eliza Kraham, had their own Halloween party, entertaining their parents and each other, wearing their costumes, and filled with treat or treat anticipation.

They happily joined voices in song with long-rehearsed choreography, trying so hard to get the movements right. They loved to screech like witches or lower their voices to roar like a large animal. It was amazing to hear an adorable four-year-old girl emit a sound like an enraged mother bear.

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” sang the preschoolers looking forward to the stomp your feet part. School would soon be over and the Ned Halloween festivities would begin. Bags of candy to savor for the next month. Maybe.

Around 4 p.m. at the Nederland  Community Library, The Playground Theater, presented their pre-Halloween safety tips, wrapped inside hilarious skits and presented with Jeff Haycock and Mia Sole’s usual energetic, off the wall style. With a makeshift stage which seconded as a change-of-costume room, and there were many, the couple engaged the rapturous children in understanding the safety issues involved in a night of trick or treating.

Don’t go to a dark house they warned the children. “Because strangers might live there,” explained one child. Only go to houses where there are decorations and the light are on.

Have an adult check the candy. When Jeff asked why this was important, one child said, “Because they might want to eat it.”

Don’t eat all your candy at the same time, warned Mia, as Jeff mimed getting sick to his stomach.

Jeff and Mia are mischievous and hilarious, explaining the Halloween rules with the children, rather than to them, creating a complicity of the hauling-in-the-candy event. Their classic Ghost Busters skit had the children exploding with laughter as they chased one another around the staging area.

Following the theater, at 5 p.m. the annual NES Trunk and Treat event brought in a huge crowd of parents and kids as the vehicles filled the lower parking lot. Participants popped open their trunks, put on last-minute additions to the Halloween decorations and got out the bowls of candy to be distributed to the wandering bands of beggars who would not take no for an answer.

The lower parking lot had a bunch of local Jeeps, one of them with a boiling over radiator and a monster cat looming high in the sky above it.

A Nederland Fire Protections District ambulance invited trick or treaters to enter the darkened vehicle. Even though children had to come face to face with a skeleton, they scrambled in and then out with their sweet loot, paying no attention to the pile of bones on the cot.

Ghouls and vampires, hippies and homeless people made for a frightening group of Nederland High School Honor Society students. This new tradition at the school really took hold this year with many members of the community decorating their vehicles and handing out candy. The weather was almost balmy and light and  lasted for most of the event.

All of this and it was only Friday.

On Saturday at noon, TEENS Inc. hosted their annual Hall-O-ween Nederland.

Children had access to a bouncy castle, the foam pit, chili and home-baked goods, as well as an old-fashioned magic show presented by Doc Murdock who had multiple tricks up his sleeve.

On Monday, the real Halloween reared its scary head and local businesses and their employees got into the spirit of things. Centennial Bank employees had a pirate theme, ReMax worked for two months preparing for its haunted house that lured trick or treaters to the north end of town.

The Nederland Police Department handed out candy under the red and blue lights of a patrol car. The Carousel of Spookiness attracted crowds of costumed critter riders.

Nederland Fire Protection District firefighters directed traffic across the highway between the shopping center and Old Town where the neighborhood always has a humungous cache of candy. Firefighters also planted an engine with a spotlight lighting Boulder Street, making it safe for the revelers.

Unseasonably warm weather added to the pleasure of this community oriented event which attracted families to stroll Ned’s streets, greet their neighbors and show off their creative costumes.

A waffle with a pink flamingo on its head?