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Anoka: What a way to celebrate

Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune

Every year, the little ones enjoy Anoka’s Halloween Parade. In 2006, Isabelle Iverson, 6, left, of Minnetonka, Claire Kroese, 5, center, of Plymouth and Bea Rynders, 5, of Chanhassen joined the crowd.

Anoka is justly proud of being the "Halloween Capital of the World."

By MARIA ELENA BACA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 4:54 PM

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When you're the "Halloween Capital of the World," as the city of Anoka prides itself, it takes more than one day to do the holiday justice. Anokans have been celebrating Halloween for nearly a week now and have been planning since last year. Festivities, which have already included two parades, a bonfire and a medallion hunt, are in full gear and will wrap up Saturday with the Gray Ghost Run, the Grand Day Parade and the Ambassador Coronation.

In honor of the occasion, a by-the-numbers look at 10/31 in 55303 (that's Anoka):

3: Annual Anoka Halloween parades, the Light Up the Night Parade, held last weekend, the Big Parade for Little People, at 1:15 p.m. Friday, and the Grand Day Parade, at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Friday and Saturday parades will be along Main Street.

40,000: Anoka Grand Day Parade attendance in 2008.

17,289: Anoka population in 2008.

87: The number of years that Anoka has had a Halloween parade. The event was started in 1920 but wasn't held in 1942 and '43 because of World War II.

9: The number of previous Grand Day Parades that have fallen on Halloween Day (1925, 1931, 1942, 1953 , 1959, 1970, 1981, 1987, 1998).

1937: The year 12-year-old Harold Blair won a trip to Washington, D.C., and carried with him the city's proclamation declaring Anoka the "Halloween Capital of the World." Blair won the trip by selling subscriptions to the Minneapolis Journal. (Blair later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; he was killed during the Battle of Okinawa.)

3,000: Estimated number of costumed Anoka schoolchildren who participate in the Little People parade, from the city's five public and parochial schools.

1.1 miles: The length of the Grand Day Parade route, from the Anoka American Legion to Fred Moore Middle School.

200: Floats, bands and dignitaries in this year's Grand Day Parade.

100: Halloween murals painted each year by Anoka elementary students and hung in business windows along Main Street.

51: The number of young women vying for three positions as Anoka Halloween ambassador, a record.

$3,000: Anoka city money that goes toward the festivities. The rest of the operation is privately funded and run by volunteers.

$10,000: Proceeds distributed as scholarships and gifts to Anoka schools.

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409

The first Halloween celebration, in 1920, was a response to bands of hooligan kids who roamed the city soaping windows, emancipating cows and tipping outhouses. The story goes that one of those rolling outhouses was occupied by an unnamed Anoka resident. The Anoka Commercial Club and the Anoka Kiwanis Club organized a parade of more than 1,000 costumed school kids and a bonfire at Bridge Square to try to distract the ne'er do wells.

New this year: A Grand Day Parade food shelf collection to benefit ACBC Emergency Food Shelf. Last year's collection during the Medallion Hunt netted 250 pounds of nonperishable food.

The Halloween Bonfire, held last weekend after the Light Up the Night Parade, was brought back after a 40-plus year hiatus.

A back story: The Gray Ghost 5K Fitness run and 1-mile Fitness Walk was named for Bill (Doc) Andberg, an Anoka veterinarian who was mistaken for a ghost as he jogged through Forest Hill Cemetery in a gray sweatsuit years ago. The event is in its 24th year. Last year, 1,500 mostly costumed runners participated in the run, which leads off the Grand Day Parade.

For a calendar and more information: Visit anokahalloween.com.

Sources: anokahalloween.com; Karen George, president of Anoka Halloween board of directors; Vicki Wendel, program coordinator, Anoka County Historical Society; "Anoka's Halloween History"; U.S. Census.

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