Thoughts from the Publisher

Again this year, I had a ball at the City of Signal Hill’s Halloween Carnival. There, youngsters were treated to booth after booth featuring games with prizes, candy, small toys and lots of spooky fun. The festivities took place last Saturday afternoon/evening, and I had the opportunity to once again help staff a booth with my gal pal Rose Richard. This season our task was to help kids ages 5 and under put together faces on a board that depicted minions from the movie Despicable Me. Using various versions of hair, eyes and mouths; we guided the little costumed darlings through the experience with as much enthusiasm as we could muster. Not wanting to just repeat the same phrase of “Where do the eyes (or eye) go, where does the hair go and where does the mouth go?” I did my best to mix it up a little— even if just to entertain myself.
One of the stick-on pieces that was supposed to be hair also resembled a mustache. And although I did my best to convince the kids that a minion could have a mustache, nearly all of them looked at me like I was an idiot for even suggesting it. Nevertheless, two older kids humored me by putting the facial hair look-a-like behind the stick-on mouth, making for a perfect vision of a minion with a handlebar mustache. They were immediately rewarded by me with a smile, a wink and a handful of extra candy.
According to city staff, the event drew nearly 800 kids with accompanying family members— that’s a lot of ghouls, goblins and princesses!
I understand that over the past few years most cities have had to cut community-services events because of budget issues, however our neighborhood families are fortunate that so many of our local businesses and individuals donate their time and money to help make such events possible. This year, those donating to the Halloween Carnival were Mesa Environmental Services Incorporated, RP Vititow Construction Corp., Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, Home Office, RMS Company, Aleshire & Wynder, Signal Hill Employee Association, Mercedes-Benz of Long Beach, Gary Dudley, Aquarium of the Pacific, CBM/KOA Consulting, Concerned Citizens of Signal Hill, Hooman Nissan of Long Beach, Golden Eagle Restaurant, Courtyard Care Center, Mr. C’s Towing, Reldom Corporation, Coldwell Banker’s Terry Rogers, RKA Consulting Group, the Signal Tribune, Signal Hill Petroleum, Everson Spice Co., PT Industries Inc., Big E’s Pizza and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.
A big thank-you goes out to the City and the sponsors. I wish we would have had events like that when I was growing up!