By Marcy MirandaPLAY Editor
One block west of State Street, behind the dirt and bulldozers of the construction of the Red Line El stop, a haunted village rests next to an original Picasso sculpture.
Smiling orange pumpkins sit alongside witches, creepy houses, ghosts and ghouls. Gorillas distribute flyers at Daley Plaza. Walls filled with carved pumpkins are found on each corner of the Haunted Village, a temporary structure in the middle of Daley Plaza that serves as the main stage for Chicagoween 2006.
Each year, the Chicago Mayor’s Office of Special Events turns Daley Plaza into the Haunted Village, a wooden building that takes up much of the center of the Plaza and is decorated in the spirit of Halloween. From either angle, ghosts and spirits can be seen hanging from the windows of the transformed Village.
In addition to the walls of pumpkins and the hanging ghosts, the Haunted Village is completed when the Daley Plaza fountain is also opened to the spirit of Halloween as water is turned orange.
Chicagoween is a family-friendly event. Turning Daley Plaza into Pumpkin Plaza, the square plays host to various family-friendly events for two weeks, from Oct. 13 to Oct. 31. Storytelling, mask-making, pumpkin carving and performances by several groups are among the activities available to parents and children of all ages at the Haunted Village, which takes up most of the area in the center of the Plaza.
Visitors can see ghost-like faces painted on the windows in the Village. Painted to resemble stone and wood, the structure also serves as the background stage for the performers.
Throughout the Haunted Village, walls of carved pumpkins were visible signs of festivity. Each wall has about 20 pumpkin faces carved from natural pumpkins. The details of each pumpkin are varied. All designs were Halloween related and ranged from basic scary faces to complex witches, bats and pictures with words.
The plaque naming the structure “Haunted Village” also notes Richard M. Daley as the Mayor of the Village. Resting on one of the highest towers in the Haunted Village, the plaque is in the middle of the entire structure and is visible on both sides of the Plaza.
The Mayor’s Office of Special Events has several events available for children and their families. On Saturdays and Sundays, children are encouraged to come to Pumpkin Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to decorate pumpkins for free. Children can also make masks with the assistance of the International Academy of Design & Technology Fashion Council at the same time.
Face painting, storytelling and karaoke are available at the Wicked tent next to the Haunted Village. Run by employees from Broadway in Chicago, the Wicked storytelling tent offers visitors the opportunity to take a break from the chilly day, get of their feet and hear a “spooky” story provided by Borders.
On Saturday, Oct. 21, Chicagoween will play host to a Halloween parade that will travel down State Street. On Sunday, Oct. 29, Pumpkin Plaza will be the stage for the second annual “Be Wicked” karaoke finals, where contestants will be judged according to who can best sing the song “Popular” from the popular musical, Wicked.
While at the Plaza, visitors can see performances from street performers. Nick Spence and Ashlee Pugh are street performers participating in Chicagoween for the first time. The pair recently received their street performer’s license – a necessity for performing at Daley Plaza – and put on their own rendition of the children’s fairy tale, “Sleeping Beauty.”
In their performance, Pugh acted as a marionette while Spence acted as though he controlled her. Sleeping Beauty, or Pinocchio?
In addition to the events planned by the city of Chicago, one of the biggest attractions that people have to the Pumpkin Plaza is the original sculpture housed at Daley Plaza, an untitled gift from the artist in 1967. The sculpture rests feet away from one of the walls of the Haunted Village and children of all ages enjoy the angled slant of the Picasso sculpture’s base, running up the base and sliding down on it.
The Haunted Village is open Monday through Wednesday from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursday thru Sunday from 11a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free, as are most of the events.
In addition to the Haunted Village, there are other Halloween-related events throughout the city. Chicagoans can visit Navy Pier to see “Ghostly Gardens and Demons of the Deep,” the Chicago Public Library for more ghoulish Halloween activities and scary stories, and the Cultural Center on Oct. 28 to participate in Wicked-themed arts and crafts activities.
Medill junior Marcy Miranda is the PLAY music editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
