Perhaps you live in East Wallingford, somewhat near the John Stanford School, and remember some outrageously large Halloween house parties years ago, disrupting the neighborhood?
Well, that was us.
From roughly 1995 through 2004, we hosted a Halloween party that was, if we do say so ourselves, fantastic. Over the years it grew from 20 or so of our friends to 40 to 80 to 100 and eventually topped out at around 400 people, which is far more than will fit in our little bungalow.
As a result, we had to move it to a “real” venue. Since then, it’s grown further and at last count, we saw over 900 people come through the doors, entertained by DJ’s, aerialists, musicians, fire performers, games and the most amazing costumes you’ve ever seen. We started charging admission and for drinks to cover our costs, then realized we could do some good, so over the years we’ve raised over $50,000 for Room to Read (who build schools in poor villages in Nepal, Cambodia, etc. and fund scholarships for girls who wouldn’t otherwise go to school) as well for Youngstown (which provides arts education for at-risk youth and office space for arts and environmental organizations).
Well, this year is the last one. We’re getting too old for this, plus our co-founder / producer, Shelly Farnham, is moving to San Francisco next month.
So, one last time. It’s in West Seattle, but you should come. Best party you’ll ever go to. Click the link for the details, or have some fun looking at pictures from last year (can you spot Baby Z?)
Sigh – it’s the end of an era. I feel lucky to have been part of the fun over the past decade or so. We have many many fond memories of Hive-Mind Halloween. Maybe Zev, Nate, Evie and the rest of the next gen will create their own happening at some point…thanks for everything J.
Baby Z is in the belly, right?