B
O
O
!

Berkeley and Oakland merchants were doing Halloween on College Ave. yesterday. There were a zillion kids and parents in costume – bears, dogs, dragons, frogs, witches and princesses of all descriptions, and quite a few pumpkins.

There was a musketeer in a velvet coat and lace collar, a tin man in silver (cardboard), a cookie monster, Robin Hood, two Snow Whites, an Elizabethan lady, a bumble bee, a bride with a long train (but no groom), a killer whale (I had to ask) and an adorable penguin.There were homemade costumes and store-bought costumes, fancy costumes and minimalist costumes.

One little boy about 6 months old(?) was "packaged" as a black widow spider. He was in one of those front-carry baby carriers and the carrier was part of the costume. His parents said he rather liked it earlier in the day and was waving his arms (and the costume's spider legs) around. But now he was getting bored and grumpy.

It was all great fun to see and to walk through (3 blocks in one direction, then 4 blocks back the other way).