Things that go boo…Halloween Parade promises a howling good time

For one night in October, Houma becomes one “haunted” place. Ghouls, goblins, witches and other oddities take to the streets for “Houma’s Haunted Halloween” parade.

The South Louisiana Center for the Arts’ second annual Halloween Parade takes place Oct. 24.

The walking parade begins at 7 p.m. at Houma’s Town Hall, 805 Barrow St., continues to Honduras Street and disbands on Church Street, a short distance away.

The family-oriented event is free to the public.

Civic clubs and families are also invited to participate in the fun.

Husband-and-wife team Frank and Tammy Chaisson, of Magical Entertainment of Houma, are this year’s king and queen of Halloween. It’s a return engagement of sorts for Tammy, who reigned over last year’s inaugural parade.

Last year’s theme was “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” celebrating the works of the famous Grimm brothers.

This year’s theme is being kept under wraps until the night of the parade, Tammy Chaisson said.

“It’ll be fun,” she said. “Next year we are going to have a contest for king and queen. Anyone interested is going to have to write a little summary of why they want to be king and queen and a picture taken of how they would look as king and queen. We have a committee that is going to select a top five. They’ll be put on a Web site and the public is going to get to vote for who they think is going to be king and queen.”

The parade was the brainchild of former SoLa director Jonathan Foret, who last year said Houma needed a Halloween parade. The walking parade replaced SoLa’s patented “Blue Door” haunted house. Even though it isn’t designed to scare visitors’ socks off like the haunted house did, the hundreds of residents that lined the route enjoyed it.

After Foret accepted a job at Southdown Plantation earlier this year and Ellis Bonaventure assumed the mantle at SoLa, the new director vowed to keep the parade going.

SoLa is expecting record crowds Oct. 24.

“Everybody likes parades,” Chaisson said. “We are expecting tons more people than last year because a lot of people didn’t even know that it was going on last year. Then they heard about it and regretted not going. But we still had a lot of people that still showed up, so I’m thinking this year is going to be even double.”

Unlike other parades in the area, parade-goers won’t be treated to beads or floats.

The costumed Halloweeners toss candy to the crowd. Participants are responsible for providing their own candy to throw. As royalty of the event, the Chaissons, looking a bit of a fright, ride in the back of a convertible.

Queen Tammy is challenging parade-goers to dress up to add to the Halloween experience.

“We don’t care if it’s kids or adults, we encourage everyone to dress up,” she said. “It’ll really add to the heart of the event.”

SoLa’s long-term goal is to see the Halloween parade gain the same level of popularity as the Christmas parade, but that’s all based on the public’s response.

For more information on how to participate in the parade, contact SoLa at (985) 876-2222.

The Queen of Halloween (Tammy Chaisson, center), the gruesome troll (Frank Chaisson, at far right), the Mistress of Darkness (Jeannine Bergeron, bottom left) and the Grim Reaper (Michael Slage, upper left) await the night they can stroll the streets during the Houma’s second annual Halloween Parade.