What to Know
- Oct. 24 is the deadline for entries
- Pet costumes, kid costumes, and a pumpkin art contest
- All 2020 competitions are virtual
Hen couture isn't trending at the moment, but it just might become a Major Thing thanks to the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade.
The community-sweet celebration, which marks its centennial in 2024, has been the ultimate in-person party for OC-based lovers of Halloween for well over nine decades.
And one of the delightful draws? The animals rocking all sorts of splendid togs.
Alas: Animals and their humans will not be getting gussied up, and then gathering, in 2020.
But the festival is determined that the beloved show will go on, at least virtually.
Which means, oh joy, the event's Pet Costume Contest is happening as a virtual to-do.
Entries are open, through Oct. 24, and sweet snaps have already bok-bok'd their way to the festival team, including a hen in a fancy tutu and a small pup's playful paean to the Energizer Bunny.
Has your dog, cat, bunny, hen, lizard, or horse got a costume you'd love to share with the wider public?
Enter now, and be sure to include the all-important photograph.
The light-hearted happening isn't stopping at our hounds, hens, and horses, though. Human kids also have their own costume contest to join, from afar, so ask your 12-and-under tot to don his Halloween get-up and pose for a picture.
There's also a Best Group Costume element, too, if a few family members want to dress up together. The rules? Read 'em here.
Finally?
Pumpkin artists may also send in a pic of their glorious gourd-based creations. And, yep, the deadline is Oct. 24, like the human and pet costume contests.
Are there prizes? You bet.
The pet contest's top three placers will snag Petsmart gift cards, while the kid-fun costume contest has Target gift cards for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.
And the trio of victorious pumpkin artists? Those gift cards will hail from Michaels, meaning more crafty creating will be down the road.
It's a nice slice of this celebration, and one that is living on for 2020 in a different and still-delightful way.
But there are a few socially distanced, in-person events to consider. There's a Halloween Tree in Downtown Anaheim, and it is glowing nightly through Oct. 31
And The "Drive-Thru" Halloween Parade? Honk honk: That's in the whimsical works for Saturday, Oct. 24.
