By CAITLIN ANDREWS
Monitor staff
Long before the leaves change colors and spooky spirits stalk the streets, the residents of Auburn Street have a plan for Halloween.
By now, anyone with children who has done Halloween in the Capital City at least once knows about Auburn Street. The residential street that connects Centre Street to Penacook Street is known for its leafy boulevards and stately homes, but it’s the king-sized candy bars and other treats that attracts thousands of children from inside and outside the city and shuts the street down.
Many residents take place in the festivities year after year, but for seasoned veterans with signature productions, planning and many volunteers are critical to a successful holiday evening.
Take the Rosenbergers, at 29 Auburn St., known for slinging cones of orange sherbet. Eric Rosenberger said he starts planning when the weather is still warm – he orders dozens of quarts of the stuff six to eight weeks in advance and usually picks it up the day of Halloween. The accompanying ice cream cones are usually ordered a week in advance, he said.
He usually buys from Shaw’s, “because they give me the best price for ice cream they sell during the year,” he said Tuesday, leaning against one of the several large, empty coolers waiting on fold-out tables in his garage.
And Karen Joyal at 31 Auburn St., who has been handing out toys since 2006, stocked up with 1,900 toys, including Chinese finger traps, maracas, and hacky sacks, long before the holiday comes around, but after she puts in the request to block the street off.
Bob Moses picked up his 1,500 big candy bars during the early weeks of October, and those bars hang out in his foyer undisturbed.
“It’s too much candy to eat,” Moses said as to how he avoids temptation.
But preparation for what has made the Moses house unique since 1993 takes little more than five minutes.
See, it’s not the candy that makes the Moses house interesting, but who hands it out – Moses, dressed as the Cat in the Hat, complete with a rubber mask, hat and bow.
“I didn’t wanna scare the little kids,” Moses said.
He’s not always successful, says Gena Cohen Moses – when Bob Moses stands at the top of the stairs, “he’s about 10 feet tall,” she said.
But even when the lights are strung and the candy is in place, there’s still the daunting task of getting through thousands of children during the narrow trick-or-treating hours.
For that, Auburn Street veterans call their friends.
“Everyone picks a costume and we rotate,” Joyal said. She keeps a collection of costumes, ranging from warped beauty contestant to Harry Potter-themed wizards and witches, on hand for the occasion.
The Moses are usually having a party, and they ask their guests to pitch in, too.
Rosenberger said he calls on about 20 people for his production. Some will help make dinner to feed the crew; the others are on cone prep, scooping and hand-off duty.
The scooping is key, Rosenberger said, and he’s gotten it down to a science; instead of using a traditional ice cream scoop, volunteers use a weighty dinner spoon. They make one scoop, twist the cone, stick on another scoop, and off it goes.
The trick, he said, is to not give too much sherbet – just enough for children to finish by the end of his driveway.
“If they’re really little, sometimes they’ll forget it’s ice cream and stick it in their bag,” he said.