Winchester keeps Halloween Mainia tradition alive

There are some tra­di­tions that become part of the fab­ric of a community. 

You know them by the way chil­dren grow up with them, par­ents remem­ber them, and even­tu­al­ly those chil­dren bring their own chil­dren back to expe­ri­ence them. 

For at least a decade, Halloween Mainia has been one of those tra­di­tions in Winchester and Clark County. Each October, Main Street trans­forms into a place where chil­dren can put on their cos­tumes, fam­i­lies can gath­er down­town, and busi­ness­es and com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions come togeth­er to make Halloween a lit­tle more mag­i­cal for local children. 

This year, that tra­di­tion is tak­ing a dif­fer­ent path. 

The City of Winchester made the deci­sion not to orga­nize the event this year, cre­at­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for local busi­ness­es, orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to come togeth­er and car­ry the tra­di­tion forward. 

Event Details

Halloween Mainia
Date: Oct. 31
Time: 5 to 7 p.m.
Location: Main St. in Winchester

The Pumpkin Quest
Date: Oct. 25
Time: 2 to 5 p.m.
Location: College Park

Want to par­tic­i­pate in Halloween Mainia?

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The Halloween Mainia Committee was formed, with down­town busi­ness own­er Shannon Tipton of The Crystal Coven Mystic Cottage serv­ing as chair. Joining her are Sydney Dickey of ODN, Teresa Taylor from the Clark County Chamber of Commerce and Winchester Tourism, Sheldon Sharpe from BCTC, Jennifer Daughtrey from Kettle & Quill, and com­mu­ni­ty vol­un­teer and WinCity Voices con­trib­u­tor Misty Gay. 

They come from dif­fer­ent busi­ness­es, orga­ni­za­tions and back­grounds, but they share a belief that Halloween Mainia is worth keep­ing alive. 

For Tipton, the deci­sion to become involved was a nat­ur­al one. 

“Halloween Mainia is a tra­di­tion. For many chil­dren and fam­i­lies, it is an event they look for­ward to each year. Allowing the tra­di­tion of com­mu­ni­ty to fade was not some­thing I want­ed to see hap­pen,” she said. 

Tipton learned that city offi­cials were look­ing to turn the event over to a new com­mit­tee when anoth­er mem­ber of the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty asked whether she would be will­ing to “lead the charge.” 

It was some­thing that per­son knew Tipton was pas­sion­ate about. She had par­tic­i­pat­ed in Halloween Mainia pre­vi­ous­ly as a busi­ness owner. 

“How could I say no?” she said. 

That sim­ple ques­tion cap­tures much of the spir­it behind this year’s event. 

Beyond candy and costumes

The peo­ple involved aren’t sim­ply orga­niz­ing an evening of trick-or-treat­ing. They are try­ing to pre­serve some­thing they believe has val­ue beyond the can­dy and costumes. 

For Tipton, Halloween Mainia is one way she can give back to the community. 

“It is a way to offer the chil­dren of the com­mu­ni­ty a fun and safe place to enjoy trick-or-treat­ing, make mem­o­ries, and see com­mu­ni­ty in action,” she said. 

And while adults may not think much about the can­dy or treats hand­ed out dur­ing the event, Tipton sees some­thing much big­ger from a child’s perspective. 

“As adults, the can­dy or the treats may not mean much, but to a child it brings antic­i­pa­tion, excite­ment, and joy.” 

That sense of child­hood won­der is at the cen­ter of what Tipton hopes fam­i­lies expe­ri­ence when they come down­town this Halloween. 

“I hope that fam­i­lies and chil­dren expe­ri­ence the love and warmth of com­mu­ni­ty,” she said. 

Halloween memories

For Tipton, that hope is root­ed in her own mem­o­ries of grow­ing up in Winchester. 

She remem­bers Halloween can­dy giv­en out by down­town shop own­ers, walk­ing across the creaky floor at Newberry’s, see­ing Santa at Belk, the dec­o­ra­tions at JCPenney, and pick­ing up the Christmas cat­a­log from Sears. 

Those mem­o­ries may seem sim­ple, but they helped shape her sense of what com­mu­ni­ty means. 

“I want the fam­i­lies and the chil­dren to have mem­o­ries like these, the mem­o­ries of com­mu­ni­ty that Winchester also holds for me,” she said. 

That is part of what makes this year’s Halloween Mainia more than sim­ply an event on the com­mu­ni­ty cal­en­dar. It is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to cre­ate new mem­o­ries that may one day become old mem­o­ries them­selves. For many Winchester par­ents, Halloween Mainia is already tied to mem­o­ries of their own chil­dren grow­ing up. 

I know that feel­ing per­son­al­ly. I remem­ber bring­ing my own child down­town for Halloween Mainia, and I’ve also par­tic­i­pat­ed through var­i­ous orga­ni­za­tions I’ve been involved with in our com­mu­ni­ty over the years. 

For Jennifer Daughtrey of Kettle & Quill, join­ing the effort was also about becom­ing part of the com­mu­ni­ty she and her hus­band have cho­sen to build their busi­ness in. 

When Kettle & Quill opened down­town this sum­mer, Daughtrey said they want­ed to be more than a book­store occu­py­ing a store­front. They want­ed to active­ly par­tic­i­pate in the life of down­town and be part of the com­mu­ni­ty around them. 

When it became clear that keep­ing Halloween Mainia going would require local busi­ness­es and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to step in, join­ing the com­mit­tee felt like a nat­ur­al exten­sion of that commitment. 

“If we want tra­di­tions like this to con­tin­ue, some­body has to be will­ing to show up and help make them hap­pen,” Daughtrey said. 

Bringing ‘new life’ to downtown

Daughtrey also sees Halloween Mainia as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to remind peo­ple that down­town Winchester is more than the busi­ness­es that line Main Street. 

“Events like Halloween Mainia give peo­ple a rea­son to expe­ri­ence down­town as more than a col­lec­tion of busi­ness­es,” she said. 

For one evening, she said, the streets become a shared com­mu­ni­ty space, with fam­i­lies walk­ing togeth­er and chil­dren mov­ing from store­front to store­front. Those expe­ri­ences help peo­ple feel con­nect­ed not only to one anoth­er, but to the place they call home. 

“They also invite peo­ple to redis­cov­er Main Street as a place to shop, eat, spend time, attend events, and par­tic­i­pate in their com­mu­ni­ty,” she said. 

“So many peo­ple are work­ing to bring new life to down­town Winchester right now, and some­times all it takes is one good rea­son to come down­town and dis­cov­er what’s here,” Daughtrey said. 

Most down­town busi­ness­es are closed dur­ing Halloween Mainia, but many of them, along with oth­er busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions from through­out Winchester and Clark County, set up tables or tents filled with treats to hand out to the chil­dren of the community. 

It is that col­lec­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion that gives Halloween Mainia its com­mu­ni­ty character. 

Halloween Mainia: The Pumpkin Quest

This year, there will be some­thing new. The idea for that new addi­tion came from Tipton herself. 

As a down­town busi­ness own­er, Tipton want­ed to cre­ate anoth­er oppor­tu­ni­ty for local chil­dren to cel­e­brate Halloween, make some­thing of their own and become part of the fes­tiv­i­ties before Halloween Mainia itself. She devel­oped the idea for Halloween Mainia: The Pumpkin Quest and brought the con­cept to the Halloween Mainia Committee as an exten­sion of the even­t’s fes­tiv­i­ties. The com­mit­tee approved adding it to this year’s celebration. 

The Crystal Coven Mystic Cottage, Tipton’s down­town busi­ness, is host­ing The Pumpkin Quest in part­ner­ship with Kentucky Kids Bounce House. The free com­mu­ni­ty event will be held October 25 from 2 to 5 p.m. at College Park. 

Families can enjoy free food, bounce hous­es and pump­kin carv­ing. The Halloween Mainia Committee also hopes to cre­ate a dis­play of the chil­dren’s pump­kin cre­ations for the com­mu­ni­ty to enjoy dur­ing Halloween Mainia on Main Street. 

But the com­mit­tee isn’t the only group being invit­ed to take part. 

On October 31, Halloween Mainia will return to Main Street from 5 to 7 p.m., and any­one who would like to par­tic­i­pate is invit­ed to set up along Main Street and help treat the chil­dren of Winchester and Clark County. 

Businesses, orga­ni­za­tions, com­mu­ni­ty groups and indi­vid­u­als who would like to par­tic­i­pate can reg­is­ter through the even­t’s par­tic­i­pa­tion form. 

The invi­ta­tion is part of what the com­mit­tee hopes will make this year’s cel­e­bra­tion pos­si­ble: not sim­ply an event orga­nized for the com­mu­ni­ty, but an event cre­at­ed by the community. 

For Tipton, The Pumpkin Quest is about much more than dec­o­rat­ing pumpkins. 

Each year, she works with dif­fer­ent orga­ni­za­tions, busi­ness­es and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to cre­ate some­thing for local chil­dren — some­thing that encour­ages cre­ativ­i­ty and gives them an oppor­tu­ni­ty to take pride in what they’ve made. 

“I try to do some­thing that sparks cre­ativ­i­ty and, once com­plet­ed, is some­thing they could point at and say, ‘Hey, I did that,’ and feel proud,” she said. 

She points to projects such as rock paint­ing at the park as exam­ples of how small cre­ative projects can become mean­ing­ful expe­ri­ences for children. 

“These lit­tle cre­ations give the chil­dren a sense of belong­ing and cre­ate mem­o­ries,” she said. 

Traditions

Perhaps that is what tra­di­tions real­ly are: mem­o­ries that com­mu­ni­ties choose to make again. 

Tipton believes those tra­di­tions become part of the larg­er sto­ry of a community. 

“Traditions like this mat­ter because they become part of the sto­ry of our com­mu­ni­ty,” she said. 

She remem­bers her own child­hood mem­o­ries of Halloween: dress­ing up, walk­ing through town, see­ing famil­iar faces, laugh­ing with friends and feel­ing as though the whole com­mu­ni­ty was cel­e­brat­ing together. 

“When we con­tin­ue tra­di­tions like this, we aren’t just plan­ning an event. We are cre­at­ing those same kinds of mem­o­ries for anoth­er generation.” 

“Years from now, chil­dren may not remem­ber every dec­o­ra­tion or every piece of can­dy they received,” Tipton said. “But they may remem­ber walk­ing down Main Street with their fam­i­ly. They may remem­ber the excite­ment, the cos­tumes, the pump­kins, and see­ing their com­mu­ni­ty come alive just like I still do.” 

Daughtrey shares that same hope for the chil­dren who attend. 

“Mostly, I hope they have an absolute­ly fan­tas­tic Halloween,” she said. “I hope they wear ridicu­lous cos­tumes, col­lect entire­ly too much can­dy, see their friends, and go home exhaust­ed and happy.” 

But she also sees some­thing last­ing in those seem­ing­ly sim­ple experiences. 

“I also hope they’re build­ing mem­o­ries of grow­ing up here that they can look back on years from now. Those lit­tle expe­ri­ences are part of how a place becomes home.” 

Keeping a com­mu­ni­ty tra­di­tion alive takes more than peo­ple will­ing to orga­nize it. It also takes peo­ple will­ing to invest in it. 

This year’s Halloween Mainia and Halloween Mainia: The Pumpkin Quest are being made pos­si­ble through the sup­port of com­mu­ni­ty spon­sors and in-kind con­trib­u­tors who have donat­ed resources, ser­vices and sup­port to help keep both events free for local families. 

Community spon­sors and in-kind con­trib­u­tors include: 

James Bowman, can­di­date for City Commissioner; Zeldon Angel; Baldwin Farms; Stapleton Fencing; Rob Grimes; Blue Collar Roofing; Clark County Chamber of Commerce; Clark County Parks and Recreation; All Voices Reading Room; Humanists of Winchester; Temperature Titan Heating and Air; Dr. William Sexton, DMD; PMI/PCM; Mansea Metal; and Jeff Taylor. 

For the orga­niz­ers, that sup­port rep­re­sents anoth­er impor­tant part of what makes com­mu­ni­ty tra­di­tions pos­si­ble. It is not just the peo­ple who orga­nize the event who make it hap­pen, but the busi­ness­es, orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als who con­tribute what they can to help cre­ate some­thing for the community. 

And the goal isn’t sim­ply to get through this Halloween. 

Daughtrey hopes the tra­di­tion con­tin­ues to grow while retain­ing the sense of com­mu­ni­ty that made peo­ple care enough to save it. 

“Traditions don’t have to remain exact­ly the same to remain mean­ing­ful; they just need peo­ple will­ing to car­ry them for­ward,” she said. 

She hopes even more down­town busi­ness­es, orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers will even­tu­al­ly find ways to par­tic­i­pate and make Halloween Mainia their own. 

“Ideally, 20 years from now, there will be anoth­er group of peo­ple say­ing, ‘Of course we’re doing Halloween Mainia. We’ve always done Halloween Mainia.’” 

Change happens, but traditions survive

This year, Halloween Mainia may look a lit­tle different. 

There may be new faces behind the tables, new tra­di­tions along­side the old ones and a new group of peo­ple work­ing behind the scenes to make it happen. 

But the heart of the event remains the same. 

Children will put on their cos­tumes. Families will gath­er down­town. Businesses and orga­ni­za­tions will come togeth­er to hand out treats. Pumpkins will be carved and dis­played. Main Street will once again become a place where Winchester’s youngest res­i­dents can expe­ri­ence the excite­ment of Halloween sur­round­ed by their community. 

And per­haps, years from now, some of those chil­dren will look back and remem­ber the evening — not because of exact­ly how many pieces of can­dy they received, but because of how it felt to walk down Main Street with the peo­ple they loved. 

That is how tra­di­tions sur­vive. Someone decides they are worth car­ry­ing forward. 

This year, a group of Winchester and Clark County com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers decid­ed Halloween Mainia was one of those tra­di­tions. They picked up the gaunt­let — not to sim­ply recre­ate the past, but to make sure there is a future for the mem­o­ries still wait­ing to be made. 

And this Halloween, they hope you’ll come down­town and be part of it.