October 26, 2015 at 3:43 p.m.
Halloween comes early at Haunted Hodag Howl
Halloween comes early at Haunted Hodag Howl
By Kayla Thomason-
The lights were dim, spiderwebs hung from the ceiling and intricate Halloween-themed centerpieces adorned the tables, which were decorated by Forth Floral, Festive Frog, Trig's Floral and Shabby Cottage.
"I think they did a beautiful job," said Lisa Hilgendorf, who was dressed as a spider witch. "The decorations are amazing, they spent a lot of time here and it shows."
This was Hilgendorf's first time participating in the Haunted Hodag Howl and she said she was happy to support Downtown Rhinelander Inc. (DRI).
"I think it's a very good idea (that the Hodags are being auctioned off and that the proceeds go to DRI)," Hilgendorf said. "They need a fundraiser that supports Rhinelander and the hodag, that's what we're famous for, so it's a wonderful idea."
Her favorite costumes of the evening were the Pope and the Queen of Hearts.
She thought it was wonderful to have an event that was just for the adults, and others felt the same.
"It's just a good community event for the adults to have their outlet to get in costume and not necessarily have to go to the bars and all that good stuff," said Kate Bauman, who was dressed as the Queen of Hearts. "It's a great time for us with families and kids to be able to come out and be home at an earlyish hour and get to see other business owners and talk to them."
This was Bauman's first time participating in the event as a business owner.
"It's great for the downtown to have these local groups to have the non-profit events, spotlighting DRI and all that they do for the downtown," she said. "Having a downtown business, they have been really important for all of us and so to have a fundraiser for them is really, really good."
Daniel Haack came dressed as the Pope. He said he thought the Haunted Hodag Howl was interesting.
"It's neat, I've never been to a Halloween Party before so it's something different, definitely," he said.
Haack added that he was impressed with how detailed and creative many of the costumes were.
"There's a lot of neat costumes, a lot of people put a lot of work into some of them, you can see that they made their own, it's nice," he said.
At least one person was attending for two purposes - to support DRI and her mother who painted several Hodags.
"I think (the Haunted Hodag Howl is) always fun," said Mary French, who was dressed as a cowgirl. "My mother is one of the artists that does the hodag so she's painted over, I think, eight hodags."
"I think it's excellent, it's for the city," French added, referring to the hodag auction. "It gives us a distinct personality for the city, having actual hodags around the city (after) all these years of only having one at Pioneer Park I think is a really great addition."
WILDFIRE DJ Entertainment entertained the crowd.
There were a lot of raffles and silent auction items, which included an autographed Packers football, an original downtown Rhinelander parking meter, the centerpieces, a 30-minute scenic flying tour with the flying service and of course, the hodag statues.
The Haunted Hodag Howl started as a Hodag auction held in the beginning of November. When Maggie Steffen, executive director of DRI, came on board it was converted to a fun Halloween event.
"It's so much fun and we get so many people," she said.
This is the only event where the proceeds go to DRI, which comes from the sale of hodags. This is the seventh year they have had a Hodag auction, and will be one of the last.
At this year's event, the last of the large hodags was auctioned off.
Six little Hodags were also auctioned off this fall. The last six will be sold in late spring.
"It gets more and more difficult for people to sponsor them and the market is kind of getting saturated and there's not a lot of people that want to bid for (the hodags) and our fabricator is no longer making our Hodag," Steffen explained.
A large hodag will be repainted and placed in the plaza permanently.
While there will be a void left behind when the last hodag statue is auctioned off, Steffen views it as an opportunity for something new.
She wanted to thank the Hodags on Parade program sponsors, which included Bucketheads, Rhinelander GM, Peoples State Bank, Rhinelander Honda, CoVantage Credit Union, Ripco Credit Union, Superior Diesel, Trig's, and Wipfli LLC.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.