An evening of strange tales for the mature and fearless will climax the Halloween Festivities at the Caspar Community Center on Thursday, October 31. The storytelling, which begins at 8:00 PM, is the final event of the day's celebration including the annual Caspar Halloween Parade and a haunted schoolhouse.

"Oasis" Darryl Hasten, one of the north coast's premiere storytellers, is organizing the event, which will be a benefit for the community center. Also featured will be Mitch Clogg, Eleanor Cooney, and Marco McClean. Cooney and Clogg wrote three of the stories, "Mother's Breath" and "Someplace Nice," plus an unnamed tale that Hasten will be telling. They describe the stories as edgy and scary. "ÖIt's for adult sensibilities," explains Cooney. "Smart, sophisticated kids who aren't too young would certainly appreciate it." Parents should take note.

Hasten is a well-known performer and actor, recently seen in The Mendocino Theatre Company's production of Light up the Sky, and a participant in the last Sierra Storytelling Festival in July. Clogg, who also appears frequently as an actor in the area, is a journalist and editor who took up storytelling during his years as a single dad when "storytelling was a part of surviving." From time to time he reads on Marco McClean's Friday night radio show "Memo of the Air". McClean hosts this weekly spoken-word program on KMFB, Friday's at 10 PM, celebrating storytelling, poetry and prose. Cooney is the author of four novels, and has written a memoir about her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's disease, which will be published this January.

Halloween in Caspar will begin at 4:00 PM at the community center with activities for small children. Soon afterwards Kevin and the Coconuts, our local Caribbean steel band, will make its third annual appearance to celebrate Halloween. At 4:30 with the arrival of the town mascot, The Gorse Monster, the children's Halloween Parade will begin. Children of all ages are invited to participate, and everyone is encouraged to march in the parade, whether in or out of costume. The parade takes a very short route and is suitable for small kids.

At 5:30 a new event premieres as the Caspar Haunted Schoolhouse opens for business. This spooky, scary, and silly event should be fun for all but the youngest of children. The schoolhouse is the work of a team led by Will Geiger and Dalen Anderson who will take over the south room of the community center and turn it into a dark and mysterious maze.

Donations will be asked for both the storytelling and the haunted schoolhouse. In case of rain the parade will be cancelled but all other events will take place as scheduled. For more information call Dalen Anderson at 964-4997, or "Oasis" Darryl Hasten at 964-5378.