Giant pumpkins, creative costumes, and trick-or-treating takes over Downtown for Halloween celebration
PASO ROBLES — Downtown Paso Robles was flooded on Halloween with witches, minions, dinosaurs, scarecrows and more for the annual Safe and Fun Halloween Downtown. Presented by the Paso Robles Main Street Association, the streets surrounding Paso Robles City Park were closed down to allow trick-or-treaters full access and fun downtown.
Randy Pharr of Templeton brought his giant pumpkins to City Park for families and Halloween guests to take pictures with. Pharr has been growing large pumpkins for about 15 years now. Phar, who used to hold the county record for largest pumpkin for 12 years, is now working towards reaching a personal best of a 1,000-pound pumpkin. The pumpkins Pharr brought to Halloween ranged from 400 to 700 pounds.
“It’s a kind of a growing pumpkin growing community [here],” said Pharr, who brings his pumpkins annually to compete against friends at the Farm Supply Pumpkin Contest.Â
Photos by Camille DeVaul/PRP
On Oct. 19, the Paso Robles Main Street Association held the Annual Downtown Golden Oak Honey & Pumpkin Festival in City Park. Pharr and some of his friends brought their large pumpkins for display and he hopes to get the pumpkins more involved with the festivals.
“Years ago, what got me started [growing pumpkins] is a guy named Steve Peterson. He organized a giant pumpkin contest here, and they closed this street off. And that was the first experience I had with [pumpkins],” said Pharr, who hopes to bring a pumpkin contest back to Paso Robles one day.
Halloween on Thursday was packed with trick-or-treaters, and Downtown merchants were ready for the fun with plenty of candy to hand out, and in the center of the park, the Downtown Witches were ready for their close-up near the Holiday House. Spare Time Books co-owners Clio Bruns and Carla Cary continued their tradition of handing out children’s books instead of candy for Halloween. The tradition was another big hit for families.
Photos by Camille DeVaul/PRP
Families took the opportunity to put together creative group costumes — The Wizard of Oz theme being a popular one. Local actors Michael and Bobbi Teubner took the opportunity to dust off one of their authentic costumes and stroll the park handing out candy.
“We love to see the families together having a great time and especially the parents dressing up with the children. We just enjoy this,” Michael said. Halloween also happened to be the Teubner’s 37th wedding anniversary.
In the next town over, families filled Main Street in Templeton for their annual trick-or-treating extravaganza. Main Street businesses were ready with candy and it was truly a small-town Halloween.
Photos by Camille DeVaul/PRP
Atascadero’s downtown was filled to the brim with families and costumed revelers of all ages to celebrate Halloween on Thursday. Once again, the Downtown Business Improvement District closed off Entrada and turned it into a safe and fun place for all ages from 5 to 8 p.m. Businesses filled the street with booths and gave out everything from candy to books and even apples.
Which costume is your favorite? Did you get your favorite candy? We hope you had a fun and memorable Halloween this year.
Feature Image: Cousins (from left) Millie, Lothan, Josie, and Rowyn pose together in their Wizard of Oz family costumes at the Paso Robles Safe and Fun Downtown event. Photo by Camille DeVaul/PRP
