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Wednesday, October 18, 2023
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Big Halloween Parade says goodbye WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
I
t appears that the 2023 Big Halloween Parade could be the
last. Organizers said on Facebook that they were saddened to announce that due to a lack of traffic control and support, they can no longer “make the event safe enough” for the community to continue. Due to the event’s growth in recent years, keeping the parade safe has become too difficult for the organizers and parade board members Heather Epperly, Jenn Buehler, and Betsy Stephens to handle. The Chronicle spoke with board members Epperly and Buehler about why the event is coming to an end. “We love this parade. We started changing it to a night parade in 2018; we love it. We loved being a part of it, we loved helping the community come together. It’s not a decision that we make lightly,” Buehler said. “We have struggled the last two years to try and make this event safe for our community. With the advertising promoted by others, the event has more than doubled in attendance with the larger crowds, a need for certified traffic control and authority figures has grown exponentially.” Buehler said that with the large crowd, the last two years have seen
spectators encroach on the parade route. Buehler said that even with the addition of private security this year, parade-goers have cut in front of oncoming traffic, something Buehler described as pretty terrifying. Regarding volunteers, Epperly and Buehler said they thought they had enough for this year’s event, but challenges with traffic control began to crop up. One example was the reliance on the St. Helens Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) to help control the roadways for the parade. “CERT has always been a huge help for us in the past, but unfortunately, this year, CERT was overwhelmed with parking, and we were unaware that they weren’t able to get out of that parking situation to do our street closures,” Epperly said. “So we had high-traffic spectator areas that were left completely unattended with no CERT control or anything there. Our community volunteers stepped up to help as best they could, but they have no real power as far as spectators are concerned.” One important note is that while safety was a concern, no injuries or incidents were reported during the parade. Buehler emphasized that the lack of authority figures, such as law enforcement officers, made it difficult to manage the large crowds.
Barriers to the parade
Buehler, Stevens, and Epperly have voluntarily organized the parade since 2018. Each year, the parade was presented by Epperly’s insurance agency, American Family Insurance. “Our three board members are the original founders of the Big Halloween Parade, and we are still the driving people behind the parade,” Epperly said. “We’ve reached out and tried to get other people in the community to participate on our board, to be part of our committee, but... It looks good on Facebook; a lot of people say, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll be there, I’ll do it.” But when they actually have the meetings, nobody shows.” Buehler said they held two meetings for volunteers this year and that about 200 people said they were interested in going to the meetings, but when the day of the meetings arrived, “nobody showed.” When asked whether anything could change to keep the parade going under their leadership, Epperly said that a lot would have to change for them to continue. “Our biggest concern is safety for the spectators, the particpants, the community members. We would require more authoritative personnel. For us to do that with a third-party
See PARADE Page A5
Courtesy photos from Jenni Bandov
Speeding, the biggest culprit in county crashes
and Clatskanie. The most fatalities in a year was four in 2019. House said that in Oregon as a whole, a major part of the increase in fatalities appears to be vehicle-pedestrian crashes. “This appears to be an effect of more people being closer to traffic or in areas of highway right-of-way where pedestrians and camping are not allowed – because it puts people in danger,” House said.
WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
An examination of crash data between 2017 and 2021 of crashes on Highway 30 has revealed that the leading causes of accidents are speeding and following too closely, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Between April and September of 2023, The Chronicle reported on four separate accidents on Highway 30 that resulted in five deaths. In light of those incidents, The Chronicle reached out to ODOT to find what the leading causes of crashes are and what the department is doing to try and promote safety and minimize accidents. ODOT does not have preliminary data on crashes yet for 2022 or 2023. However, ODOT Communications Representative David House provided complete data for the five-year period of 2017 through 2021. The two sets of data provided include traffic accidents in Columbia County as a whole and data from the stretch of Highway 30 from St. Helens North City Limit to Clatskanie East City Limit.
Excessive speed
Jeremy Ruark / Country Media, Inc.
Between 2017 and 2021, on the stretch of Highway 30 between St. Helens and Clatskanie, ODOT recorded 371 crashes.
“I don’t see a trend in this data, but no matter what the figures are year to year, everyone’s goal is to make the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities go down.
Anecdotally, we sense that the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities are up – not just in Oregon but nationwide,” House said. Without the data for 2022
owner of Big River Taproom and says the trailers are contributing to congestion and a lack of parking downtown.
whether the trailers had permits to park there and whether the city approved the placement of the trailers there, but did not hear back. Curry did not answer questions regarding the trailers or whether she works with business owners downtown to ensure that Halloweentown activities do not impact them negatively. The Chronicle has reached out for comment from the city on the issue of the trailers’ relocation but has not received a response at the time of publication. One of the main concerns for Sanders was that there wasn’t notice provided to tenants or business owners. When Sanders spoke to the Code Enforcement department, she was notified that they did have permits but received few details or proof of permit. “What I don’t understand is how permits could have been issued without anybody being notified. I’m not
and 2023, it is difficult to discern whether fatalities have risen in recent years. From 2017 to 2021, ODOT recorded ten fatalities on Highway 30 between St. Helens
One of the main factors that ODOT has observed as a recurring issue is that people have been driving at high speeds since the pandemic. “Although speed alone doesn’t cause a crash, it makes it more likely to happen and more severe,” House said. “At higher speeds, drivers have less time to react, and it takes longer to stop or evade a surprise on the road. Higher speeds make it more likely for a crash to happen that could have been avoided or turn a fender-bender into an
See SPEEDING Page A9
Trailers in downtown causing congestion WILL LOHRE Country Media, Inc.
A group of trailers parked at the end of Strand Street in the Riverfront District of St. Helens are causing consternation for business owners and residents downtown. The trailers, which belong to performers for Halloweentown, are parked at the end of Strand Street, past the intersection of Cowlitz and Strand Streets. Marci Sanders is the
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Relocated trailers The issue arose for Sanders when the trailers, which belong to the “clan of pirates” for Halloweentown, were moved from the dead end of 1st Street to the end of Strand Street in front of her business. “Wednesday night, at about 7:30, just after dark, they are rolling those trailers out of where they were on 1st Street and backing them into Strand Street,” Sanders said. “No one had told anybody. None of us who have businesses there, or who live there, knew anything about this. Next thing we know, four of these trailers are being backed in there, and a road closed sign is put up.” Sanders said that these movements were coordinated by the city’s event coordinator, Tina Curry. Sanders began trying to figure out
Jon Campbell / Country Media, Inc.
See TRAILERS Page A10
The trailers parked at the end of Strand Street are causing parking issues.
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