Happy Halloween!
Do you occasionally get a sudden flash of a distant memory that suddenly pops into your brain, seemingly coming from out of nowhere? And then it is right there, as
though reliving the moment with all of the colors, feels, and aromas as though it was just yesterday.
That happened to me last week when clear out of the blue, I was remembering and thinking about all the storefront windows that were painted and decorated for Halloween by students and other local groups when I was young.
Many years ago, but let’s not go there today, okay?
Every fall the brightly painted windows added an additional entertaining and festive flair to the Halloween season. Local department stores, hardware stores, grocery
stores, florists, drug stores, and more were all decked out in colorful painted window displays of the season.
For some reason, images of Fisher’s Department Store are foremost in my mind. The store’s long, all-windows storefront facing the street was gaily decorated every fall in vivid Halloween colors and depictions, one window glass after another from one end of the store to the other.
Across the street, the Rexall Drug Store and other local merchant shops were all painted in various Halloween-themed designs, as well,
Does anyone still do that anymore? Anywhere? If they do, please tell us all about it in the Comments. I would love to hear it! I haven’t seen any painted store windows locally for many years and miss that now that I am thinking about it.
I may be wrong, but seem to recall the words “Insurance Risks” being offered by my 
parents as an explanation for why the annual Halloween tradition of painting store windows stopped, at least in our area.
Maybe around the same time some folks started suing for coffee and hand pies that were too hot, advertised “Foot-long” sandwiches that were not exactly 12″ in length, and because Jelly Beans contained sugar.
And, not to be left out, suing a restaurant for sustaining permanent injuries from a flying dinner roll in a location widely known as “The Home of Throwed Rolls” where part of the appeal of going there and what the restaurant was famous for in the first place was the entertaining atmosphere of waiters tossing dinner rolls to guests. Forget about ghouls lurking in the shadows on Halloween night. Can you even begin to imagine the sheer terror and horror of being conked in the head by an errant dinner roll while eating your salad?
(Gallery images via Archive. org)
Growing up in a rapidly expanding suburb of St. Louis years ago, watching the young student art groups and others at work painting store windows all over the area in the weeks leading up to Halloween in October was fun, and added to the excitement before the ultimate event — trick or treating on Halloween! In a way, I suppose, the decorative store windows helped whet the appetite for the coming bounty of treats and goodies to be garnered on Halloween night.
The good ol’ days. They weren’t always as good as our memories would sometimes lead us to believe, perhaps. But some things truly were — and better.
Like the tradition of painted storefront windows for Halloween.
Thank you for visiting with us for some Halloween memories and a bit of 1950s and ’60s nostalgia with us today!
I hope you enjoyed your visit and your time with us, and will return often as new features and posts are added during the coming Holiday Season.
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Wishing everyone a Fun, Safe, Healthy, and Happy Halloween this year! Happy Trick or Treating!
And a very special note of “Thanks!” to my dear friend, Children’s Author Rosie Russell of“Books By Rose” for helping in the search for vintage images for this post!
Until next time — Best Wishes & Blessings! — Jim (and Red!) 🤠 🐻 🎃 🍂 🧡 🍎 🌻 🍁
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