Lisa Hoffman and Charles Atkins

PUblished October 5, 2005 

Charlie writes:

"I’m drowning in a sea of paper," I tell Lisa as we get together on yet another dreary Saturday morning. "I just cleaned out my office and I can’t believe the amount of stuff I need to get rid of. It’s out of control. But, with Halloween fast approaching I’ve found a solution," I say as I begin to pull out piles of old newspapers Lisa has stashed away.

"What are you doing with those?" she asks.

"I want to shred them."

"But you just said you’re drowning in the stuff. Why do you need mine?"

"Here’s the deal," I say, "last year for part of my book marketing I took over one of the windows in the John Bale Book Company and Cafe in downtown Waterbury. This year, with my paperback just out, I thought I’d do the same thing. So I went in to ask Ede Reynolds—one of the owners—"Can I have the window again?"

"To which she replied, ‘Sure, why not do all three?’

"I thought about it for a couple days, and agreed. So at this moment my home looks like a paper maché factory exploded. I’m making Red Riding Hood and a life-size wolf, assorted ghouls…the basics."

"That seems an awful lot of work," Lisa comments, while modeling little Red’s riding Hood that my Mom whipped up over the weekend.

"It is, but the real reason I’m doing it is because of the wonderful experience I had last year participating in downtown Waterbury’s Mardi Gross festival—a regional event to give children and their families a fun and safe Halloween."

At which point we dial up Ede, who sounds like she’s in the midst of the lunch rush, to get the details on this year’s Mardi Gross celebration.

"Tell me a little about Mardi Gross," Lisa begins, "how long has it been in existence?"

"This is the third year," Ede says. "It started with the Merchants’ Association wanting to reintroduce downtown Waterbury as a clean, safe and community friendly place. We began talking and one of the things that many shopping malls do is give out candy to children who may not have sidewalks. So we thought, why not centralize trick-or-treat here? Some neighborhoods are not conducive to trick-or-treating—they might not be safe or maybe they don’t have sidewalks, or are too rural. So we raised money—the first year $1500 dollars and the next year we got $5000 and held an even bigger event."

"How many children came?" Lisa asks.

"The first year over 2000 people showed up, last year it was 3500 and this year we’re expecting over 4000."

"Is it just for Waterbury children?" Lisa asks.

"No no no. It’s for any children in the area. The first year we did a drawing to see where people came from. We had kids from Oxford, Meriden, Torrington and Shelton. It was nice and it’s trouble free. The police come out in full force and everybody has a good time."

"What kind of activities are there?" Lisa asks.

"Lots. The police bring the Crime-Scene truck for the kids to see, and the fire department also brings one of their trucks. We have live bands, and a big costume parade. There’s a hay maze, a hay ride; we have a graveyard that The Shakespeareans—a theatrical group in Waterbury—man. And of course, there are candy stations where people dressed as pumpkins give out tons of free candy. This year we’re also giving out toothbrushes donated by area dentists and fresh apples donated by Jarjura’s Produce Market."

"Last year," I say, having participated myself as a ghoul in the window, "I had a blast. It was wonderful seeing all of the kids in costumes with their parents teaching them to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ as they made the rounds of the candy stations."

"We try to make it as much as you remember a holiday should be," Ede says. "Lots of groups come down to help out and we have activities targeted for kids, so they can have fun in a nurturing environment."

"How are the local merchants involved?" Lisa asks.

"Our local Merchants’ Association does all the work. We prepare the downtown and use the UConn students and some of the high school students to decorate and help give out the candy."

"What’s your favorite part?" I ask Ede.

"The parade--we bring in giant puppets—they’re huge—and the 54^th Regiment comes down so we have very lively and very good music."

"If people want to donate to Mardi Gross?" Lisa asks, "How would they go about it?"

"People can send checks to The John Bale Book Company made out to the Downtown Waterbury Merchants’ Association. We don’t accept donations of candy, because we insure the safety of it by getting it directly from the distributor to the child. All the candies are prepackaged major brands."

"I love how it gets people back into downtown," I say. "I can’t tell you how many folks out in the suburbs never make it into Waterbury. Mardi Gross is a great opportunity for people to check out some hidden treasures like the John Bale Book Company and Café that I’ve come to view as Waterbury’s living room."

"It really brings out the absolute best in everybody," Ede says "You walk down the street and all you see are smiles. And if people are hunting for a costume there’s a wonderful costume shop on Bank Street, right across from Holland Hughes called Arabesque."

"Do you need volunteers?" Lisa asks.

"Anyone who is available can just show up on Friday October 27^th during the day to help decorate downtown. Parking is free after six p.m. in the Field Street Garage and the event runs from 5:30 until 8:00 pm."

For further information or to donate to the Mardi Gross event contact The John Bale Book Company at 203-757-2279. (158 Grand Street, Waterbury, CT 06702)

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