The next 3 days are better than Christmas...

[KitchenKitten99]

As the Halloween Capital of the World, we do Halloween better than any other city.

All month long, there are festivals, chili-cookoffs, formal events, and 3 parades.

It all builds to the last weekend in October before 10/31, with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday rivaling anything you'd see in New Orleans on Mardi Gras or Carnivale in Rio.

This is the weekend. Serum's has the tent all set up and ready to go for the 21+ only block party, Johnny Holm Band headlining for Saturday. GB Leighton, Snaggletoof and Rockgodz are tomorrow night. Costume contest which you can win a trip to Vegas (at least that was the last few years, destination may change), Lions club beer trucks in there pouring Summit and Coors Light all evening long.

Kiwanis have the pancake breakfast and bake sale until 12:30 on Sunday for all of your hangover needs.

This town will have over 40,000 people watching the parade and participating in the activities on Saturday. Most of the women who have grown up here spend more time and put more careful thought on their costumes each year, than their wedding dress and prom dresses combined.

And my shop is in the middle of it all. I am SO gonna win the costume contest this year. Just sayin'.

:cool:

http://anokahalloween.com/pages/Welcome

[gabosaurus]

You live in Anoka? My husband's oldest sister and her family live in Edina. Nice place to visit in the summer. Wouldn't want to be there during the winter.

[KitchenKitten99]

You live in Anoka? My husband's oldest sister and her family live in Edina. Nice place to visit in the summer. Wouldn't want to be there during the winter.

This is what the rest of us think of Edina:

http://www.ginoruberto.5u.com/GinoRuberto-Were_From_Edina.mp3

[aboutime]

This is what the rest of us think of Edina:

http://www.ginoruberto.5u.com/GinoRuberto-Were_From_Edina.mp3



KitchenKitten. I've heard of that place, Edina. Isn't that the community that sinks about a foot every year because it was built below sea-level, and the Land-fill, called Edina, keeps falling....like an endless, bottomless pit?
Almost forgot. Isn't that also the place where all of the CESS-POOLS are ABOVE GROUND?

[KitchenKitten99]

KitchenKitten. I've heard of that place, Edina. Isn't that the community that sinks about a foot every year because it was built below sea-level, and the Land-fill, called Edina, keeps falling....like an endless, bottomless pit?
Almost forgot. Isn't that also the place where all of the CESS-POOLS are ABOVE GROUND?

Not sure what you're referring to.

The Edina here is the equivalent to Beverly Hills, CA.

[gabosaurus]

My daughter has spent more time there than I have, visiting her cousins. She send a text to her favorite cousin about this. The reply was "You are wrong. The rich people live in Eden Prairie."
I can't see my husband's sister as wealthy. Her husband works for the state, inspecting roads and bridges. When that bridge collapsed in Minneapolis a few years back, he was one of the first people there. He needed counseling after that.
They don't live in a mansion and they have well adjusted kids. The oldest boy pays junior college baseball in Texas. The oldest girl is in band and orchestra.

[Abbey Marie]

My daughter has spent more time there than I have, visiting her cousins. She send a text to her favorite cousin about this. The reply was "You are wrong. The rich people live in Eden Prairie." I can't see my husband's sister as wealthy. Her husband works for the state, inspecting roads and bridges. When that bridge collapsed in Minneapolis a few years back, he was one of the first people there. He needed counseling after that.
They don't live in a mansion and they have well adjusted kids. The oldest boy pays junior college baseball in Texas. The oldest girl is in band and orchestra.

"One man's ceiling is another man's floor."

[aboutime]

Not sure what you're referring to.

The Edina here is the equivalent to Beverly Hills, CA.

See my PM to you KitchenKitten. Thanks.

[KitchenKitten99]

My daughter has spent more time there than I have, visiting her cousins. She send a text to her favorite cousin about this. The reply was "You are wrong. The rich people live in Eden Prairie."
I can't see my husband's sister as wealthy. Her husband works for the state, inspecting roads and bridges. When that bridge collapsed in Minneapolis a few years back, he was one of the first people there. He needed counseling after that.
They don't live in a mansion and they have well adjusted kids. The oldest boy pays junior college baseball in Texas. The oldest girl is in band and orchestra.
From Wikipedia:


..Edina today[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edina,_Minnesota&action=edit&section=11)]Today, many of the street names in Edina are named after families whose farms once occupied that area, for example: Grimes Avenue, Code Avenue, Gleason (Gleeson) Road, Cooper Avenue, Hansen Road and Wyman Avenue.
Edina has a reputation for being one of the most affluent suburbs of Minneapolis.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota#cite_note-10) Edina citizens are considered wealthy (e.g. median household income for 1999 in Edina was $66,019,[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota#cite_note-11) compared to the averages of $37,974 for Minneapolis and $47,111 for the state of Minnesota),[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota#cite_note-12) which led to the once derogatory term of "cake eaters" (a reference to the "Let them eat cake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake)" quote misattributed to Marie Antoinette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette)). The term is now largely used in jest in regional sports rivalries. Such usage can be seen, for example, in the Disney film, The Mighty Ducks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Ducks), in which the term is used in reference to the Adam Banks character. Up until the 1960s, the name "cake eater" had been attributed to the Washburn (Minneapolis) Millers, a high school located in a prosperous neighborhood of nearby Minneapolis. Additionally, popular culture in Minnesota references that Edina is an acronym for the phrase "Every Day I Need Attention" once again referencing the stereotypical Edina resident as wealthy and aloof.
Edina is home to some billionaires, most notably Richard M. Schulze (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Schulze) and the late Carl Pohlad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Pohlad).[13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota#cite_note-13)[14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota#cite_note-14) ...

How about taking the word from someone who has lived here her whole life vs. someone who has visited?

Not all Edina residents live in mansions, same for Minnetonka and Wayzata (both border Edina) residents. However the stereotype is there for a reason.

[gabosaurus]

"One man's ceiling is another man's floor."

Very well stated.
Kitchen Kitten, I totally believe you. I e-mailed my husband's sister, who readily admitted to being a family of "cake eaters." Which I am sure means more to you than to me. :laugh:
Their homestead is not large by California standards, but I reckon it is pretty nice by Minneapolis standards. Oldest daughter is now dating a nice boy from Champlin Park, which I gather is more middle class.

[aboutime]

Very well stated.
Kitchen Kitten, I totally believe you. I e-mailed my husband's sister, who readily admitted to being a family of "cake eaters." Which I am sure means more to you than to me. :laugh:
Their homestead is not large by California standards, but I reckon it is pretty nice by Minneapolis standards. Oldest daughter is now dating a nice boy from Champlin Park, which I gather is more middle class.



Gabby. Your hypocrisy, and racism really shows when you so willfully expose your need to place people you don't know, or like into CLASSES, just to separate your SNOBBERY from everyone else.
Nobody cares how much you have, nor how much your house costs, nor where you live.
Last time I checked. If you are HUMAN. You are NO DIFFERENT than any of us, in any way. EXCEPT... I suspect, all the DOORS in your house had to be WIDENED to allow you to move from room to room in your LOW CLASS arrogance.

[gabosaurus]

Oh posh. I am quite a bit better than you are. I will always be higher class. I am smarter than you. My daughter is smarter than you. I am guessing our cat is smarter than you. We don't need Obamacare. We could probably pay the yearly rent on your trailer with what we pay in taxes. You are fortunate that I still address you, given our differences in class. My world is more wonderful than yours.
You do have my permission to keep wishing you were me. It is understandable. :carryon:

[aboutime]

Oh posh. I am quite a bit better than you are. I will always be higher class. I am smarter than you. My daughter is smarter than you. I am guessing our cat is smarter than you. We don't need Obamacare. We could probably pay the yearly rent on your trailer with what we pay in taxes. You are fortunate that I still address you, given our differences in class. My world is more wonderful than yours.
You do have my permission to keep wishing you were me. It is understandable. :carryon:


No way would I ever wish to be a Festering BOIL on the butt of Nancy Pelosi gabby. You can keep that distinction all for yourself.

[KitchenKitten99]

Very well stated.
Kitchen Kitten, I totally believe you. I e-mailed my husband's sister, who readily admitted to being a family of "cake eaters." Which I am sure means more to you than to me. :laugh:
Their homestead is not large by California standards, but I reckon it is pretty nice by Minneapolis standards. Oldest daughter is now dating a nice boy from Champlin Park, which I gather is more middle class.

Depends on the area of Champlin or Brooklyn Park. Champlin Park High School combines those two cities. It is a HUGE school. Students also live in surrounding cities such as Dayton and the northern bits of Maple Grove. Dayton and Maple Grove are really going up in terms of average household income. Much of Dayton is farmland. I board my horse in that town and the daughter of my barn owner goes to Champlin Park.

Much of Brooklyn Park is ghetto and low to the lower-middle income. There's also a reason it is dubbed 'Brooklyn DARK'... However there are a few 'oasis' spots in that vast desert of low income and crime. My husband used to live there, in an executive home on the 7th tee of the Edinburgh USA golf course (I stayed with him for 3 months until he was able to sell it after his divorce). One of the houses somewhere on the course was featured in some golfing magazine several years ago.

Champlin is actually just across the Mississippi River on the other side of the Anoka-Champlin bridge (HWY 169). Most of the homes there are mid to upper incomes, though there are pockets of lower income homes. Even the lower-income homes are pretty nice and maintained fairly well.

My step-kids (the two teenagers anyway) go to Champlin Park. The school is part of the Anoka-Hennepin ISD 11.

[glockmail]

I've suspected for some time now that Halloween was becoming the new Christmas. Now we celebrate death instead of birth. Anything to keep Christ out our children's lives.

[gabosaurus]

Anything to keep Christ out our children's lives.

Oh come now Glock. Do you really really want your kids to go out with nail holes on their hands and dragging around a styrofoam cross? How many treats will they get from that outfit? :cool:

Geez, Champlin Park reminds me a bit of Anaheim. A nice mix of ethnicity and economic class.
My husband's sister says she greatly enjoys the annual festivities in Anoka. Brings her kids there almost every year.

[KitchenKitten99]

I've suspected for some time now that Halloween was becoming the new Christmas. Now we celebrate death instead of birth. Anything to keep Christ out our children's lives.

Obviously you didn't check out the link to the website I provided, which has the history of how and why this has come to be. It has ZERO to do with what you claim. Time has just evolved the events to be a month-long deal that gives our town things to do during the month to have fun and live up to our namesake.

Quote:

Anoka, Minnesota is believed to be the first city in the United States to put on a Halloween celebration to divert its youngsters from Halloween pranks. When Anokans awoke to find their cows roaming Main Street, their windows soaped and their outhouses tipped over, they decided something had to be done.

Getting Organized:
In 1920, George Green and other Anoka civic leaders suggested the idea of a giant celebration. The idea was adopted by the Anoka Commercial Club and the Anoka Kiwanis Club; both giving their full support..In September of that year, a Halloween committee was organized. Working hand in hand were businessmen, teachers from the Anoka public and parochial schools, parents, and students..For weeks before the big event, more than a thousand Anoka school children made plans and costumes for the big event.
.....

Anoka's Halloween celebration continues to be world class. Participation in the night parade and Grand Day parade has grown to include units from all over the midwest. The original concept of having costumed students parade down Main Street continues on as well on the Friday preceding the Grand Day parade. Anoka residents can watch their grandchildren or great grandchildren continue the tradition they started so many years ago.


And if I wait another month, I can post the info on the live Christmas Tree centerpiece that is placed in front of the City Hall plaza and decorated every year, and there is a big 'lighting of the tree' ceremony with bonfires and games, Santa comes out, and various food vendors with hot cocoa and kettle corn, etc. However events just do not go all month long because of weather, lack of interest, and other things. Not to mention we're not the 'Christmas Capital of the World' either.

Besides... Christ died on the cross for us. I worship Him. How is that not also celebrating his death? I celebrate Jesus every day. I can't participate and have fun in events sponsored by the city and businesses here at the same time?

Go ahead and be sour grapes about our nearly-100-year old town tradition that really is more for the kids here (and around the metro) than anything. It is still OUR tradition that will carry on and my grandchildren and hopefully their grandchildren will enjoy for years to come.