Glen Hartle, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Association Récréative de Bryson (Bryson Recreation Association) hosted an array of wee
ones on Friday for the annual Halloween Party. The energy was high and so was the joy.
On hand was a plethora of everything that makes Halloween come alive. The hall was
generously decorated with everything from spider webs to suspended ghoulish-globes.
There was music spinning a wide array of tunes for all ages including classics like
Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the theme song for the Addams Family. There were nibbles,
refreshments, games and hosts, all designed to convert reality into fiction, if for just a little while.
Most of all, there was a great variety of children in costumes
ranging from princesses to pirates and even a flamengo dancer.
All in all, some 88 youngsters joined the fun and some even
brought an oldster or two along for company. After all, it’s not
easy being a two-year-old-police-boy on your own. Association president Julie Ryan
beamed at the turnout, “Most members of the association have children, and we love doing
all sorts of kids’ activities. From ball soccer to summer camp, we like to keep the kids active and
we love the annual Halloween Party.” Ryan was in charge of the games – including “Pass the
Pumpkin” which heralded in a whole new level of energy amongst the party-goers.
Helping Ryan as emcee and DJ was association vice-president Meghan Griffin. Association sec-
retary Shyloh Pasqua took care of the canteen while volunteers Alexandra Ryan Vaillancourt and
Amanda Baird took care of the door and donations. At evening’s end, Melissa Stewart and Chantal
Gravelle jumped in to help clean up. This was truly a team effort.
There were prizes awarded for Most Original costume and for Best Overall. These were further
divided by age groups: 0-3, 4-7 and 8+. For the 0-3 grouping, soon-to-be-one-year-old Annabelle
Gravelle and her big brother, Ben, absolutely stole the show in their mousetrap and exterminator
getup taking the Most Creative props. Violet Kelly took home Best Overall as a butterfly.
For the 4-7 grouping, Noah Pasqua took Most Creative as Red Among Us and Kennedy Griffin
stunned as a Flamenco Dancer, complete with moves to match.
She took Best Overall. Rounding things out, in the 8+ grouping, Nadia Durocher took
the creative crown for her version of Pennywise, the IT clown; scary never looked so good. And
Best Overall in the grouping went to Jayden Chevalier as a ginormous dinosaur, who, it should
be noted, provided substantial inspiration for all of the would-be Jurassic Park fans in attendance.
Each prize winner received agrab bag of goodies with games, books, play-doh and more.
As for the games – what enthusiasm. Emcee Griffin had her work cut out for her in keeping
things on track as the madding crowd (with nod to author Thomas Hardy) circled. Granted,
they were asked to circle in order to gear up for the first game, Pass the Pumpkin, but this did
nothing to take away from the teeming sea of costumed specificity highlighting the moment.
It was positively delightful and, if deciblage can be used as reference, the excitement already on
display went completely off the charts. Like, way off. Game winners won glow stick
packages that will likely come in handy on Halloween night. All kids left with a grab bag donated
by the association. As if that wasn’t enough goodness for one evening, attendees were invited to bring food and
cash donations for Bouffe Pontiac. Bouffe Pontiac, headquartered in Campbells Bay, aims to
provide access to healthy food for those in need. Director General Kim Laroche intones, “We
have an increase in demand with more and more working families at minimum wage in need.”
She shares that November is usually almost as busy as the Christmas
period for them and that any and all contributions are greatly appreciated.
For their part, the Halloween Party with the Bryson Recreation Association contributed several
bags of non-perishable goods along with an envelope of good will. This dress rehearsal for
Halloween had it all and if that was the rehearsal, the show must have been off the rails.