Oregon is home to one of the top rated Halloween events in the country – OregonLive
Travel website Trips to Discover named the 16 best Halloween events in the U.S., and one Oregon event made the list. The honor goes to the monthlong celebration “Spirit of Halloweentown,” hosted every year in the Columbia River community of St. Helens, about 25 miles outside of Portland.
The event is inspired by the 1998 Disney Channel movie “Halloweentown,” which filmed on location in St. Helens. The movie starred Debbie Reynolds as a witch training her 13-year-old granddaughter in the family’s magical ways while saving the townsfolk of Halloweentown. The movie spawned three sequels and became a beloved TV holiday classic.
READ MORE: ‘Halloweentown’: 9 reasons why the TV movie is still magical
Halloween fans packed the streets of Saint Helens for the 2019 Spirit of Halloweentown Parade.Mark Graves
Starting in mid-September, downtown St. Helens transforms into “Halloweentown,” with a courthouse square filled with spooky statues and a grand jack-o’-lantern sculpture (just like in the movie), which is lit to kick off the month of October. This year’s festivities will include a special tribute for the 25th anniversary of the release of the film.
And St. Helens has another claim to spooky fame: It was one of the main filming locations from the vampire movie “Twilight.” Though the movie is set in a fictional Washington town, many locations, including the home of Kristen Stewart’s character Bella Swan, are actually in St. Helens. (And, yes, you can spend the night there via Airbnb.) Over the years, some of the actors from the “Twilight” film series have made appearances during “Spirit of Halloweentown” events.
Spirit of Halloweentown, a festival that runs the length of the month of October in St. Helens, OR, began the night of Saturday October 1, 2016. The festival is a celebration of a 1998 Disney Channel film called “Halloweentown” that was filmed in St. Helens. It features a giant, lit-up jack-o-lantern in the middle of the town square that is similar to one that appeared in the movie.LC- The Oregonian
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The first “Spirit of Halloweentown” parade was organized in 1998 by the St. Helens Merchant’s Association, Chamber of Commerce and local civic organizations to celebrate the release of the movie. The event went dark for the next few years, until “Spirit of Halloweentown” was revived by the City of St. Helens Tourism Committee as a one-day celebration. When the Tourism Committee disbanded, the City of St. Helens took over management of the festival.
Actress Kimberly J. Brown, who played the 13-year-old heroine Marnie in the Disney Channel movie, makes an appearance at “Spirit of Halloweentown.”LC-
In 2015, actress Kimberly J. Brown, who played the 13-year-old heroine Marnie in the Disney Channel movie, returned to host festivities and greet fans, and the event went viral. “Spirit of Halloweentown” is now bigger than ever, and the city contracts with E2C Productions to manage festivities.
The free Halloweentown Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7, travels along Columbia Boulevard, and ends at the downtown plaza for the lighting of the Big Pumpkin at 7:30 p.m.
The weekend of Oct. 21-22 will feature a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original movie, with the actors who played Sophie, Dylan, Luke and Marnie available for paid photos and autographs, and special screenings of the movie in The Columbia Theater, which is featured in the film’s climatic ending.
At the Spirit of Halloweentown, held in St. Helens Saturday night, actors who appeared in the film that inspired the festival, “Halloweentown,” were on hand to pay tribute to co-star Debbie Reynolds, who died last year. Beth Nakamura LC-LC-
Oct. 27-29 is “Witches Weekend” with an appearance by paddleboarding witches along the Columbia River. Kids are invited to join the Little Trick or Treaters Parade starting at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at 1st and St. Helens streets.
A variety of street performers and vendors will be at Spirit of Halloweentown every weekend throughout October. (Note that due to construction downtown, visitors are asked to pay for parking at 1810 Old Portland Road and take a free shuttle downtown.) For a full list of events and performer appearances, and to purchase tickets to various meet and greets, haunted houses, parking passes and experiences, visit spiritofhalloweentown.com.
READ MORE
- From gourds to ghouls: Portland area Halloween haunts and other seasonal events for 2023
- Oregon towns embrace their local haunts with these ghostly events
— Samantha Swindler, sswindler@oregonian.com, @editorswindler
Source: News
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