Each year Knoxville seems to out-do itself when it comes to celebrating Halloween. I never realized grown-ups like to dress up in strange costumes so much until I moved downtown. It’s never been my favorite holiday, but it is certainly one I enjoy photographing each year. I suppose the official beginning of Halloween season each year is the Zombie Walk, which was held a couple of weeks ago.
The fun continued this past weekend with the Thrill the World event which supplied most of the photographs you see in this post. Also last weekend, James White Fort held their annual HearthScares Ball which was followed by their HearthScares tour, which Urban Woman and I took this past Monday night and really enjoyed. Wednesday night we attended the Mysterious Past of the Blount Mansion tour and had a great time there, as well. Each of those tours are well worth putting on your list for next year.
I understand that Laura Still of Knoxville Walking Tours has had a packed schedule for the last couple of weeks and I assume the demand during this season is strongly in the direction of her ghost tours. I’ve also repeatedly seen J. Adam Smith with massive crowds for his Haunted Knoxville Ghost Tours. We seem to be all about the ghost tours. Each of these offer their ghost tours year-round, so you can grab them after Halloween if you are still needing more ghost face-time. Jack Neely even got into the creepy spirit this week when he wrote about two murders on his excellent new blog, The Scruffy Citizen.
So, today is finally the big day and the creepy fun continues. Jack Rentfro is on the Blue Plate Special and he’s pretty creepy (in a good way). There are lots of costume opportunities, if you are so inclined: Alive after Five at the Knoxville Museum of Art at 6:00 PM, Sapphire’s Carnival and Freak Show Halloween Party starting at 8:00 PM and going to the 3:00 AM., a Halloween Masquerade Show at the Pilot Light at 9:00 PM. Everything explodes at 10:00 PM with Halloween parties at Preservation Pub (Coveralls), Scruffy City Hall (Hudson K) and Boyd’s Jig and Reel (Dixieghost).
There are other shows following the theme: the Johnny Monster Band at Preservation Pub at 7:00 PM, Freakevil which includes three stages at the International. And there are shows not following the theme, just in case you’ve had enough Halloween: Robinella is at the Square Room at 8:00 PM and Kukuly is at the Bistro at the Bijou starting at 9:00 PM.
It spills into Saturday, as well, with the Follies Girls presenting “Day and Night of the Dead” at the International. Saturday does shift us back to our usual astounding array of cultural choices, however, with a full day of music from WDVX in the form of their listener appreciation day and Marble City Opera performing at the Square Room. If you just have to do a little more dress up, the Guy Fawkes Day, Million Mask March will be held on Wednesday at 9:00 AM in the World’s Fair Park.
So, there you have it. Maybe I’ll see you at some of the festivities. We went from cobalt blue skies on Thursday to a chance of snow on Saturday morning, so the crazy east Tennessee weather is just another reason to get out there and dance in the streets.