History 21 The Podcast - 1.22 John Jost Anoka Halloween

John Jost’s love of Anoka Halloween began as a child, and have culminated in the publication of a book celebrating the 100th anniversary of the festival. Learn about his connection to the holiday as a child, and what it was like organizing and celebrating a 100th anniversary during a pandemic.

Hosts Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator and Erin McBrien, ACHS Archivist.

John Jost

Anoka Halloween Memories, excerpt from Anoka Halloween 100th Anniversary

My earliest memory is watching the Grande Day Parade with my mom and younger brother, Stephen. We were too small to catch or get any candy that was being tossed into the crowds. We became so upset that Mom took us to Snyder’s Drug to buy a toy for each of us.

I remember trick-or-treatinhg with a plastic pumpkin throughout our apartment building on Garfield Street and going to my grandparents’ house each year to get a special bag of candy. I remember trick-or-treating in the neighborhood one year and getting a half dollar from one house and then going ack again to get another. I also traded candy with other kids for additional half dollars. I got an apple from one house and tossed it - I didn’t’ want the juice wrecking the candy.

I marched in the Kiddie Parade multiple years at St. Stephen’s with a vinyl, one-piece costume that had a plastic mask that was hard to see out of. I would get sweaty and then really cold. The last year I was in the Kiddie Parade, I was a hippie along with about a dozen other students. After the parade, we went back to the classroom and got a plastic trick-or-treat bag with a “McGruff the Crime Dog” Anoka Police Department coloring book and popcorn ball in it and then went home for the day.

I remember being babsat at my other grandparent’s house and my aunts painted Halloween scenes on the front window like the windows downtown. One year, I was in grade school trick-or-treating when a guy wouldn’t give me any treats because he said I was too big. I remember the blizzard of 1991 and how the Halloween button that year came out in September. It looked like a ghost on a mound of snow (coincidence). I sold the buttons throughout grade school and remember the first time seeing a button was in 1982.

For more Anoka Halloween memories from John Jost and others read Anoka Halloween 100th Anniversary: 1920-2020

Anoka Halloween Website

Find Anoka Halloween Book at the Library

John Josts’ personal Anoka Halloween button display

John Jost (far right) with other members of Anoka Halloween in front of the Anoka Halloween float.

Anoka County Library Minute

Anoka Halloween 100th Anniversary: 1920-2020 by John T. Jost (394.2646 ANO), this episode’s guest of honor and author of the definitive resource on all things Anoka Halloween. This book is loaded with information about the history of the festival, photos, and reminiscences of those who have participated over the years. This is THE book for everyone who wants to experience this special event, from those who are first encountering Anoka Halloween to those who want to stroll down memory lane.

Anoka: A Collection of Indigenous Horror by Shane Hawk (FICTION HAW). Hawk, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, debuts six short horror stories set in Anoka that blend indigenous folklore and paranormal horror. There are tales of bone collectors, witches, werewolves, and skeletal bison, among others. The lines between fact and fiction blur, as all the best horror literature does, for a convincingly frightening read.

Taste of Home Halloween: Freaky Fun: 103 Meals, Snacks & Sweets (641.568 TAS) Taste at Home publications are popular because all recipes have been submitted by home cooks. The Halloween cookbook includes chapters on pumpkin carving, pumpkin-flavored treats, party planning, and alcoholic drinks. There’s a bonus chapter covering the Day of the Dead, for some Mexican flavor in your October kitchen.

Extreme Pumpkin Carving by Vic Hood and Jack Williams (795.5941646 HOO). This book is for those who want to take their jack-o-lantern skills to the next level. It includes twenty different patterns and step-by-step instructions to create intricate three-dimensional designs using tools like kitchen knives, carving gouges, and chisels. After applying the tips and tricks in this book, you’ll impress your friends and scare your neighbors.

CreativeBug is a subscription database available for free to Anoka County Library card holders. It includes more than a thousand instructional videos for most arts and crafts. You can take an art class when the time is right for you. Start and stop viewing so you can work at your own pace. Search results can be filtered by ability level. There are several dozen videos on costume-making, Halloween home décor, face painting, pumpkin carving, and cake decorating.

Children

Burp or Treat…Smell My Feet! by Nancy Krulik (EJ FICTION KRU). Another funny volume in the George Brown, Class Clown series. George can’t wait to eat as much candy as he wants to on Halloween, but first he must solve the mystery of a prank-pulling phantom at school. What’s more, a close friend might move away, something George, an Army brat, fears and loathes. Ages 5-10 will appreciate the scatological humor.

A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander (J FICTION ALE). Alexander, a National Book Award-winning author, pens a hit about Rosa, a middle schooler new to a town devoid of ghosts. Rosa, a ghost appeaser, thinks her skills are going to waste until she partners with new friend Jasper to unravel the mystery of a gate-crashing angry spirit that appears on opening day of the town’s Renaissance festival. Together, Rosa and Jasper discover the answer to the larger mystery of why the town lacks ghosts and learn how damaging it can be to wall off negative emotions rather than address them.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks (YA GRAPHIC ROW). Young adult graphic novel of Josie and Deja, high school seniors working their last night ever together at the pumpkin patch. Josie’s sad, but Deja is determined to make the most of it. This story has many charming detours through corn mazes, snack thieves, petting zoos, and runaway goats. Ultimately, however, Deja shows Josie that being vulnerable and taking chances can lead to the most rewarding of outcomes.

Movies

The Addams Family. The stories of the aristocratic, loveable, and eccentric clan, who delight in the macabre and are unaware or indifferent that others find them bizarre or frightening, have been entertaining audiences since Charles Addams published the original New Yorker cartoons in 1938. Whether it’s the original television series from the 60’s or the movies of the 90’s, Halloween CD’s that include the iconic theme song to the 2019 animated film whose sequel is playing in theaters now, we have it at the library.

Hocus Pocus (DVD HOC). Teenage Max recently moved to Salem, MA from LA and inadvertently resurrects three evil 17th century witches on Halloween. With the help of a magical cat, Max and his crew steal the trio’s book of spells to try to prevent the witches from becoming immortal. This 1993 fantastical comedy became an instant cult classic that fans watch each year.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (DVD E ITS). The actual classic of the genre has the trick-or-treating Peanuts gang disagreeing on the likelihood of The Great Pumpkin’s Halloween appearance, Linus revealed as the true believer, and all the hallmark philosophical humor we expect from the 1966 film. Always good for a comforting laugh, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is more than a movie, with viewing parties a beloved family tradition for more than two generations.