Block party raises spirits

Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Amanda Bergin, 7, of Lisbon Falls appears as a ghostly figure, front right, as she wanders through the haunted graveyard at the home of Christine and Danny Nicholson while trick-or-treating on Addison Street in Lisbon Falls on Saturday night. Friends and neighbors of the Nicholsons can be seen in the background serving hot dogs to trick-or-treaters, something they have been doing for the past five years.

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- Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

One of the numerous decorations that adorned houses that are all decked out for halloween on Addison Street in Lisbon Falls Halloween night.

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- Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LISBON FALLS — In her day job Christine Nicholson is a lunch lady at the elementary school.

On Halloween she puts on a costume, goes wild with decorations and hosts a block party, giving out candy and hot dogs to anyone who stops by.

Many stop by.

"Last year we gave out 380 hot dogs," said her husband, Dan. "This year we bought 400 hot dogs."

Saturday marked the fifth year the couple and their group of friends have hosted a Halloween extravaganza at the couple's old-fashioned, three-story home on Addison Street.

In their front yard was a long table with hot dog cookers and the fixings. Three or four adults manned the table giving away warm, tasty dogs.

Around them were all things Halloween.

To one side was a huge black spider web going from the porch to the tree. Poking out of the ground was a skeleton. Another life-sized skeleton kept watch from the porch. Pumpkins carved with a bat and a skeleton, lit by strobe lights, sat on the steps.

"How are you doing?" Christine greeted trick-or-treaters, who filled the street. "This is the madness. We love it," she said, wearing a prisoner costume. The porch was decorated in orange lights, ghosts and skeletons and Alfred Hitchcock-looking bird cages with crows.

Nearby was a clotheslines with ghosts. Next to that was a graveyard with several tombstones and a 10-foot cross, lit up. In front of the graveyard sat what looked like a life-sized, stuffed witch.

Suddenly the witch came to life. She said, "Hello." It was frightening.

"I scare more parents than I do children," said Tish Cloutier, as she sat next to a life-size coffin. It was her third year playing a witch. "It's fun to see the children."

Christine and Dan Nicholson estimated they spend $150 feeding the crowd, which includes local police who stopped by to survey the busy street. That cost doesn't include the decorations. "I couldn't put a price on that. We buy something every year," she said.

Christine got the idea for the public Halloween party from her childhood in Reading, Mass. Her neighbor, Mr. Fenley, gave away hot dogs and candy every Halloween. "We loved it."

After Mr. Fenley died, and she and her husband moved to Maine, she wanted to bring back the hot dog/block party. "It's gone off," she said.

People come from nearby towns. And the spirit has spread. Her next-door neighbors decorate their home as festive as hers.

"Halloween is my favorite holiday, and my daughter's birthday," Christine said. "This is like Christmas to me."

bwashuk@sunjournal.com