By Donald Wittkowski
Clowns are funny and friendly, right?
Not when it comes to Halloween. Then they turn mean and maniacal.
Even pint-sized, 11-year-old clowns like Isabella Voltis. The second-grader from Washington Township, Gloucester County, decided to dress up as a creepy clown for Sea Isle City’s Halloween Parade on Friday night just to scare her poor uncle.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Isabella’s 26-year-old aunt, Julia Moore, also wore a nightmarish clown costume to play the part of her terrifying twin.
“I tried for weeks to get her to change her mind, but then I gave up. She absolutely wanted to be a creepy clown,” Moore said.
With that, Moore asked Isabella to smile. Instead of showing a set of pearly whites, Isabella revealed black, rotting teeth in a menacing grin.
Moore and Isabella may have been even more petrifying than Pennywise, the dancing clown from the summer blockbuster horror movie “It.” A friend trained in movie makeup helped them to devise their spine-chilling outfits, including drips of fake blood on their pants.
The two evil clowns joined a procession of ghouls, ghosts and goblins that added to the parade’s frighteningly fun time.
Throughout the evening, there were cheers and laughter from thousands of spectators lining the sidewalks as the parade made its way down Landis Avenue between 45th and 40th streets in the heart of downtown.
The celebration continued with a family-friendly Halloween dance party in Excursion Park immediately after the parade.
A handful of colorful parade floats were accompanied by Sea Isle City police cars and fire trucks flashing their lights and blaring their horns and sirens.
Even the furry, green Phillie Phanatic made an appearance to delight the children with his usual, frenetic antics. Giving the Phillie Phanatic a run for his money in the popularity department was Oscar the capuchin monkey, who shook the hands of spectators while perched on the shoulder of his owner, Joe “Boscio” Bush, a parade entertainer dressed as an old organ grinder.
“He’s very friendly with all of the people,” Bush said of the tiny monkey. “He likes giving handshakes and hugs.”
With its array of entertainment, the Halloween parade attracts a big turnout every year and enhances Sea Isle’s reputation for family-style fun, said City Council President Mary Tighe.
“Everyone loves coming out and having fun at our parade,” Tighe said while standing in the middle of a big, cheering crowd at the intersection of Landis Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Competition is fierce in the parade’s contests for best costumes and best floats. The Higgs family of Lower Township, for instance, created an elaborately decorated float depicting the Mario Bros. video games.
“We were up until 3 o’clock in the morning and started all over again until 4:45 p.m. today,” Christi Higgs explained of the family’s last-minute rush to finish the float.
She was joined by her husband, Kerry Higgs, their daughter Kayla, 18, and sons Caleb, 14, Kolim, 5, and Knox, 2. The entire family labored to make the float and create the Mario Bros.-themed costumes.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights,” Kerry Higgs said, smiling.
