River City Writer

It’s almost Halloween, and, for a lot of people, that means Halloween parties. Since Halloween is next Wednesday, most of these parties will be happening this weekend. While the kiddies will still be hitting the streets on Wednesday, Saturday will be the big night of costumed revelry among adults.

There are more than 100 Halloween-related events happening in River City this year, so I can’t list them all here. Instead, I’m going to put it to you, the reader, to list what you think are going to be the best Halloween parties in Edmonton.

I’ll start this list with 2 events. The first is the always famous Halloween Howler, put on by the Bear. The Howler is probably the most well-known Halloween party in Edmonton. It’s apparently a blast, although I’ve never been.

The only thing I can really tell you about the Halloween Howler is that there are a lot of prizes for the costume contest, and that Cheap Trick once stopped their set after only 2 or 3 songs, because some jackass threw a full bottle of beer at Robin Zander.

The other event I’ll tell you about is the one that I’ll be attending: the Voodoo Cruise on the Edmonton Queen. While I was a bit wary about being stuck on a boat in the middle of the river all night long, I got tickets to this event, at the prodding of a friend of mine.

It turns out that the boat will be docked most of the night, except for a cruise at 9pm (weather and water level permitting). The cruise will only be about an hour long, so people will be able to get off the boat and leave early, should they be ready to go before the 2am end-time.

Costumes are mandatory for this party, as they will be for most Halloween parties in the city. There will be a costume contest, 50/50 draw, and drink specials. Music will be provided by West of Winnipeg.

I’ve never heard of West of Winnipeg before, nor can I seem to find anything about them online, so I can’t say whether they’re good or not. I imagine, given the nature of the party, that they’re probably a cover band, who might throw in 1 or 2 original tunes throughout the night.

I think it should be a good party, once I manage to figure out what I’m going to do for a costume. I bought a “bleeding skeleton” costume from Value Village last night, but it’s missing a bunch of pieces, so I have to return it. I think I’m going to end up going as an old-timey journalist—trench coat, fedora, press pass in the hat, cheap cigar, etc.

And now, I turn the floor over to you, dear readers. What are you going to be doing for Halloween this year, and what will your costume be?