Thursday, November 1, 2012 Page B1
SECTION
B
What’s On? n Dining Guide n Whats Cooking n Real Estate n Classified n Service Guide n Business card Directory
Photos by Marisol Díaz
MICHELLE BARON, 5, paints with her sister Julia and father Morgan at Regal Pharmacy.
Painting the town orange and black By Sarina Trangle strangle@riverdalepress.com
A
mbrin Tabassum, a second grader at PS 81, stood on her tiptoes, stretched her arm high and flicked a paintbrush down, as she worked on the final touches of a ghost adorning Salvatores of Soho’s window. She stepped back and examined the green-toothed, purple-eyed spectres she had painted above jack-o’lanterns. “It’s fun,” she said. With help from about 30 young artists participating in Saturday’s 56th annual Kiwanis Club window painting contest, demons, mummies and witches descended on Riverdale and Johnson avenues. Each Halloween, Kiwanis helps local businesses commission seasonal window décor for $20 a shop. The money is doled to students who earn first place prizes in five categories. The remaining money goes to the Kiwanis Club of Riverdale, a local branch of an international organization that organizes businesses and community members who together assist children worldwide. Several passersby seemed to appreciate the angular yellow eyes and teeth of the jack o’lanterns Yolanda Reynolds, a PS 24 first grader, painted on the bottom of Apple Bank for Savings. One woman stopped to ask Yolanda if they were her doing. “They’re just beautiful,” she said, The detailed scene depicted on the panes of Regal Pharmacy got second looks as well. PS 24 first graders Matti Brown, 7, and Chloe Marrero, 6, painted a green witch near a bubbling cauldron spewing blue, orange and yellow flames. Nearby, a purple heart hung between two mummies wrapped in black, white and yellow bandages. One had a lime cloud billowing out from behind him. “The girl mummy, she’s in love with the mummy. He farted, but she still loves him. Then the witch casts a spell on the girl so she loves the witch. Even though she doesn’t really want to,” Matti explained. Chloe’s younger brother Oliver Marrero, 4, was too young to enter the contest. So he acted as a “consultant,” reviewing the pair’s ideas and wiping away their first sketches. (Continued on page B10)
AMBRIM TABASSUM, 8, paints the windows at Salvatores of Soho on Riverdale Avenue, photo above. Brian Pettiford, 9, paints Tiny’s Diner on Riverdale Avenue, photo top center. YOLANDA REYNOLDS, 6, paints pumpkins on the windows at Apple Bank for Savings on Johnson Avenue, center right photo. DIMITRE BOYUKLIEV, the owner of Tiny’s Diner, gets into the action on Saturday, photo bottom center. OLIVER MARRERO, 4, is the unofficial ‘consultant’ for the painters working on Regal Pharmacy’s panes. Bottom right photo.