Will Your Halloween Cossie Scare the Crows?

It was the last weekend in October already. If that's not scary enough (what with the mid-year sales seemingly having passed by only five minutes ago) then the end of October heralds its customary programme of: 

• pumpkin hollowing and carving into grotesque and scary shapes (with the resultant forthcoming weeks of pumpkin soup, made with the discarded insides); 
• dressing up the kids and ‘young at hearts’ ("Growing old is certain, but growing up is a choice") in outlandish and scary ‘cossies’ ('costumes' if you're reading this outside of Australia); and
• preparing and showing off this year's home-assembled scarecrow, either carefully and intricately, or hurriedly, sloppily and questionably, depending upon whether the assembler is young, old, inspirationally creative or artistically challenged.

Looking online for things to do and places to visit in and around Brissie (Brisbane to those ‘up over’, rather than those here 'down under') on the aforementioned weekend preceding Halloween, I noticed that the annual Scarecrow Festival at Tamborine Mountain was running ‘full ghoul ahead’. We last visited this rural event in 2021 and, remembering the mixture of laughs and mock scares we endured last time, decided to give it a go again this year.  

Here's a link to the blog I wrote on this back in 2021: https://au.bebee.com/producer/has-oz-lost-the-wizard-hTZZG2gzJbNG    

The Wynnum Halloween Parade was also featured on the weekend online calendar, and so we decided to also add this to our agenda, having not been before, but trusting solely on the marketing feature on ‘mustdobrisbane.com’.

So, on the Saturday, we took a steep drive up to the sleepy but attractive, artisan and woody setting that is Mount Tamborine.  It wasn't long before we saw our first effort, although possibly more likely to scare the fashion-conscious than the crows.

There appeared to be fewer manikins on display than during our previous visit, but there was no lack of good intention and originality, albeit with the end result varying from comical to scary to downright WTF. You choose which, as you look through my following pick of the bunch that we came across on our rambling drive around the outskirts of the village.

This driver (above) looks like he may have been a late entry into the Belgian Grand Prix, although it look like he's been waiting, for quite some time, for offical directions to the starting line-up.

This ‘cursed’ entry (above) is perhaps hoping to scare away the local crims and housebreakers, although her immediate setting may be an attractive proposition for any local arsonists?

'Friendly Dorothy' (above) may be more cute than scary, but her early onset varicose veins may be a bit worrisome?

Slow service (above) at the local El Burro Mexican cantina?

There were many more crow-scaring efforts captured on my trusty Canon but, in the interests of at least a little brevity, I've retired my other pics as either non-scary, non-comical, or plain WTF is this? On returning home, however, it appeared that we didn't complete the official circuit, which, according to the online map, was more a-maizing than circuitous, so we may have missed some interesting entries.

And so onwards to Wynnum and that Halloween promenade.  Being a bit tentative about what we might see on display in this eastern near seashore (or rather bayshore) suburb, and having not been to visit this annual extravaganza before, we were pleasantly surprised at the turn-out. Many of the local adults were dressed up in their finest Halloween outfits, in addition to the kiddies, although I must admit that this is a suburb I rarely visit, therefore I may be misjudging the local fashion awareness.

Again the photos are sparse in the interests of brevity, but also because I preferred a sneaky approach to snapping, using my zoom lens, and thus avoiding poking my camera in the faces of those best dressed on the day, and perhaps risking a black eye or a bleedy nose.

First we encountered Wynnum's very own Ghostbuster-mobile (above), although the ‘doggo’ at the rear-left looked more threatening and capable of fending off gouls and creepy creatures. Who you gonna call?

Little Miss Moffat, 

Sat on her Fiat?

Eating her curds and whey, 

Along came a spider (or two), 

And sat down beside her …  

And so she banged the racer into overdrive and shot off down the freeway?

Terminator re-Hearse-al (above) prior to the start of the parade?

The parade is Witch way?

You're looking in the wrong place for that event map, guys!

Either this guy needed to take a ‘leek’ or else he was looking out for a broccol-eye?

Still waiting for ‘the call’?

This lady (above, centre stage) won ‘Best Make-up’. A bit ‘rash’ don't you think?

Either this guy likes old movies, or he's got a bun in the oven (as in ‘up the …’).

Captain Hook just found out that Tinkerbell needs a tinkle.

Hey, kid, if you sit in that buggy for too long you'll get a dina-sore-ass.

So there we have it, folks. It appears that Halloween is still alive and well in Oz, at least in Mount Tamborine and Wynnum in October 2024.  Many Australians seem to believe that Halloween is a US import and hence do not partake in ‘trick or treat’.  Indeed, as one who was born in Scotland, I don't see why we should hand out free sweets to the neighbours' kids, thus encouraging dental decay and expensive visits to the dentist, followed by irate neighbours demanding contributions to their dental insurance plan.  

Furthermore, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Halloween's origins can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain …”, and, “It was believed that on that day, the souls of the dead returned to their homes, so people dressed in costumes and lit bonfires to ward off spirits.” Personally, I'm not taking any chances. I usually keep my door shut on the evening of 31 October, so that I don't have to differentiate between the returning souls of the dead and possible visiting neighbourhood kids, who may or may not be wearing scary costumes.

___________________________________________________

When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

https://ken-boddie.squarespace.com 

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's work week (retired engineer), as a part-time or freelance English tutor to migrants, allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

#halloween #tamborinemountain #wynnum #scarecrowfestival