Penguins, superheroes, witches and more hit downtown Lawrence Tuesday to stock up on Halloween candy.
Businesses and organizations located in downtown Lawrence set up stations along Massachusetts Street or inside their buildings, handing out candy to kids and families that came by. The Watkins Museum of History in downtown hosted a scavenger hunt along with trick-or-treating.
The chilly Halloween evening didn’t stop folks from bundling up underneath their costumes and heading out.
Some costumes, such as a demogorgon from “Stranger Things” or Michael Myers, tapped into the scary side of Halloween. Others mimicked cute animals or silly characters. Family costumes paid homage to “The Incredibles,” “Men in Black,” Mario Brothers characters and more.
Some downtown Lawrence trick-or-treaters stopped to talk with us about their costume choices this year.
Up, up and away
What looked like a large, floating balloon from a distance was really a 6-year-old dressed in his hot air balloon costume. Romuluas Reusch, 6, said his mom helped him create the ultimate hot air balloon for him, and it wasn’t too heavy to wear.
Sister ‘shrooms
Malena and Ava Bond go pretty hard for Halloween each year, and they usually like to coordinate their costumes with each other. The sisters — and best friends — decided to take a fungus and match it to each of their aesthetics to create their costumes this year.
“We both love mushrooms, like they’re so cute and interesting as plants in general,” Malena, 21, said. “I know she wanted hers to be kind of spooky, you know, kind of ethereal. And everything I do has to be in pink, so I’m giving off kind of Princess Peach vibes.”
Ava, 13, made her mushroom cap out of a broken fan and sewed fabric onto it, while Malena made her papier-mâché one out of cardboard, magazines and old bills.
Both sisters agreed they were excited this year to continue their tradition of making their costumes together. The best part of Halloween is “definitely the dressing up and seeing other people’s costumes,” Ava said.
The spidey senses
When a group of kids came up to Hudson Latta on the sidewalk in awe, he immediately greeted them. Dressed as Spider-Man, Hudson, 7, said he “wanted to spool people.” He said Spider-Man can shoot spider webs through his body.
“You can see it from my skin,” he said as he showed off his costume.
Eerie jokester
With no Spirit Halloween store in Lawrence this year, Jeremiah Noonan, 11, said he had to travel to Kansas City to get his costume. He knew exactly what he wanted to be: a scary clown. And the nearly hourlong trip to seize it was well worth it, he said.
“I’m just a scary clown,” Jeremiah said. “I was originally gonna scare some kids, but I haven’t yet.”
Famous physicist
Wearing white hair and a lab coat, Bodie Allen, 7, embraced Albert Einstein’s genius this Halloween.
Bodie said he wasn’t sure why he chose to be Einstein this year but that he does like learning science in school. His protective glasses, which his mom helped him with, were his favorite part of his costume.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Molly Adams (she/her), photojournalist and news operations coordinator for The Lawrence Times, can be reached at molly (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Check out more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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