How Halloween became Manly’s spooky success story

YOU can imagine the reaction when someone first suggested taking an American celebration and making it the focus of a festival in suburban Brisbane. Let’s just say a few people were surprised. And many were downright sceptical.

Members of the Wolf Shager Witches will take centre stage during the Manly Halloween Street Party.

YOU can imagine the reaction when someone first suggested taking an American celebration and making it the focus of a festival in suburban Brisbane.

Let’s just say a few people were surprised.

And many were downright sceptical.

But maybe because both Halloween and Manly have strong Celtic connections - or the fact not much else was working at the time - it proved a stroke of genius.

Almost a quarter of a century later, the Manly Harbour Village Halloween Street Party is not ony a success, it’s now an iconic event in its own right and attracts more than 20,000 people to the foreshore.

It takes all sorts to make the Manly Halloween Street Party a great party.

“It all started with a small group of locals who had Irish celtic heritage,” explains David Farley, chairman of the Manly Harbour Village Chamber of Commerce.

He was involved in planning the first festival and readily admits he was one of the secptics.

“We’d had a couple of other festivals. We’d had a jazz festival and we’d had concerts by James Morrison and one by Glenn Shorrick,” Mr Farley said.

“They had elements that were good but we were looking for something new and different.

“No one was talking about Halloween back then - it wasn’t in all the big shops and things like it is now - so when someone suggested a Halloween street party I was a bit sceptical.”

The event began small, with just 500 people attending the first festival. But Manly’s strong Irish community persevered.

The Halloween Street Party is a great chance to let your hair down.

“Halloween is based on All Hallows, which is a Celtic celebration dating back hundreds of years in northern Europe,” Mr Farley said.

“So Manly’s Celtic commmuniy adopted the idea and it just captured peoples’ imagintions and got bigger and bigger.”

It is possible to divide the 20,000 or so people who hit Manly for this Saturday’s street party into two categories.

Firstly there’s the people who like to dress up.

Then there’s the people who like to watch the people who like to dress up.

“A lot of people will book a table at their favourie restaurant and sit there and watch the passing parade,” Mr Farley said.

There are some scary characters around during the party.

“Or they’ll take the family and wander around the street watching everyone.

“But then there’s thousands of people who get dressed up.”

And they might not be the people you expect.

“You can be walking along and see your local bank manager dressed as a ghoul or your architect or solicitor dressed as ghosts and witches,” Mr Farley said.

“Everyone gets involved and there’s a real feeling of fun and community spirit.”