After debating the date and location for several weeks, the annual Middletown Halloween parade was held on Green Street rather than Main Street this year, causing much confusion and frustration within the town and the Middletown Lions Club.

On Oct 29, a crowd of children and adults alike march down Green Street in Middletown to celebrate the upcoming holidays and fall season. However, the location varied from past years –  a result of the rush hour traffic on Main Street that the parade usually interferes with.

Many people involved were upset due to the minimal lighting that was provided as well as the limited festivity. The scarecrows the town makes every fall season are set up on Main Street, so as to correlate with the parade. Unfortunately, that did not happen this year.

According to Debbie Fisher, past president and long-time member of the Lions Club, the date of the parade was also up for debate in the weeks prior to the event. The parade was originally supposed to take place on Oct 17, but once the Lions Club was informed that was the night homecoming would be held, they were forced to reschedule.

The Middletown Lions Club is a nonprofit organization that specializes in helping with local events and providing vision tests for Middletown students. They have had a presence in Middletown for about 85 years. They help the town put on the annual Halloween parade and have been doing so for 15 years, but were not ultimately in charge of when the event would take place this year. However, they did get some say.

“The change was partly made to keep the parade on Thursdays like it always was,” Mrs. Fisher said. She then added, “The school band wouldn’t have been able to participate on Saturday the seventeenth.”

Having the parade on a Thursday has always been a tradition. Though this one aspect was kept in tact, it is obvious this was a year in which traditions would be put to rest.

The Lions Club “will now know what to expect” in upcoming years, says Buck Fisher, the club’s current president.
Some highlights the Middletown Lions Club is looking forward to are their golf tournament with the Myersville Lions Club and the Memory Tree they set up in town every Christmas to honor members, family, or mutual friends who have passed away.