Contact us
Back to All Posts

Yes Virginia, Halloween is on a Wednesday, but you can also dress up, or down, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Yes Halloween is (unfortunately) on a Wednesday, which might typically put a damper on holiday costume parties at bars, but happily and creepily it has not turned out that way. There are parties to be hit all over this weekend, and the following is the spread-all-over-time primer on only the best haunts to go to and maybe even more importantly on those days that are bookends, you can max out if staying in costume and in character for more than one or two days. If not specified otherwise, the parties are on the more typically scheduled before-Halloween Saturday night. Friday its Guv’s Place and the Village Inn across the street in North Hudson, and the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland, and on Sunday night, which will not be a day of rest, Pudge’s does the trick.
— The name on the marquee at The Village Inn in North Hudson says it all: Feature boos, band and booze. The band is a transplant from Chetek called simply Sage, and its always good to see western Wisconsin talent, not just the proliferation of cover bands coming out of the Twin Cities. Bartender Sue is from that area and she kept the arrangements moving forward and is bringing all her people in for a night, and there are a lot of them. She knows how to party, as do her mates, so this should really be a party!
— The official name of the Halloween costume party at Season’s Tavern on Saturday night has been dubbed The Boo Bash! The North Hudson venue also will again feature Thirsty Camel for music, and owner Brad on the drums said their decades-old following has been aided by the fact that they are just a very good ‘ol rock and roll band. And the more people who show up in costume, the more they increase the cash value of their prizes, so you and your mates basically have some control over how much you can win! Costume judging is at 11 p.m.
— At Guv’s Place in North Hudson, the costume party is Friday night, with Kyle Kohila picking solo on the guitar, in what has been a tradition at Guv’s, both the old and new place. In what is also a tradition, the place is decorated up the hilt with scary creatures, courtesy of owner Jess, whose favorite holiday by far is Halloween, and it shows. Even their Facebook page currently has as the lead photo a monster with fantastic spooky eyes. She also is often behind the bar, and she wouldn’t mind at all if you quiz her about her themes. Even looking at all those big and elaborate costumes hanging halfdead from the high ceiling is worth the price of admission (uhm, oh yeah, its free).
— Dick’s Bar and Grill also has live music as a part of their party, and in a different twist offers two judgings for their costume contests, a tradition of the prejudging relatively early then another one — the main attraction — at the more conventional time, so the party basically goes on all night (with the band coming on early evening, followed by a deejay) and you have two chances to win cash prizes, to boot. And at Dick’s, which like for all holidays has literally hundreds of small but interesting goolies hanging from the ceiling, as there is strength in numbers, always has many more people show up in costume then most venues. And that earlier featured band has a name you have to love, The Other Baldwins. Costume judging is between 11:30 p.m. and the witching hour of midnight.
— The Bungalow Inn adds something possibly scary to the mix, and not having a band or deejay, you can be holiday specific with you selections by singing karaoke! We recommend Spooky Little Girl Like You by Atlanta Rhythm Section and of course Thriller by Michael Jackson.
— Casanova Liquors is having a prohibition-style shindig in the caves behind the place. (Hey, there’s a creepy-ness to all the rock formations to be seen). But, you won’t want to go all-into-prohibition-style restrictions, as when being exposed to these frights, you just might need a beer!
— At Pudge’s, the costume party and party as a whole for the first time is upstairs, which was the subject of a recent extreme remodeling, as befits the holiday, as you are either all in or not in at all. The limestone facade just adds to the quasi-creepyness, and this takes you way back to when this was one of the first buildings in Hudson, and the city has been around for a while. And when they were doing this huge remodel, they ran into some suspiciously dead looking things that were unearthed. You might want to ask about this, as a conversation starter with Halloween just around the corner, over a shot or two.
Two places that unlike some have not been around for decades (new blood?) get an honorable mention nod. The Smilin’ Moose is the granddad of highest costume cash (think the creepy old man in Texas Chainsaw Massacre), if you can tolerate all the young but sometimes cool punks from The Cities who have been drinking, and Woody’s in Bayport although a short distance away on Friday has a total of nine different qualifying positions, (all getting prizes), in three rounds prior to awarding the grand prize.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • Full metal jacket? Hey, I wasn’t exactly to the point of going Rob Halford. But tastes aside, there must be some reason why after 26 years I was shunned, like going Bob Daisley by Ozzy at his reunion? OK, I know, my style may not have fit with the packed crowd. And the last couple of times for this, I tried to do too much with ad-libbing. So yeah, I get that this time around, I was the somewhat unusual choice to be the one left off the set list, with singers clamoring to get up there. But seriously, just being analytical of strengths and weaknesses as a singer here, no hard feelings. I’m not Dio. (Or Traveling Wilburys, a when jumping inside, inside joke.)
It was clear to me at the most recent Jeff Loven music show in Hudson, for Memorial Day weekend, that there has been a changing of the guard. The sword has been passed. New blood, like Yungblud, has been brought in. And, I must say, loyalty — amongst the devotees who travel frequently and all across the two-state area to virtually all of Jeff’s shows — has been rewarded. They are the royalty, in what just makes good business sense that I can appreciate. In a significant but not unprecedented altering of course, I was not one of those asked...
Read More
  • Songs by Napalm Death? A fire swept down my very street today, where the babies were burned. (But alas, a new A/C unit is on its way up the freeway.) The Stones did not leave these themes unturned, either, or should I say unrolled. Oh wait, this all was my cooker of an apartment, and we are not talking the kitchen. But all these matters will become more pressing, a pressure point, as the new normal especially in southern climes is temp well into the triple digits. It is these people, the third world, and their heat stroke not mine, that most concern me. (Another example of hellfire temps just added. Sin after Sin.)
Trial by fire. My broiling heart in my efficiency flat still beats a bit, in concern over those boiling over in worse apartments in a Chicago tenancy, or on an ocean island instantly-burn-your-feet beach or dessert, or forced to endure ice baths just to keep cool — or simply be offered no way to maintain an ice-dripping body other than also read a non-cookbook at the library, or select not a big steak you can’t afford but a 73/27 burger from a freezer and slap it on your forehead. Just not too hard. All these things are ones where you especially today either burn or...
Read More
  • I had a dream … And out of it (re)sprouted an ancient spring fertility rite to save the world, or at least my apartment building, or at least my second story window, from a giant lizard peering in, out at T-Rex days of yore. This ritual requires copious amounts of consumption and goes from there to hobbits and lords who are not yet a-leaping, for reasons to be retold in this fanciful, twisted tale (of fiction?) Just watch the use of Why! The letter, that is. And try to catch on to the inside jokes. (Psst. Another tale inside. Or two.)
This is a truly awfuI, twisted tale of villains and heroes, powerful ale if used carefully, giant beasties and smaller hobbyts, but also renewal and redemption. I will ascrybe to an ancient rytual, back to when the tyme gyant lyzyrds peered into second story wyndows of apartment byldings and no amount of walls could keep them out of such urban non-placated places, save this practice that annually, about this tyme of three-day holiday, would save humanity for another year.  So in this spryng fertility ryte, go consume copious quantities of hunhy grhym cr’krz and jinjer biyr, deprived of its alcohol as worshippers need to be sober-headed...
Read More
  • And musings moreover —– A full list of the trios of triumph. The power of threes. A full dozen of these triads, oh make that 13 as we linger, that you will see listed as shopping promptings in three long blocks of store windows of downtown Hudson. Three’s company? Get it? Third time’s the charm. And this is a truism, the words, some of them three letters, chosen to depict their offerings show the diversity of, dare I say it, a Super WalMart.
Here goes the ultimate list of lingo, even if it languishes, in no particular long order, as we go at length into the different kinds of businesses you will find in this locale, starting the list and at its last, two of the many art galleries in our downtown: — Feminist power, love and generosity, and to double your fun, framing, art tchotchkes and earrings, all at the biggest little art and collectables gallery you will see mid-block. — Community, commerce and tourism, touted at the Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau, in a blatant suck up to...
Read More
  • And musings moreover —– To skate or not to skate? Not on most Hudson streets and sidewalks, you don’t. Even though most users I’ve encountered have been courteous and safe — saying ‘on right’ as they go by on a fairly busy sidewalk, and not just barely edging past you — the city council in essance banned the usage last fall. I think this goes too far in what amounts to dare I say it, big brother-type stringency. I prefer a more ‘urban’ style ambiance, with a Twin Cities type of bustle. (For what of that is to be found, come Friday, ‘jump’ inside. That post now updated, for more weekend options.) I now start with a joke.
As far as, for starters, the old announcement, “passing on the right,” this was said to me just now by a beautifully tanked woman in a bikini, owning the downtown sidewalk. She was slightly gasping and moaning as she almost carressed my side going by. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to read anything into that … Spring has past sprung, we’ve finally had some really hotter weather, and a young man’s heart turns to thoughts of … e-cycling and skateboarders going past. In the last couple of weeks, you can see them again all around our sidewalks and byways, busy and not...
Read More
  • And musings moreover —– Shoes and shirt are welcome, to be purchased along with other keepsakes at a new shop or worn in. At least soon while dining at new downtown Hudson eating opps. You don’t need an app, read on, as doors are flipped open … There are still other options and opportunities, after the Wild opted out as flipping goalies, with Filip, only worked for so long. (Not so big shoes to fill. Just flip-flops. See below and under The Headliner for posts on such sports bar shenanigans.) So for now, in a new post, we Rally In The Valley, with eight bands.
A door on the side of a downtown conglomerate of stores, the front not back door, has a sign telling delivery drivers to deposit items in back — but the sign is flipped upside down since the tape slipped. A blipped language I don’t speak. But that’s not the only thing that’s flipped in the downtown. Lots of stores are either open as we speak, or will be soon. We’re talking still in May, maybe, and mostly earlier than later. While we wait with baited breath for the full opening of Max’s Social House. And a pub or another hub...
Read More
Scroll to Top