How much does Bucoda love Halloween? The town officially changes its name to Boo-Coda for the scary season, and its elaborate Spook-Tacular lasts the entire month of October. (In fact, the haunted house opened Sept. 27 this year.)
The Hearse Procession and Viewing features both wildly decorated hearses and sedate models that are still in use.
That’s not all, though: The town (population: 600 or so) celebrates All Hallow’s Eve winter, spring and summer as well as fall. “Half of the houses in town have skeleton figures on the porch year round,” said Laura Wilson, president of the Bucoda Improvement Club. “Mine might be one of those houses. Right now, they’re dressed for summer. I put flowers with them. … You get it into your soul when you’re hanging out here in Bucoda. It’s Halloween year round.”
Each October, the self-proclaimed “tiniest town with the biggest Halloween spirit” turns its attention to trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and visiting the haunted house that started it all. “We start early and we just go hard,” said Wilson, who’s also a member of the town council.
The town owns and maintains the haunted house, held in the Bucoda Haunted Gym, 403 N. Nenant St. “This is our biggest revenue maker for the town,” she said. “We really go all out. Volunteers have been redoing the haunted house for months. They are doing a complete revamp.”
The haunted house opened in 2012, and the town launched its Spook-Tacular in 2018. Revenues for the haunted house have risen by 10 percent to 15 percent each year, Wilson said.
Each Spook-Tacular Saturday features at least one special event, with the Oct. 19 Casket Races drawing the biggest crowds. Teams of two to four “pallbearers” and one “corpse” are invited to participate, with some building their own “caskets” and others borrowing one.
In addition to honoring the fastest teams, the town recognizes the team that’s “Dead Last” and gives awards for scariest, funniest and most original casket.
“Last year, we had like 3,000 people show up for the races, and for a town with a population of 600, that was monstrous,” Wilson said. “It was standing room only. It was so amazing. … All of our events are having this uptick.”
Oct. 5 is the hearse procession and viewing, featuring both active and retired hearses from all over the Northwest. Olympia’s own Samba OlyWa, appropriately dressed in skeleton costumes, will kick things off with a performance at noon.
Oct. 12, there’s a Bucoda Family Fun Day and Harvest Festival featuring a magic show, games and activities, face painting and a pumpkin-carving contest.
And Oct. 26 is the day for Thrill the World (https://thrilltheworld.com/_, a dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” that is done simultaneously in communities around the globe. Times for many of the Spook-Tacular events are still being finalized, but Thrill the World will begin precisely at 3 p.m.
There’s also a family-friendly haunted house and charity drive from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 25 and 26 at the Bucoda Community Center, 204 S. Main St., Bucoda.
Saturdays also offer weekly costume contests along with vendors’ markets and food trucks in the town square.
Happening throughout the month are the trick-or-treating from 6 to 8 p.m. daily at Joe’s Place, 118 S. Main St., Bucoda, and, of course, the haunted house, open from 7 to 11 p.m. Sept. 27 and 28 and Oct. 4, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 and from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 29-31 in the Bucoda Haunted Gym, 403 N. Nenant St., Bucoda.
The haunted house is beloved because it’s scary without being grotesque, said Callie Carpenter, Bucoda’s mayor. “People come up to me and say, ‘I love your haunted house. I can’t wait,’” Carpenter said. “A lot of people get really excited.”
The mayor is not among them, though. “I don’t like getting scared,” she said. “I did a tour of the haunted house with the lights on and everything, and it was scary just walking through.”
WHAT
Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular
WHERE
Downtown Bucoda
WHEN
Oct. 1-31
TICKETS
Most events are free. For the haunted house, regular tickets are $13 plus a canned food donation, and VIP tickets are $20. For the family-friendly haunted house, tickets are $5, or free with a donation of four non-perishable food items or children’s books.
LEARN MORE
https://boo-coda.com