Copyright berkshireeagle
LANESBORO — All the children in this town of 3,000 went to school last night instead of taking to the streets for trick-or-treat fun. It wasn't that they are such eager pupils. School was where the action was. Hundreds of children went to the Lanesboro School, many dressed in their ghost and goblin costumes. "I think we had every kid in town and some from Pittsfield and Dalton," George St. Pierre, superintendent of schools, one of the many volunteers who worked on the project said. Every organization in town and everyone else who could be persuaded to help were on hand to see that the kids had fun. The idea was proposed by Selectman Bert Robinson and the whole thing was arranged in less than two weeks. "I never saw anything in which there was such complete town participation," he said. The town recreation committee, the Lions Club, the Snowdusters and the Volunteer Firemen provided the funds (about $500) and Firettes, Boy Scouts, PTO and the School Committee and American Legion, helped. Door prizes were donated by local businessmen. "We had 17,000 candy bars and eight cases of candy," St. Pierre said. Beulah the witch greeted the children at the door and passed out tickets for the door prizes. The steady stream of children and parents started at 7 p.m. and jammed the doorway until 8:30. The youngsters went from room to room collecting candy, gum, lollipops, cotton candy and popcorn. Their trip was punctuated by groans and screeches from mechanical devices and from other children hidden behind screens. The Lanesboro students who attend Berkshire Community College, under the direction of Billy Prendergast, built a hall of horrors and the Great Pumpkin Room. A body in a casket proved to be alive and rose to greet the visiting goblins. The Girl Scouts built a mystery walk. Dante's Inferno and the Midnight Express were professional houses of horror, hired by the committee to help entertain the children. A dance was held in the gymnasium for the teen-agers. "I think the whole town was here," St. Pierre said, as he wearily sank into a chair when the affair was over.
