Crandall Jones and Getting Ready for Halloween

Those 2 topics are unrelated, honest. It's that my brain's a bit addled after dealing with roofers at my place this week, and with jackhammers at a neighbor's house, and other loud machinery violating the noise ordinance last night (I think they were cutting tree roots, working in the darkness with no light at all--I kept waiting for someone to hit a gas line). So, anyway, I've been hiding in the quietest part of my house instead of writing Diary entries.

Today, just a few reminders:  First, tomorrow morning, our Municipal Administrator, Crandall Jones, will hold a Town Hall at 10 am. Come and ask him questions. I for one would love to know why the streets were never fixed after the damage of last winter. Swede is the main route leading downtown from the north and it's a disgrace.  Yes, I know this meeting is at a lousy time for most of you, because most residents have to work. Maybe those of us who go can ask if another town hall can be scheduled in the evening. -- UPDATE--the event page on Facebook says the event will take place "on Facebook", although it still lists the venue as Municipal Hall. Your guess is good as mine.

Second, it's October, which means Halloween is coming. I love Halloween--without it, we'd already be hearing Christmas music in the stores. There are a lot of trick-or-treat events scheduled toward the end of this month, but here are some ways you can get into a Halloween mood early.

The Norristown Preservation Society is telling ghost stories from Selma Mansion on its Facebook page every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until their Ghost Tours at Selma event on October 24th. They started last Monday. You don't have to be signed onto Facebook to view and read them. Just click on https://www.facebook.com/NorristownPreservationSociety and scroll down to see the first 2 entries. More info about the Ghost Tours will be forthcoming (or read it on their page).

Elmwood Park Zoo's Boo at the Zoo will return starting this Saturday from noon to 3 pm. More info in tomorrow's Diary, but you can read for yourself at http://www.elmwoodparkzoo.org/event/142.

The most active weekend for Halloween events will be October 24-26. Besides the Selma Ghost Tours and Boo at the Zoo, you can attend the Halloween Spook-Tacular costume contest at the Elmwood Park Bandshell at 1 pm on Saturday the 25th, and Haunted Woods at Riverfront Park, hosted by the Dragon Boat Club, starting at 7 pm the same night (possibly other activities there earlier too--stay tuned).

So mark your calendars, and start decorating with jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and witches crashed into trees...and oh, how about some fake tombstones with the names of Norristown's worst landlords? Just a thought.