Back in the 1960s, Downtown Lorain merchants used to let local school kids paint Halloween pictures on their storefront windows. I’m not sure how long this went on.
Other cities had the same kind of thing. Downtown Elyria had an actual Halloween Window Painting contest sponsored by the Chronicle-Telegram and radio station WEOL. Online newspaper accounts show it taking place from the mid-60s up to around 1969 at least. Norwalk had a similar contest sponsored by the Jaycees.
I participated in Lorain's event while I was a student at Masson Elementary. I remember my pal Jeff and I had the honors in our class of painting our pictures on some window. (It was a graveyard scene with a witch and a Frankenstein monster.) I don’t remember exactly what grade we were in when we did this. I think it was fourth or fifth grade, which would make it either 1968 or 1969.
And it was in the October 29, 1968 Journal that I found the photo below, which shows two fifth graders from Homewood Elementary painting a store window.
I like how the two kids are dressed like they are right out of the movie A Christmas Story.
I never was a part of the window painting, but going Downtown and seeing the artwork was a fun tradition, a harbinger of the Halloween parade, and of course, Trick or Treating.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember the property across the street from City Hall having a wooden fence around it with various artwork painted on it? I seem to remember a patriotic theme leading me to believe it was around 1976. Maybe even during construction of the current building sitting on the property now.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. I was little at the time, and really don't remember how it looked prior. But it was a big deal. My parents, and grandparents would take me there to see the site. Also have a few token coins when the "new" cityhall opened.
DeleteDidn't take much to entertain kids back then, lol!
Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSome of my Fairhome Elementary School classmates in the mid-1950s painted on windows of downtown merchants on Broadway. I have a photo of one such group of painters. I remember all of their names. I believe we all went on to graduate from good old Lorain High School in 1966. We were Eastsiders!