Claude DeBord was 12 years old when he left South Akron and moved with his family to St. Petersburg, Fla.
That October he went trick-or-treating inside an old minor league baseball stadium.
It was hot. No autumn leaves crunched underfoot. And strangers passed out candy to people they didn’t know and likely never would.
DeBord told his parents to hang on to their Akron house because, when he grew up, he would buy it and move back to Akron.
Eleven years later — after he graduated from college in Florida — DeBord purchased the Millbrook Street home, which his parents kept as a rental waiting for DeBord to grow up. And DeBord launched a backyard Akron Halloween party in 1995 that has evolved over 21 years into a community-wide celebration that drew 8,000 to 10,000 people to Hardesty Park in West Akron on Saturday.
“I remember when it was just a bonfire in his backyard,” Jennifer Skinner, 41, of Akron, said Saturday.
She was watching her 7-year-old daughter, Kendell, slide across the monkey bars at Hardesty Park while other children — an Incredible Hulk, a panda bear, a Spider-Man — waited their turns.
Kendell started the day dressed as a vampire bride, but a face painter at DeBord’s 21st annual Halloween Festival had transformed her into a cat who just happened to be wearing a gown.
“Then there was a haunted house and bands and Big Chuck and Lil’ John showed up,” Skinner said.
Party grows bigger
The backyard party soon grew into a block party for the street. But after city officials declined to renew permits because there were too many people and safety concerns, DeBord rented the VFW Hall at Nesmith Lake.
Then even more people showed up. DeBord said Canal Fulton and Clay’s Park offered to host the party, but he didn’t want to leave the city of Akron.
“I’m very loyal and I believe in tradition,” said DeBord, now 44, who spends about 300 hours each year organizing the free event.
Akron officials suggested Lock 3, but it wasn’t big enough — it can only hold 5,000 people, DeBord said.
Finally, in 2014, DeBord settled on Hardesty Park, where he spreads out 1,500 bales of hay, a faux cemetery, scores of Halloween mannequins and a smorgasbord of family-friendly events over 17 acres.
Rotating views
On Saturday afternoon, visitors could stand in one spot, pivot and watch a live blues band, two people jousting in knight costumes, a cornhole tournament, children jumping in a bounce house, men in kilts tossing logs the size of telephone poles and a group of belly dancers swaying their hips to the TV theme song of I Dream of Jeannie.
A few feet away, a country band played, a fortune teller told the future, food trucks pumped out tacos, burgers and wings, a train on wheels carried children along paths and vendors sold everything from insurance to Bigfoot gear and pink flamingos with baby heads.
About 2 p.m., the crowd parted, making way for a large, hunched creature to lumber past.
Dressed in what looked like black rags, the beast had four legs (two were crutches disguised by padding and fabric), wore a white mask and a sign of wood hung from its neck offering free hugs.
A frightened boy about 7 years old ran to his mother and clung to her waist while other children, curious, inched toward the creature, most posing for photos while their parents took pictures.
Few likely suspected the raggedy monster was a child, too.
Lifting her mask, Aine Bolton, 14, of Akron, said she created her costume and had no idea what she was. But she thrilled at interacting with the crowd.
“I can’t believe how many people hugged me,” she said before hobbling away. “I love Halloween.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.